To the Journal editor:

Our president (wanted) to cut the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by 90 percent! We Great Lakes States (Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) need to fight tooth and nail to keep this federal funding to protect the water we drink, the air we breath and the health of the our Great Lakes.

By slashing funding to the Environmental Protection Agency, and thus cutting nearly all funding to the GLRI, it will eliminate programs designed to protect human health and the environment.

This drastic cut will be a backward direction for the agency and will slow our economy by reducing jobs, so important for this work. It will prevent the ability to monitor for invisible chemical threats including sulfur dioxide and Mercury, monitor for run-off pollutions from streams and rivers into the Great Lakes and monitor for invasive plant species as well as Asian Carp.

The work of restoring the Great Lakes has been ongoing since 1972 with formal backing beginning with President H. W. Bush in 2004. In 2016 the budget request of $250 million was increased to $300 million by Congress, in recognition of both the need and the economic benefit of the program.

There has been a study performed that indicates an estimated $2 dollar return for every dollar invested. Without this funding we risk losing the progress that has been made over the last 40 plus years.

The people of this region cannot afford the cuts projected by this administration and therefore we must call and write our Congressmen and Senators and ask for their help to preserve the Great Lakes Restoration Funding.

ROBERTA MESERVE

Lake Ann, Michigan