Joel Brammeier has two words for those feeling anxiety about what’s in store for the Great Lakes during the incoming Trump administration:
Don’t panic.
Yes, there are likely to be regulatory rollbacks and a reduction of federal employees, including those employed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he said. Climate change will not be as much of a priority, nor will wetland-preservation efforts. There will be a greater emphasis on oil pipelines and on producing more energy, even from coal-fired power plants.
But the Great Lakes region’s been here before, Mr. Brammeier said during an hourlong webinar hosted Wednesday by the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes.
Mr. Brammeier is president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit group, one of the region’s larger and better-known environmental organizations.
“Don’t panic,” he said. “We’re coming at this [incoming administration] from a position of strength.”
Mr. Brammeier was joined on the webinar by Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer and vice president for programs with the alliance; Donald Jodrey, the group’s director of federal relations; and, Don Carr, the non-profit’s media director.
One of the key environmental programs that could be spared, they said, is the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, also known as the GLRI. Created by the President Barack Obama administration, it is a program in which Congress has spent $3.7 billion since 2010 toward the cleanup of legacy polluted sites and improved wildlife habitat. Several of those investments have been in the Toledo area.
The U.S. Senate passed the latest version, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024, earlier this month.
Speakers noted it’s one of the few pieces of federal environmental legislation that has consistently received bipartisan support, which they said is a reflection of how both parties value the Great Lakes and its tributaries. During his first term, Donald Trump twice proposed 90 percent cuts to the GLRI budget, only to have Congress overrule him both years. After that, he left the GLRI alone.
Now, one of the restoration initiative’s biggest supporters is Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who had been serving as a co-chairman of the Great Lakes Task Force as a member of the U.S. Senate.
Earlier this year, Mr. Vance’s office praised the latest GLRI bill after it passed unanimously through the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works.
“The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative delivers the tools we need to fight invasive species, algal blooms, pollution, and other threats to the ecosystem,” Mr. Vance said. “This is the commonsense, bipartisan effort that I encourage all of my colleagues to support.”
The GLRI Act of 2024 would extend the act through 2031. Annual authorization levels would be increased from $475 million in 2026 to $500 million for each of the five years after that.
In addition to rollbacks of environmental regulations, Mr. Jodrey said he expects less enthusiasm for environmental justice programs and “a more narrow view of climate change” by the Trump administration.
But he believes funding for water and sewage infrastructure work will remain stable.
Ms. Flanagan noted the bipartisan support for the lakes within the Great Lakes congressional delegation, especially from Michigan.
She said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has shown himself to be “a champion of funding to prevent runoff into Lake Erie,” a reference to his H2Ohio program. She expects agricultural spending to continue in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“We think states are going to be really important over the next couple of years,” Ms. Flanagan said.
Mr. Brammeier said his group will be vigilant about tracking changes on the federal level that could weaken issues such as air pollution and wetlands, but remains confident that water quality will remain a priority.
“Our region is starting from a position of strength. Time and again, we win with water,” he said. “We think we have an agenda that can move forward regardless who’s in the White House.”
Immediately after Trump’s election on Nov. 5, the Environmental Law & Policy Center issued a statement in which Howard Learner, CEO and executive director, said that his group of Midwestern-based environmental lawyers and activists has “seen a Trump administration’s playbook before.” The statement said that the ELPC is ready to “roll up our sleeves.”
First Published December 13, 2024, 5:36 p.m.
