Environmental projects from the Lake Erie shores of Monroe to the Manistique River in the Upper Peninsula are threatened by proposed state and federal budget cuts.

The federal budget proposed by President Donald Trump eliminates funding for Great Lakes restoration work, while the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality could lose as much as $40 million between cuts in state and federal funds in 2018 compared to 2017 – cuts that could curb inspection and cleanup of toxic sites.

If the proposed cuts at the state and federal level are approved, “it means that a lot of programs geared toward protecting public health and the environment will not be funded,” said Charlotte Jameson, government affairs director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “We will see a decrease in enforcement of current standards and an even more ineffective Department of Environmental Quality, which is problematic.”

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The current proposed state budget for fiscal year 2018, which emerged from a Senate and House conference committee and was passed by the House Tuesday, cuts $9.5 million from the Department of Environmental Quality’s current $516 million budget. That’s about a 2 percent cut.

Rep. Mary Whiteford, R-Allegan, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the DEQ budget, said the DEQ budget is “flat,” and that the Legislature is being responsible with taxpayer’s money. “We’re doing our best,” Whiteford said. “My job is just to make sure that work is being done and taxpayer money is being spent effectively for those purposes.”