We can’t afford to retreat from environmental progress

PortHuron-Unknown

Many are too young to remember the legacy of years of unregulated pollution. Burning rivers, toxic dumps, smog-filled cities, a “dead” Lake Erie, and chemical “blobs” in the St. Clair River attested to the necessity of environmental regulation.

While not always the case, (a clear example to the contrary would be GM’s inability to use corrosive Flint water in their process) environmental regulations generally do increase costs to corporations and reduce profit margins. Therefore it is unreasonable to expect that industries will be self-regulating. Consumers will choose lower-priced goods, therefore it is also unrealistic to think that environmental protection will be effectively market-regulated.

Public outcry in the 1970s demanded the federal role in protection of our nation’s natural resources and resulted in the passage of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, among others, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency to administer those laws.

The protection of those natural resources is a proper role of the federal government, in conjunction with the states. For the federal government to abdicate that responsibility leaves a situation where states would compete for industries by having more lax regulations. Just ask residents in Monroe, whose drinking water supplies are threatened by Lake Erie toxic algal blooms, whether they are impacted by interstate pollution problems.

President Trump’s actions in recent weeks reveal an alarming disregard for that responsibility. He has called for a slashing of the EPA budget and staffing, a massive rescinding of environmental regulations, a revision of the Clean Water Rule, issued an EPA “gag order,” appointed an oil industry lobbyist as the top EPA administrator, and most recently proposed eliminating all funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

We in the St. Clair River area have benefited greatly from this program designed to restore and protect our Great Lakes. In 2005, under President Bush, Great Lakes governors, other elected officials, and citizens provided input to the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. This report provided specific strategies and recommendations for restoration priorities including aquatic invasive species, Areas of Concern, habitat and coastal health, contaminated sediment cleanup, and pollution reduction. A Brookings Institute report estimated that fully implementing the recommendations would yield $50 billion in long-term benefits.

Since the GLRI was first funded in 2009, we have been able to restore habitat in several areas along the St. Clair River: the (Port Huron) Blue Water River Walk, the Marysville Living Shoreline and Cuttle Creek, the Marine City and Krispin Drains, and three fish spawning reefs are among the projects which represent $21 million of GLRI investment. The funding has also allowed the Michigan DEQ to accomplish assessments of bird and animal deformities, fish contaminant levels, and other pollution-related problems in the St. Clair River and elsewhere across the state.

We need to hold President Trump accountable for fulfilling his campaign promise to protect the Great Lakes, and to fulfill his responsibility to administer the environmental laws which Congress has passed. We cannot return to the days of unregulated pollution.

Patty Troy is U.S. co-chairwoman of the St. Clair River Binational Public Advisory Council.