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(Washington D.C.)- Congresswoman Candice Miller (MI-10) and Congressman Sander Levin (MI-12) today urged the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy to include funding in the Fiscal Year 2009 for the Lake St. Clair/St. Clair River Management Plan. Miller and Levin requested $900,000 for implementation of the management plan which is critical to a healthy future for these important waterways. Miller and Levin released the following statements today:
“Our magnificent Great Lakes have experienced significant challenges in recent years,” Miller said. “The federal government has a responsibility to fund the Lake St. Clair/St. Clair River Management Plan, which will help protect and preserve these precious waters. Their health has a direct impact on fishing, boating, tourism, and quality of life around the Great Lakes, which are 1/5 of the world’s fresh water supply. I am pleased to work with Rep. Levin and my colleagues to ensure that this important project gets the federal support it so desperately needs.”
“We cannot allow the Lake St. Clair Management Plan recommendations to sit on the shelf,” said Rep. Levin. “It is imperative that we make the investments necessary to turn the Management Plan’s recommendations into reality. Lake St. Clair and the Great Lakes are regional and national treasures. All stakeholders at the local, state and federal levels must do everything we can to return the Lakes to their original form. I appreciate Rep. Miller’s partnership as we continue to work together to protect our lakes.”
Last year, Rep. Miller, Rep. Levin and Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow worked together to secure an authorization of $20 million to implement the Lake St. Clair Management Plan in the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. Now the authorized funds must be appropriated in a congressional budget. The actual appropriation of these funds will allow the important projects identified in the Management Plan to move forward.
Reps. Levin and Miller have also been working on the local level, engaging Lake St. Clair stakeholders at home to protect and restore the Lake. Last month, both representatives addressed the Binational Lake St. Clair Conference, at which local leaders and organizations discussed the implementation of restoration and protection efforts for Lake St. Clair.
To view a letter from Reps. Levin and Miller being delivered to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy today, click here.
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