President Obama"s 2008 campaign promise to push for the Great Lakes Collaboration and Implementation Act brought Great Lakes Restoration efforts back onto the national scene. Environmentalists hoped the promise would lead to increased funding for the Great Lakes would lead to substantial improvements in restoration programs.

According the the EPA, more than 30 million people live in the Great Lakes basin. But the region has been affected by chemical pollution and the spread of invasive species in the lakes.

The Great Lakes Collaboration and Implementation Act was proposed in order to reduce the impact of invasive species in the lake, help native fish and wildlife, and improve water quality by removing sediments and pollutants.

Nearly four years later, the bill has made little progress. The Great Lakes Collaboration and Implementation Act itself was a compilation of reauthorizations for existing Great Lakes programs.

The bill would have also created a Great Lakes interagency task force and increased regional collaboration on Great Lakes issues.

As we mentioned in our previous update, the bill died in Congress, but Obama managed to act on the bill"s goals through temporary funding.

Chad Lord, water program director at  NPCA who is also the policy director for the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, said that President Obama has tried to implement aspects of the proposed legislation by requesting additional resources for selected projects.

President Obama has specifically recommended additional spending on sewage infrastructure in the Great Lakes region, and has increased funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which funds water quality protection projects.

The Obama Administration has also launched a "comprehensive Asian Carp control strategy" that includes 45 different initiatives that stop the fish from ever entering the lakes while also targeting and eliminating existing carp populations.


Obama has dedicated $1.3 billion for Great Lakes restoration in the past four years.

At present, Great Lakes funding hinges on Obama"s commitment. Great Lakes advocates told us they would prefer a bill that guarantees funding instead of relying on the support of the current administration.

Aside from simply appropriating funds, President Obama has taken further action by appointing a Great Lakes Coordinator who coordinates the restoration efforts across more than a dozen federal agencies, local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations.

President Obama has also proposed nominations to a Great Lakes advisory board through the  EPA, which actually would have been created by the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act if it had passed through Congress.

Obama sought to get a law passed, and failed. He then used temporary funding to restore the Great Lakes during his administration. We rate this a Compromise.