The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI): A Driver for the Region’s Prosperity through Economic, Environmental, and Societal Revitalization

Please Join the Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI), along with the Great Lakes Commission, the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR), and other Great Lakes Stakeholders for a Congressional briefing on the successes of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and the continued need for federal support to clean up the Great Lakes.

Thursday, September 19, 2019
Congressional Visitor’s Center
SVC 203-02
10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m

  • Introduction and Overview of the GLRI – NEMWI’s Great Lakes Washington Program
  • Assessing the Investment: the Economic Impact of the GLRI – Great Lakes Commission
  • Areas of Concern (AOC) Clean-up and Economic Revitalization – IAGLR
  • The Need for the GLRI Act of 2019 – Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) has been a critical federal program in advancing and growing the Great Lakes region’s economy.  Investments through the GLRI have helped create jobs and have led to long-term economic benefits for the Great Lakes states and the country. A report completed last fall from economists at the University of Michigan, Central Michigan University, and Duke University highlighted and quantified the economic prosperity that the GLRI is creating in the region. The study showed that for every $1 the GLRI invested in restoration funding, more than $3 in additional economic activity was generated region-wide. Another newly released report by the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) found that major positive communal and economic benefits have been achieved through the cleanup of the most toxic and polluted sites in the Great Lakes.

The briefing will not only focus on the GLRI’s success stories, but also discuss the continued need for increased federal support for the Great Lakes. This summer, bipartisan and bicameral legislation (S. 2295 and H.R. 4031) was introduced in Congress that would reauthorize the GLRI for five years starting in FY 2022 at $375 million and increase the authorized amount by $25 million each year through FY 2026. The briefing will provide an overview of the continued resources needed in the Great Lakes to continue the progress being made, which would be supported by the GLRI Act of 2019.

To RSVP please email Matt McKenna with the Northeast-Midwest Institute at mmckenna@nemw.org.