The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding a series of meetings this summer in several states to discuss the federal government’s new plan for restoring water quality in the Great Lakes. The $475-million draft plan, proposed in President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget, needs congressional approval before it can be implemented. But government officials are moving forward with public meetings and say they may issue requests for proposals as early as late summer 2009 for competitive grants for work to begin in early 2010.
“Administrator [Lisa] Jackson feels a great sense of urgency for more action to restore the Great Lakes,” says Cameron Davis, senior adviser to Jackson, EPA’s administrator. EPA says although toxic pollutant releases into the Great Lakes have gone down significantly over the past several years, only one of the 31 toxic “hot spots” identified as areas of concern in the U.S. more than 20 years ago has been fully restored.