A subcommittee of the Michigan House Science Committee is meeting at Grand Valley State University's Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton Street, at 1 p.m. Friday for the briefing "Great Lakes Restoration: How? How Soon?" The Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards is looking at the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration science recommendations and discussing what the top priorities should be.
The briefing comes following the recent introduction of a multi-billion dollar bill by a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators, including Ehlers, to clean up the Great Lakes. This year has been identified as a critical time for the Great Lakes. A December 2005 report, endorsed by more than 60 of the Great Lakes region's leading scientists, stated that the Lakes are on the verge of ecological collapse.
** Ehlers, who chairs the subcommittee, will address media just outside the Eberhard Center at 12:30 p.m. Media are also invited to attend the briefing.** Other speakers at the press conference will include: Dr. Don Scavia, Ph.D., Healing Our Waters Coalition and University of Michigan; Andy Buchsbaum, National Wildlife Federation; and Dan Radloff, Michigan United Conservation Clubs Statewide Vice President.
Among witnesses giving testimony at the briefing will be Alan Steinman, director of Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute. Other witnesses include representatives from the Great Lakes National Program Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Coastal Management Program of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Healing Our Waters Coalition.
