By: Team Sherrod

The Great Lakes are some of our region’s most important natural resources. For two consecutive years, though, the Trump administration has proposed cutting funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, despite the fact that this funding is key in protecting this highly valuable resource.

After the administration announced it would once again consider slashing funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Sherrod fought back, working across the aisle to ensure that the initiative would have the funding it needs for 2018.

Read Sherrod’s message to supporters on the Great Lakes, and why protecting them should be a top priority.

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Team,

Earlier this year, the Trump administration released its budget. For the second year in a row, President Trump proposed slashing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by 90 percent—from $300 million to $30 million.

Both times President Trump has proposed such a drastic and misguided cut, Ohio’s elected officials in the House and Senate have made a successful bipartisan effort to save funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

We’ve also had the support of concerned citizens from all over the Great Lakes region. They made their voices heard by the administration and those in Congress. Together, we made sure the initiative got the funding it needs.

Lake Erie is vital to Ohio. The lake provides drinking water for three million Ohioans and generates $1.8 billion in tourism revenue. It’s a stunning natural resource and part of our way of life.

However, there are threats facing Lake Erie and all of the Great Lakes. We must take them seriously.

An invasive species of Asian Carp is getting closer and closer to infiltrating the Great Lakes. If they do, they could decimate native species and throw the Great Lakes’ ecosystem out of whack. There are also toxic algae blooms, which could threaten drinking supplies. This is not the time to be drastically scaling back funding, and it’s up to all of us to keep speaking out as long as this administration continues to threaten to do so.

With gratitude,

Sherrod