Finding the Light in the Fog

Fog creeps across the lake until water and sky bleed together

• The Administration’s preliminary budget slashed the recommended $300 million on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to a paltry $10 million.
• The President signed an executive order to roll back a rule that would limit pollution in wetlands and small bodies of water like streams, tributaries, headwaters. The economy comes first, he said. 

The news from the White House last week rolled in like the fog, a bone-chilling dampness that slowly swallowed the horizon. By week’s end, I was struggling to see even a pinhole of light . . .

• The much-anticipated plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan was deferred indefinitely.

and the gray erases the horizon

Clean, fresh water is integral to our transition from “The Rust Belt” to a world leader in innovation, economic prosperity, and sustainable growth. Our water differentiates us as a region. We need the President working with us, not against us, on this journey.
 
Next week is Great Lakes Week in Washington, D.C., a week designed to educate the Administration and members of Congress on a strategy developed by a broad coalition of leaders committed to restoring and protecting the world’s largest body of fresh surface water. For the last thirteen years, leaders involved in the development and implementation of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration strategy have travelled to our nation’s capital during a week in March to outline progress, share learnings, and ask for continued support.
 
It is disheartening the President made decisions that impact the Great Lakes two weeks prior to their visit. Just as the misty cold stiffens an arthritic body, so, too, can despair trigger political paralysis.
 
The answer to both is to keep moving.
 
And so, I am writing the President, requesting he set aside time next week to meet with the leaders of the Great Lakes region . . . that he listen . . . that he be open to modifying his earlier decisions. We don’t have to choose between jobs and fresh water. We can have both. We must have both.
 
It is the first time I have written a letter to a President. Copies will go to my elected officials. They, too, —Democrats and Republicans—have called the decisions “alarming.” And because challenging a new leader in any organization the first 100 days in office takes courage, I want them to know I have their back.
 
Lastly, March 15th, Great Lakes Day, has historically been called “The Ides of March.” Several readers notified me of a grass roots movement to send postcards to the President that day—a peaceful campaign designed to engage people in “a simple, cheap, and easy way to show up and be heard.” Called “#The Ides of Trump,” or “The Postcard Protest Campaign,” the movement encourages people with diverse experiences, knowledge, opinions, and priorities to reach out to our new President. His challenge, as our leader, is to help us find ways to bridge our differences, to negotiate respectfully with those of opposing views, to search for solutions in which we all feel like winners.
 
It is a tall task during a time of such polarity. That is why I, too, am sending a postcard on the 15th. It is a request that he lead by example, that he further our journey as a nation by working with us—not driving us further apart.
 
I hope you will join me. 
​
President Donald Trump 
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

To find the address of your elected officials, visit: 
http://www.house.gov 
and https://www.senate.gov 

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Letter to the President

March 7, 2017

Dear Mr. President:
 
Please support the people in the eight Great Lakes states and our elected officials as we rebuild our economy based on clean water and air. Be a part of our journey as we transition from “The Rust Belt” to a leader in innovation, economic prosperity, and sustainable growth. We need your help in:

• Fully funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $300 million—as recommended by Congress. These monies, supplemented by state, local and private funds, are used to improve our water quality, provide jobs, and preserve a quality of life unique to our region and key to our transition.

 

• Supporting the Army Corps of Engineers in their efforts to prevent the invasive Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan. These carp will decimate a $7 billion fishing industry. Please allow the Corps to release a plan to implement new science at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Il.  As the juvenile carp are already within range of the dam, time is of the essence.

 

• Protecting the wetlands and smaller bodies of water that attract 4.6 million hunters, 23.2 million bird watchers, 9.2 million anglers. Outdoor recreational activities generate 217,635 jobs and $16 billion in revenue each year to the eight Great Lakes states. (As reported by Michigan Sea Grant in 2011)

 
These and other initiatives are part of a larger strategy developed in 2004 by a broad coalition of mayors, governors, tribes, business and industry leaders, scientists, and environmental and conservation organizations. Many will be in Washington, D.C. the week of March 13th for Great Lakes Week—to report on progress implementing the strategy and to ask Congress and the Administration for continued support. Please carve out time to listen.
 
Thank you.
 
Name and Address to include full zip code
cc: Congressional Representative and Senators​

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Postcard

#TheIdes and Great Lakes Day in Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President, 

Please support the people in the eight Great Lakes states and our elected officials as we rebuild our economy based on clean water and air.  It is a delicate balancing act—one that necessitates finding ways to bridge our differences, to negotiate respectfully with those of opposing views, to search for solutions in which we all win. Please join us on our journey—leading by example as we come together to build a prosperous and sustainable economy. Thank you. ​

cc: Congressional Representative and Senators​

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To Learn More: 

• Asian Carp: MILive 3/1/2017
• Preliminary Budget: The Detroit Free Press 3/2/2017
• "Waters of the United States" rule
  • The Washington Post 3/2/2017
  • The New York Times 2/28/2017
• Postcard campaign: CBS SF Bay Area 2/16/2017
• Great Lakes economics: "Vital to Our Nation's Economy: Great Lakes Jobs 2011 Report" as published by Michigan Sea Grant