Keith Matheny

Detroit Free Press

Environmental advocates and congressional Democrats vowed to fight President Donald Trump's plan to slash environmental spending as part of his proposed 2017 budget — including the elimination of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which since 2010 has provided more than $2.2 billion for improving and protecting the lakes.

"President Trump's budget is even worse than we thought for the Great Lakes," U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said. "It completely eliminates funding for protection."

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The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been instrumental in more than 3,000 projects — funding wetlands restoration, fighting harmful algae blooms in western Lake Erie, leading efforts to keep invasive Asian carp from reaching the lakes and causing chaos in the ecosystem, and improving fish and shoreline habitat.

Todd Ambs, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, a group of 141 environmental and community groups committed to protecting the lakes, said he was particularly dismayed by the Trump administration's explanation for zeroing out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

"They specifically said they were returning this restoration work to local and state government, so the (United States Environmental Protection Agency) could focus on, quote, 'the highest national priorities,' " he said.

"To suggest that the Great Lakes region — which, if it was its own country, would be the third-largest economy on Earth — isn't a high national priority is absurd."

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While proposing to hand back to states and communities many federal environmental duties, Trump's proposed budget also calls for 30% cuts in EPA funding for states to enforce the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and other federal environmental laws, Ambs said.

"I used to serve in the Water Division of Wisconsin DNR," he said. "In 2010, we had 34 people in our office working on polluted runoff issues in Wisconsin. All 34 were 100% funded by federal funding."

Under Trump's proposed cuts, "there's just no way those staff can stay there. Yet supposedly, according to the White House, they are the ones who are supposed to do this critical work."

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., called Trump's Great Lakes budget proposals "incredibly shortsighted and reckless." The Great Lakes generate billions in annual economic activity and support 1.5 million jobs in the tourism, boating and fishing industries, he said.

"Such irresponsible cuts to Great Lakes protection efforts will expose our freshwater to major threats, including invasive species like Asian carp and pollution," he said.

Added U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., "Those of us who live in the Great Lakes region know that these waters are more than a way of life — they are vital for clean drinking water, jobs and our economy. This shortsighted attempt to zero out funding for the GLRI is unacceptable."

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican from St. Joseph in southwestern Michigan, tweeted that Trump's budget proposal "acknowledges our unsustainable national debt & does attempt to put us on the path to fiscal responsibility."

"However, I remain deeply concerned about proposed cuts to important domestic programs like the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and especially to our #GreatLakes," he tweeted.

Local officials also chimed in.

"How can you not be concerned about the Great Lakes, a resource here that's unrivaled?" asked Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, adding the proposed cuts "are an extremely major concern."

Last summer, Nicki Polan, executive director of the Michigan Boating Industries Association in Livonia, said that Macomb County — with Lake St. Clair, the Clinton River and their tributaries — is the state's third-largest boating county. Michigan had the third-largest marine market in the country, with boating bringing a $7.4-billion impact to the state's economy annually.

Officials in Macomb County have made Lake St. Clair and the county's waterways a priority by improving access and quality.

Last week, the county applied for a $353,000 grant through the Sustain Our Great Lakes Program to help with water-quality efforts and improving tree canopy, said John Paul Rea, the county's planning and economic development director. Now, it's unclear what will happen with that grant.

Several county commissioners expressed concern about the Great Lakes funding cuts, with Commission Chairman Bob Smith of Clinton Township saying the miles of coastline "need our full attention."

Commissioner Rob Leonetti, who represents Harrison Township and part of St. Clair Shores — both along Lake St. Clair, said: "I'm very disappointed in the budget. We have miles of lakeshore here in Macomb that are critical to our recreation, business and health. This is a precious resource, and it deserves attention and funding from the federal government."

The Trump budget plan would also eliminate the nearly 50-year-old Sea Grant program, which in Michigan has allowed the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to work collaboratively with communities on harbor, habitat and fisheries issues. Deep cuts are also proposed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, especially for efforts connected to researching climate change.

More environmental work remains in the Great Lakes region, Stabenow said. Asian carp continue to make their way up the Mississippi River toward the lakes. Algae blooms continue on Lake Erie every summer. And beaches in Macomb County and elsewhere are often forced to close due to bacterial contamination.

It's Congress that ultimately determines and approves the budget, Stabenow noted.

"We've got to make sure this does not pass Congress; that's the bottom line," she said. "We will be working together to do everything we can to tell the story of the Great Lakes, their importance to our quality of life, to our economy."

Staff Writer Christina Hall contributed to this report.