Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was in Glen Arbor Thursday to highlight her Great Lakes 2020 Presidential Agenda.
She hopes the agenda will inspire presidential candidates and members of congress to support protecting the Great Lakes — an effort to ensure clean drinking water for the nation by ridding the Great Lakes of toxic contamination, which is a top priority of her administration.
“Water is not partisan. Water is a fundamental human necessity. It is critical that we are protecting it and that we are promoting this phenomenal resource that makes us so unique,” she said. “I want to talk about six significant platform pieces of this Great Lakes agenda.”
Specifically, Whitmer highlighted six action items that she’d like to see to happen in order to preserve the health of the lakes. According to a fact sheet handed out by her staff, she and the other Great Lake governors want to:
Triple the amount of federal money given to the Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds in an effort to decrease the $179 billion in backlog in drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure so everyone has clean and affordable drinking water.
Increase funding to $425 million per year to help clean up toxic contamination, reduce runoff pollution, stop invasive species and restore wetlands.
Fully fund and build new prevention measures at Brandon Road Lock and support ballast water rules for vessels to reduce the spread of invasive species.
Assist states to reduce nutrient pollution in Western Lake Erie basin by 40 percent by 2025.
Gain more federal funding for ports, harbors and “critical marine infunstructure, including the Soo Locks reconstruction project at Sault Ste. Marie.”
Get the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense to address sPFAS contamination.
Whitmer highlighted that the Great Lakes region makes up 25 percent of the electoral college.
Line 5 was not mentioned in her 2020 Great Lakes agenda, and there’s a specific reason for that.
“In the six point plan, my goal was to build a coalition of fellow governors in the Great Lakes. A number of them have different views when it comes to Line 5, and so while it’s something I’m going to continue to fight for… it was not something we were able to include unfortunately,” she said to reporters after her speech.
Those who attended the event felt inspired by her words and what her efforts mean to the health of the Great Lakes.
“I think it’s really positive. I like how she’s talked about how it’s bipartisan, you know, everybody needs water. It’s not Republican or Democrat,” Janet Lively of Traverse City. “I think that people need to get the message. We’re serious about this. We’re serious about protecting water above any other ideology. That is really important.”
Seth Bernard also liked the governor’s talking points.
“It’s refreshing to have a leader who’s so committed to protecting and preserving something that’s absolutely essential for all of us,” he said.