WASHINGTON – With the Great Lakes increasingly threatened by invasive species, habitat loss, toxic sediment, and other dangerous conditions, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer Monday announced efforts to get the federal government to do more  to ensure that “vital funding” is delivered to local governments currently footing the billion-dollar bill for programs to protect and preserve New York’s most precious natural resource.

Schumer has joined a bipartisan coalition of senators from Great Lakes states in sending letters to various subcommittees within the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging them to include funding for these essential programs in Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations. With the federal government largely ignoring the threats to the Great Lakes that have mounted over the past decade, local governments have been forced to foot the bill for supporting these programs, whose livelihood is further jeopardized by dramatic funding cuts in the President’s proposed FY09 budget. 

Schumer, noting the importance of the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to New York State’s economy, recreation and tourism, joined a bipartisan senate coalition in issuing a call to arms for the federal government to stop shirking their responsibility and start providing fiscal aid to the cities and towns currently shouldering the burden of supporting vital programs and initiatives to save the Great Lakes.

According to a study released by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative last month, local governments are spending about $15 billion annually on Great Lakes environmental programs, while the federal government is not doing enough.

Compounding the problem, Schumer noted, is the fact that President Bush’s proposed FY09 budget would cut spending for the Great Lakes by 16 percent from this year, or over $50 million. That puts the allocated Great Lakes funding at under $300 million, which is less than half of what the Great Lakes Coalition estimates should be allocated for these programs.