New federal budget preserves Great Lakes, Sea Grant funds

SANDUSKY — Environmentalists in Ohio and other Great Lakes states have won a big victory in budget negotiations, saving Great Lakes funding that President Donald Trump wanted to wipe out.Budget negotiations concluded Sunday night that will fund the government through Sept. 30.The current fiscal year includes $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.That's the same amount the program received during the last year of the Obama administration.Trump had proposed to wipe out funding for the program, which pays to restore wildlife habitats, clean up toxic pollution, fight farm runoffs feeding algal blooms and deal with other issues in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes states.Under the budget agreement, the bill will have $1.39 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the same as last year, and $863 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is also the same as in 2016, according to a news release issued by the Healing Our Waters — Great Lakes Coalition.Trump had sought to slash the Environmental Protection Agency by about one-third of the agency's budget. Instead, the EPA will have $80 million in cuts — not much in an agency with an $8 billion budget, according to the Washington Post.In yet another victory for supporters of Lake Erie's health, the budget deal also preserves funding for the Ohio Sea Grant program and Sea Grant programs in other states.Sciencemag.org reported Monday that the budget deal funds the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at $5.7 billion, a 1 percent decrease. While Sea Grant funding is reduced from $73 million to $63 million, the Ohio program's budget will effectively increase because the cost of a fisheries program in the Gulf of Mexico, which received some of those funds, will be moved to another agency.Sea Grant provides much of the funding for Stone Laboratory, the research station on Gibraltar Island, near Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Ottawa County. Trump has proposed ending Sea Grant funding. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said the budget, while imperfect, had good news for Ohio.""For Ohio, the agreement brings welcome news in the form of an additional $600 million for fighting the opioid epidemic and critical funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) at the benchmark $300 million level. Despite the Administration's proposal to zero out funding for GLRI next year, this agreement assures that funding for 2017 is forthcoming and provides for the continuation of our important work to improve water quality in the Great Lakes," she said. Trump's proposal to wipe out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was denounced by Ohio lawmakers across the political spectrum. Members of Congress including Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Kaptur, a Democrat, vowed to continue funding for the program.Congress is expected to pass the budget deal soon, averting a possible government shutdown.Attention now will soon shift to the 2018 budget, said Jordan Lubetkin, a spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation."We're going to need this kind of support heading into next year's budget as well," Lubetkin said.Chris Winslow, executive director of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory, said the agreement apparently secures funding for the end of the calendar year. He said Sea Grant officials will have to continue to explain how they benefit the public. Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.