An article published by The Detroit News on March 16, titled “Trump’s budget plan hurts Michigan, Great Lakes cleanup” discusses President Trump’s budget blueprint, which was revealed earlier this month.
The budget plan proposes to eliminate a cleanup program for the Great Lakes Basin, legal aid for the poor, low-income heating assistance, and other federal programs that would affect Michigan writes the author.
The plan makes way for a proposed $54 billion increase in military spending and would cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget significantly. These cuts would eliminate the EPA’s Great Lakes restoration Initiative along with other regional programs.
Barry Rabe, who chairs the EPA’s Assumable Waters Advisory Board, says that Trump’s plan will test how states respond when the federal government lifts previous mandates.
“Do states use that authority [for] a so-called ‘race to the top’? Or do they race to the bottom and reduce their oversight because of pressure from regulated industries that would appreciate a freer hand?” says Rabe. “If this budget or anything close to it is adopted, along with some of the possible regulatory changes, we really test what Michigan and other states would do with that new latitude.”