Joint media statement from Alliance for the Great Lakes, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, and National Wildlife Federation
March 7, 2018 (Toledo, OH) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its Domestic Action Plan for achieving phosphorus reductions in Lake Erie. The plan incorporates federal and state efforts to achieve a bi-national goal between the United States and Canada in the 2016 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of a 40% reduction by 2025.
A coalition of conservation and environmental organizations including the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and the National Wildlife Federation issued the following statement:
“The U.S. Domestic Action Plan includes new benchmarks and projections for nutrient reduction goals. We note favorably the inclusion of specific, science-based strategies and tactics that can begin to reduce nutrients, especially water management best practices. However, voluntary efforts to date have proven to be inadequate to reduce nutrient runoff. We need specific contingency plans if the projections and benchmarks fail to be realized.
Harmful algal blooms annually threaten the drinking water, health, economy, ecology, and people of the Western Lake Erie basin. The goals set by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement are critical to reducing these harmful algal blooms, but Ohio and Michigan are already behind pace to meet them. The U.S. Domestic Action Plan (DAP) lacks the accountability needed to reach phosphorus reduction targets. Reaching them will take a substantive accountability framework including Clean Water Act and other regulations as backstops, but sadly this approach is lacking in the DAP.”
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Contact: Jennifer Caddick, Alliance for the Great Lakes, jcaddick@greatlakes.org, 312-445-9760