What a Week for the Great Lakes (and every one of us that depends upon them)!

After working on Great Lakes protection and restoration issues for the past 15 years, it’s hard for me to think of a time when so many accomplishments occurred in such a short period of time.  That said, last week was good week—actually, a great week. Especially when you consider that much of the work that went into these accomplishments started well over a decade ago. It’s what I’d consider winning the triple crown of Great Lakes restoration.  Here’s what was accomplished late last week… Plan 2014 for Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River Enacted!  After fifty years of regulation that forced unnatural water levels and flows on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River—devastating the health of the ecosystem and degrading tens of thousands of acres of wetlands—the U.S and Canadian governments recently seized a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore the health of the lake and river by enacting “Plan 2014.” Plan 2014 is a modern, balanced water level management plan that will work with nature to restore the health of the lake and river, while continuing over 50 years of shoreline protection.  The plan will restore 64,000 acres of wetlands, which is largest wetlands restoration effort in U.S. history outside of the Florida Everglades!

If that wasn’t enough, the plan will also rebound populations of fish and wildlife such as the Northern Pike and Black Tern, provide a $5.3 million annual increase in hydroelectric power production, provide a $12 million annual increase in recreational activity along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, and continue over 50 years of significant shoreline protection.  And one more thing—the cost of implementing Plan 2014: $0.

We have to thank the 25,000+ of our members that signed petitions and wrote letters in support of Plan 2014 in the last couple years, which contributed to the 36,000 expressions of support that we—along with our coalition partners—delivered to the White House Council on Environmental Quality in D.C. this fall. We couldn’t have done it without your support!

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act passed!  We often tout the importance and success of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which has provided well over $2 billion since 2010 to fund over 3,000 restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes. The GLRI has ushered   progress in cleaning up toxic hot spots, fighting invasive species, restoring critical habitat, and so much more; yet we still have a lot more restoration work to do.

While the GLRI was funded in each federal budget since 2010, the program has never been authorized by Congress.  Without an authorization, the GLRI could be at risk from changing administrative and congressional priorities.  Authorizing the program provides greater long term certainty for restoration to continue, and allows more long-term, complex restoration work to move forward.

After advocating for an authorization since the program started several years ago, the GLRI Act was finally passed as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act  (formerly known as the Water Resources Development Act) with bipartisan support from Congress last week!  The law authorizes the GLRI for $1.5 billion over the next five years!

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding continues! As previously mentioned, the GLRI has provided well over $2 billion for more than 3,000 restoration projects since 2010.  The GLRI has been biggest boon to Great Lakes restoration in decades, helping to push forward long-awaited projects, such as the cleanup of the Buffalo River. The GLRI has provided over $100 million for 229 projects in New York State alone.  The success of the program has been dependent upon Congress continuing to fund the GLRI year after year, in order to ensure progress continues and previous investments are not wasted.  The Continuing Resolution (CR) passed by Congress last week continued funding for the GLRI at current funding levels through April of 2017, ensuring that progress to protect and restore the lakes can continue!

We certainly couldn’t have accomplished this without a multitude of partner organizations, which have been with us every step of the way.  And very importantly, this success has been dependent upon strong and enduring support from the public.  Our members have signed petitions, written letters, spoken at public hearings, and even traveled to Albany and Washington. We thank you!

As we take time to celebrate these victories for the Great Lakes, we also recognize that our work is never done, and the New Year will certainly bring new challenges.  Although as we’ve seen time and time again, with strong support from you—the public—there is nothing we can’t accomplish.  We look forward to working with you to continue to advance Great Lakes restoration in 2017!

Communities Want a Healthy River and Lake

Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River provide drinking water to several million people, support multi-billion dollar industries, offer unparalleled recreation and fishing opportunities, generate renewable hydroelectric power, and are home to an impressive array of wildlife. Perhaps most importantly, the river and lake enhance the quality of life for everyone in the region. It is no wonder then, that the residents of New York State support modernizing an outdated management plan that is slowly killing the health of the lake and river.

As a grassroots organization working to protect the environment throughout New York State, Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) has lead a large-scale public outreach campaign on the issue of Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River water level management over the past few years. We conducted direct public outreach in numerous communities along the south shore of Lake Ontario up to the St. Lawrence River.

What did we find when we spoke directly with families across the region about this issue? Whether it was the mother with small children that loves taking trips to the beach on weekends, a recently retired man that spends countless hours on a boat fishing, or the college student that cares passionately about protecting the health of our waters for future generations, we spoke with a broad range of New Yorkers that care passionately about the health of our waters and overwhelming support the adoption of Plan 2014.

Members of the public signed petitions, wrote letters and emails, and made phone calls to key government officials in support of Plan 2014, contributing toward the nearly 23,000 expressions of citizen support that have been generated by CCE and our partners in recent years.

Despite this growing wave of support for Plan 2014, the federal governments of the U.S. and Canada have yet to adopt the plan. U.S. Secretary John Kerry and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion can help restore the health of the lake and river with the simple stroke of a pen. We can’t let up now— they need to know that we can’t wait any longer. We need your help to demand action today!

Please join Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Save The River/Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper, American Rivers and countless other Americans and Canadians in asking Secretary John Kerry and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion to protect and restore the St. Lawrence today.

