President Joe Biden will dedicate $1 billion of his 2021 infrastructure plan to helping clean up the Great Lakes.
The president is expected to use his appearance in Cleveland, Ohio, to announce the new cleanup plan, which will help restore several polluted areas in the Great Lakes and the environment.
“With this investment, President Biden is delivering major environmental, public health and economic wins for the Great Lakes region,” White House adviser Mitch Landrieu told the Associated Press.
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The funding will enable local agencies to finish cleaning up 22 of 25 sites designated as “Environmental areas of concern” by 2030, officials said Thursday. The president will announce the investment at an event located on the Black River in Lorain, Ohio, reported Cleveland.com. The Black River is one of the 25 sites designated as needing cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The program appears to draw primarily on the economic and health effects that the Great Lakes have on millions. “The Great Lakes are a vital economic engine and an irreplaceable environmental wonder, supplying drinking water for more than 40 million people, supporting nearly 1.5 million jobs, and sustaining life for thousands of species,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told CNN.
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The Trump administration had previously attempted to cut the funding for efforts to clean up the Great Lakes, only to reverse its position in 2020, reported MLive. Former President Donald Trump also rolled back several environmental regulations, which allowed energy producers to release their refuse into the Great Lakes, affecting the lakes in the process.
A 2018 study by the Great Lakes Commission found that every dollar spent on cleaning up the Great Lakes would produce an additional $3.35 of additional economic activity by 2036.
