Fact Check
President Trump and the Great Lakes
“I support the Great Lakes.
Always have.”
President Trump made these remarks at a rally in Grand Rapids on March 28, 2019. He want on to say: “I’m going to get… full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration initiative, which you’ve been trying to get for over 30 years.” (Source: MLive.com)
In fact, President Obama signed legislation creating the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2009. The program received over $2.3 billion in federal funding from FY 2010 through FY 2017. (Source: GLRI.US/Funding)
President Trump’s first budget proposal, released in May 2017,
“zeroes out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative” for FY 2018.
In FY 2019 an again in 2020, President Trump proposed cutting GLRI funding by 90%, to just $30 million per year.
Sources: Detroit Free Press, May 23, 2017;
FactCheck.org, March 29, 2019
An April 2020 report by the Environmental Law and Policy Center (EPLC), using data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows:
more pollution in the Great Lakes since President Trump took office
fewer cases and lower penalties against polluters;
reduced compliance with environmental laws
Sources: ELPC, April 2020;
Detroit Free Press, April 20, 2020