This blog post was originally posted by American Rivers as part of the America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series spotlighting the St. Lawrence River.

How to Avoid Plastic Microbeads: Ban Them!

Ever since I heard about Dr. Sherri Mason’s research on plastic microbeads in the Great Lakes, I’ve become very concerned, some say obsessed, with the issue of microbeads. The fixation began in my own house, where I found toothpastes, facial scrubs, and hand soaps with microbeads. My wife and I threw them all away, and vowed never to allow one of these products in our house again.   Within almost no time at all, we failed. On a couple of occasions, microbeads deviously snuck their way into our home. We won a gift basket with liquid hand soaps that contained microbeads.  I quickly noticed what it was and chucked it. After a dentist appointment for my daughters, the “goodie” bag they brought home had toothpaste with microbeads. An odd choice for a dentist, since the beads are being found lodged in gums and cavities, posing a potential threat for infection.  Regardless, we threw them out, educated the dentist, and moved on.

The most recent invasion of microbeads into my home was today.  My wife was at the store with my daughters shopping for a number of things, including toothpaste.  They were out of the natural stuff that we usually buy and the kids think is gross, so our girls were excited to get something else this time.  They quickly noticed a box of “Frozen” toothpaste.  Put Anna and Elsa on anything, even something without sugar, and my kids will want to buy it.  So it was a no-brainer; they had found what they wanted and threw it in the basket.

Not seeing a picture of sparkly toothpaste (aka toothpaste laden with plastic strictly for aesthetic purposes) on the box, my wife never noticed that the toothpaste had microbeads.  When they arrived home, my four-year-old could not wait to brush her teeth. She walked over to me holding the box and was smiling from ear to ear.  I took a quick look at the inert ingredients, and noticed what I had dreaded, polyethylene. Like the mean Dad that I am, I informed my daughter that this would pollute our lakes, and we could not use the toothpaste.  As expected, it didn’t go well, and this is what the box looks like after we wrestled over it:

Frozen toothpaste

Aside from just sharing my personal failures and telling everyone I made my four-year-old cry today, I mention these stories for a reason.  As someone that has worked on this issue for two years, doing countless hours of research, writing fact sheets, and advocating for policies to ban plastic microbeads, I consider myself somewhat educated on this issue.  Yet, microbeads have made their way into my home. Being an educated consumer is extremely important, but it is not enough to solve the problem of plastic microbead pollution once and for all.  For that, we need a legislative ban.

Legislation to ban plastic microbeads in personal care products passed the New York Assembly with near unanimous support in April. The same bill has been introduced in the Senate, and now has 37 cosponsors. Only 32 votes are needed for the bill to pass, making this a sure-thing if Senate leadership allows a vote.    As of now, there are only a few days left before the end of the legislative session.  Help us get this critical, no-brainer legislation over the finish line by emailing legislative leaders and demanding a vote before session comes to an end.

New York Should Invest in its Ocean and Great Lakes

New York State is currently in the middle of its budget negotiations (read: battle) and Governor Cuomo has put forth his proposal. He has thirty days to make amendments and then the Senate and Assembly will put forth their versions.  After the requisite back-and-forth, a final budget will be approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.  The budget is supposed to be finished by April 1st.

As you probably know, CCE advocates for the New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) every year.  The EPF is an important piece of the New York State budget, but specifically, I would like to talk about the Ocean and Great Lakes line of the EPF.  In 2005, the Ocean and Great Lakes line was added to the EPF and it is used by eight state agencies to advance important conservation and restoration projects along New York's beautiful coasts.  Unfortunately, the Ocean and Great Lakes line has been stuck at $5 million dollars and there is so much work to be done.  Now is the time to up that investment.  Recently the New York State DEC released the draft Ocean Action Plan, a blueprint for protecting our ocean and estuaries.  Additionally, implementation of the DEC's interim Great Lakes Action Agenda is underway and it identifies the most pressing problems facing the lakes, and provides specific goals and activities to address these problems.  With these plans in place it is time to use them and really invest in our ocean and Great Lakes economies.

In 2010, ocean sector industries like fishing and tourism contributed more than $21.7 billion to New York’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supported nearly 300,000 jobs.  The largest ocean economy sector is tourism and recreation: in 2010, tourism and recreation contributed more than $16.5 billion to the state GDP and supported nearly 254,000 jobs.  The Great Lakes also contribute significantly to the state’s economic well-being, supporting a sport fishery valued at more than $2.27 billion that generates nearly 12,000 jobs. In addition, Lakes Erie, Ontario and the St. Lawrence River provide the foundation for a multi‐million dollar tourism industry in the New York Seaway Trail region, serve as a key water resource for hydropower generation and manufacturing industries, and allow for recreational boating opportunities that contribute over $600 million a year to New York’s economy.

In order to implement important goals laid out in both of the Ocean Action plan and the Great Lakes Action Agenda,  additional funding is needed in the Ocean and Great Lakes program.  It's time for the Ocean and Great Lakes program to funded at $10 million and for the state to take these resources, and their contributions to the state economy, seriously.

So please take a minute and contact your Senator and Assemblymember.  Ask them to increase funding for the ocean and Great Lakes.