We keep hearing from people who should know better or are extremely misinformed, and should not comment on something that they are highly uninformed about, that taking any funding away from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) would destroy our Great Lakes.

Last year President Trump wanted to cut funding to GLRI from $300 million to $30 million, the Congress disagreed with him and funded it fully. He once again called for a reduction in that funding this year and the howls began early and are from many.

According to a Michigan Capital Confidential article the Toronto Star stated in a February 14th editorial speaking about the GLRI proposed funding cut stating that it would lead to:

“the destruction of one of the world’s most significant fresh-water fisheries.”

There are many other examples like the one above, what these people and papers do not tell you is the waste that is inherent in the program

For example the Michigan Capital Confidential news site tells us of a few of these wasteful taxpayer spending projects. In 2015, Chicago’s Rosewood Park beach received a $88,775 federal grant to replace the surface of a parking lot with porous material. The intention was to prevent 18,000 gallons of rainwater from flowing into Lake Michigan every year.

Now let us put that in perspective, a nine-foot diameter pool with four-feet tall walls holds roughly 18,500 gallons of water. Experts estimate that Lake Michigan holds six quadrillion gallons of water. That’s 6,000,000,000,000,000 gallons.

Do you believe that is worth $89,000 of our money?

Here are some more:

In 2016 the GLRI paid $2,800 to have someone visit certain areas of Michigan and find all potential roosts of a species called Indiana bats so those trees are not removed. This has nothing to do with the Great Lakes.

In Macomb County, you know the Macomb County that is connected to a Great Lake, Public Works department was given $5.7 million for a project that was described as restoration of a habitat. Part of the money was spent to restore a vacant golf course in Clinton Township to its natural state. By the way what Great Lake is Macomb County on?

I could give you more but it is making me sick so I am going to stop.

Now I am not saying that all of the money funded to the GLRI is a waste of taxpayer dollars but these “projects” sure make me wonder how much is actually “waste, fraud and abuse”.

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