The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched in 2010 as a nonregulatory program to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world by providing additional resources to help achieve the most critical long-term goals for this important ecosystem.
The GLRI has been a catalyst for unprecedented federal agency coordination that has accordingly produced unprecedented results. Five U.S. Areas of Concern (AOCs) have been delisted since GLRI’s start and the remaining AOCs have moved dramatically closer to their eventual delisting. A total of 118 environmental impairments, known as Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs), have been removed in AOCs since the start of GLRI. Over 6 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments have been remediated since the start of GLRI. This activity reflects a major change from the 25 years before the Initiative, when only one AOC was cleaned up and delisted and 10 BUIs were removed. GLRI resources have also been used for projects that have prevented over 2.3 million pounds of phosphorus from entering the Great Lakes between 2015 and 2022 and have reduced the phosphorus runoff contribution to harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay and Green Bay. The GLRI also produces economic benefits — a 2018 University of Michigan study showed that every dollar of federal spending on GLRI projects between 2010 and 2016 will produce $3.35 in additional economic activity in the Great Lakes region through 2036. This report described several cases where Great Lakes communities experienced significant new real estate and commercial development as well as increased water-based recreation and tourism as a result of GLRI-funded remediation and habitat restoration projects. Restoration under GLRI includes ecosystem protection, enhancement, rehabilitation and restoration. Since restoration is generally more costly than protection, GLRI agencies recognize the importance of ecological protection (actions taken to prevent stress to ecosystems).
GLRI Action Plan IV outlines the next five years of work on Great Lakes environmental problems, many of which will still take decades to resolve. GLRI Action Plan IV lays out the necessary next steps to get us closer to the day when we will be able to achieve our long-term goals for the Great Lakes and our commitments under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, including the priority actions for each lake identified in the Lakewide Action and Management Plans. The GLRI federal agencies that make up the GLRI Interagency Task Force and Regional Working Group (see Partners page) will continue to use GLRI resources to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and associated human health issues in partnership with states, Tribes and other nonfederal stakeholders. The federal agencies will also continue to work collaboratively with partners to move forward effectively and efficiently to achieve those goals, maintain the progress that has been made and communicate results. Federal agencies and partners will also put a renewed focus on incorporating environmental justice so that all communities, including disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns, can equitably benefit from the GLRI.
By adding GLRI resources to federal agency base budgets and by using these combined resources to implement protection and restoration projects with nonfederal partners, federal agencies will continue to accelerate progress toward achieving long-term goals. All proposed federal actions are subject to final Congressional appropriations.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has provided an additional $1 billion in funding over 2022- 2026. The additional funds will largely be applied to further accelerate cleanups of the Great Lakes AOCs. With this funding, we can now aim to have work completed at all but three AOCs by 2030. The IIJA funds will also support the establishment of several Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs.
Continue reading about the Action Plan IV: