Working to restore the Great Lakes.

Key stakeholders from federal, state, and tribal levels came together a few years ago to form the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration of National Significance.  The partnership developed the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, which is a strategy that should be followed in order to help restore the Great Lakes.  The strategy is estimated to cost $20 billion dollars over the next twenty years.  The Brookings Institution just recently released a study finding that a $26 billion dollar investment in restoring the Great Lakes would result in $50 billion in long-term economic benefits to the economy.  Thus, it is imperative that Michigan do something to start leveraging the funding needed to restore the Great Lakes before it is too late.  I believe that in order to encourage the federal government and other states to start raising funds on its own for this purpose, Michigan must take the lead.  By putting forth a bond proposal to the voters, Michigan can lead by example in providing funds to help restore the Great Lakes.  This is something Michigan must do as the Great Lakes state and this is something that the state legislature can work on in order to set Michigan apart from other states.