The executive director at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research doubts the Trump administration will go through with a massive funding cut for an initiative that helps keep the lakes healthy.
They may be separate entities, but the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research works very closely with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative which has been threatened again with a 90 per cent funding cut, as part of cutbacks proposed for the Environmental Protection Agency. This is the third year in a row funding has been threatened.
Executive Director Robert Michael McKay told BlackburnNews.com he has been through this many times before, and not just with President Donald Trump's White House.
"What's happened before, and will happen this time again is there is tremendous bipartisan support in U.S. Congress for a healthy Great Lakes," said McKay. "They realize the lakes are very important economically for the Great Lakes basin. They consider them a national treasure, and arguably the most important natural resource on the entire continent."
Before coming to the University of Windsor, McKay, a biologist, worked for 21 years on the faculty at Bowling Green State University. He told BlackburnNews.com past administrations have also proposed deep funding cuts, not just the current one.
If the initiative does have its budget cut, it could impact some joint projects, but McKay said it could also make it harder for the institute here to attract funding from Canadian governments.
"It helps us leverage funding support in Canada," he said. "When we got to the federal government or the provincial government requesting funds in support of Great Lakes work, if they know we have active collaborations with American partners who are funded, it gives them more confidence."