The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced funding for the largest cleanup project to ever be implemented under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes Legacy Act, thanks to historic resources from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. Under a new project agreement between EPA and five non-federal sponsors, an estimated investment of $450 million will go toward the cleanup of nearly two million cubic yards of contaminated sediments from the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern.
This long-awaited cleanup will greatly advance the environmental, community, and economic revitalization of Milwaukee-area communities and will help lead to the ultimate removal of the Milwaukee Estuary from the list of 25 remaining U.S. Areas of Concern (AOCs) — highly environmentally degraded areas found across the Great Lakes basin.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced this effort alongside U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Discovery World, a science and technology museum on the shore of Lake Michigan. Administrator Regan and Senator Baldwin joined project partners, state and local officials, community leaders and students from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences for the event.
“President Biden’s historic Investments in America continue to boost our efforts to restore and protect our treasured waters and the communities of the Great Lakes basin,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Today, we’re building on this progress to restore this economic engine with our partners in Wisconsin as we work to clean up the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern for good. Together, these investments will support cleanup of 610 Olympic-sized swimming pools of contaminated sediments from Milwaukee Harbor and the three rivers in the urban Milwaukee area.”
Read the full press release.
Learn more information about the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern.