LANSING – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be handing out $475 million in grants under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and legislators urged Thursday that Michigan receive funding proportionate to its role in the basin.

Cameron Davis, senior advisor to the Environmental Protection Agency on Great Lakes policy, told a joint meeting of the House Great Lakes and Environment Committee and the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee that there is not a formula for dividing the money, but admitted there were still some questions on how it could be used.

Though issued through some joking, members of the committees urged the agency to take Michigan’s position in the lakes into account when weighing the applications, which are due January 29.

“Michigan, being in the center of the Great Lakes, would be happy to take $450 million and share the other $25 million with the other states,” quipped Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom (R-Norton Shores).

Rep. Dan Scripps (D-Leland), a bit more seriously, said the funding should at least be proportional. “I don’t expect that we’re going to get $450 million, but we do represent 45 percent of the Great Lakes Basin,” he said. “Michigan should get a proportionate share.”

Davis said the state’s shoreline would not be a factor in the grants. “It’s competitive,” he said. “Some of the states that don’t have nearly as much mileage may have a bigger impact. We want to be sure the decisions are made with the best science.”

But he said there would be some weight given to proposals that bring a number of organizations together on a project.

“Partnerships are the name of the game,” Davis said. “We’re trying to promote organizations and agencies working together that may never have worked together before. It doesn’t presume to tell anybody who might be in the best position to get real work done.”

Many of the grants will not require a local match, but Davis said the money cannot be used for projects already underway and funded.

“The funding cannot go to supplant base funding in the states,” he said. “We need to make sure that these resources are an add on.”

It also cannot be used solely for research. “We want to make sure that this funding is going to action,” he said. “We have studied the Great Lakes to death. We know largely what the problems are. We know largely what the solutions are. It’s time to get to work.”

He said research could be a portion of the application, but would have to lead to some cleanup or other activity to improve the quality of the lakes.

One outstanding question, though, is if the money can be used to buy land. Davis said he was still reviewing that issue.

But members of the committees said some of the proposals should be able to include land purchases to be sure the work done now is not later erased by development.

“Is it a wise use of those dollars if we don’t know that we going to have them in perpetuity,” said Sen. Patricia Birkholz (R-Saugatuck Twp.), chair of the Senate committee.

“If acquisition’s not in there, it’s a step backward,” Scripps said. “While I understand land protection is expensive, it’s permanent.”

Committee members also urged Davis to use his authority to push the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work together more on Great Lakes issues, especially emerging issues like the invasion of the Asian carp.

Davis said he had little weight to throw around to make agencies take action. “I advise (that) my real job is to coordinate with the other agencies,” he said. “If it goes beyond that, it’s beyond my portfolio.”

But he agreed there should be more coordination between agencies at all levels, including between the United States and Canada. He noted negotiations on an agreement between those nations over the Great Lakes will begin again this year.

Davis said there was room for government to be more proactive in trying to head off threats to the lakes. He said the Asian carp threat had been anticipated for many years and he argued governments had sufficient warning to have prevented the invasion of the zebra mussel.

But he also held the current federal government line on action on Asian carp prevention. “My own goal is making sure that we’re doing this in a deliberative manner,” he said. “I want to make sure in deploying solutions we’re not going to make things worse.”

He noted that the Corps had a duty not only for environmental protection, but also for ensuring navigation channels remain open. And he said the state of Illinois retained lead authority over any fisheries within its borders, including the rivers holding the carp.

“I think the locks are an important piece of the puzzle for keeping those carp out,” he said, but did not go so far as to say whether closing them was the appropriate move.

Federal officials, in lawsuits filed by the state aimed at keeping the carp out of the Great Lakes, have argued the locks and canals should remain open and other measures taken to keep the carp from moving up them.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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