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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Study: Great Lakes Restoration Needs Greater Federal Support

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Thursday, February 28, 2008   

Washington, DC – The communities in the Great Lakes region are sinking, under the weight of the financial burden of protecting the lakes water, ecosystems and infrastructure.

David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, believes the financial burden of maintaining Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes is falling disproportionately on local governments, although the waterways benefit everyone.

"It costs over $15 billion a year, which is a lot of money for local governments that are stressed with many other infrastructure expenditures, such as schools, hospitals, roads, and everything else."

Ullrich explains the money is used for water quality management and ecosystem protection, with the majority spent on wastewater systems' maintenance and infrastructure. But a new study by the Great Lakes Commission indicates local communities spend more than ten times what the federal government does to protect the lakes -- and the federal amount has been cut by half in the past five years. Ullrich believes the costs should be distributed more fairly.

"This is an international resource. It is the largest source of fresh water in the world and it deserves substantially better attention and protection than it has so far received. We at the local government level believe we are doing our part. We think that the federal governments of Canada and the United States need to do much more."

Ullrich says not improving and preserving the resource could endanger public and environmental health, and set back local economies. He believes the waterways are essential to the region and its citizens.

"The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence are the lifeblood of the cities along their shorelines. They're a source of drinking water as well as a source of recreation. Industry utilizes them, and they're an essential part of the fabric, the culture, and the life of all the people who live in the cities."

The full report is available online, at www.glc.org.


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