Navigating the threats to environmental safeguards, every day, all at once

The never-ending flood

The current flood of anti-environmental budget cuts, hollowed public agencies, hostile executive orders, and anti-regulatory backlash, is more than a fire hose, it is a 1000-year flood, and it is intentional.

Last week I found myself in a conversation about how the “flood” will affect Great Lakes protection. In an awkward effort to try to triage where public response is most desperately needed, I asked, “Can we sort out the existential threats from the awful but survivable threats?” Responding to the crisis du jour is like playing policy whack-a-mole, and isn’t strategic nor sustainable, yet the impact of so many of these pending actions is so large, they can’t be ignored.

Here's a quick stab at some of the threats that I think rise to the existential level:

1. Action by the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 3898) to undermine the very fabric and integrity of the U.S. Clean Water Act. From reducing drinking water protections, to doubling pollution discharge permit-periods to avoid those pesky renewal reviews, to recommendations to prohibit regulatory actions unless existing technology could address the problem, this bill is big and as one colleague described it, “horrible.”

2. Gutting funding for the federal regulatory and service agencies, from the cuts already imposed, to efforts to rescind current funding in the pending “big bill,” to Trump’s proposed 2026 budget. The latter proposes to cut EPA’s budget by more than half of its current funding. Other agencies with significant roles in Great Lakes land, water, and species protection face severe cutbacks. These include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and even the Coast Guard—the front lines for responding to spills in the U.S. Great Lakes waters.

3. Gutting the research capacity of the world’s best freshwater science, along with complementary public health research. For more than 50 years, Great Lakes Science has provided breakthroughs and insights into how to address challenges from the lake trout crash, to human exposure to toxic chemicals, to drinking water safety and far beyond. Our lives and the lakes are better and healthier because of their work. Killing the messenger from our early warning system is extreme folly.

4. Massive cuts in federal staffing (and subsequently state staffing due to loss of federal funds). Dramatic reductions in the federal workforce, office consolidations, and other mechanisms for forcing or disincentivizing retention of skilled federal workers will shrink and/or and eliminate staffing across agencies. This includes professionals with decades of knowledge and skills in Great Lakes regulation, science, and inter-agency cooperation. This is shattering institutional memory, technical capacity, and undermining early career development for a new generation of Great Lakes experts.

The “awful but survivable” list is long, and let’s agree that survival is not the same thing as thriving. Because it is so long, I’ll take on some of those topics in future posts. Meanwhile, not all the awful is happening on the U.S. side of the border. In part, because of the tariff consequences, Canada is positioning itself to rapidly gear up domestic economic development. This includes cutting regulations, reducing, or ignoring decision-making timelines, expediting permits, and eliminating traditional consultation with rights holders and stakeholders.

We should also note that the U.S. collapse of base budgets and the loss of staff, institutional memory, and scientific capacity, will undermine the U.S. ability to carry out supplementary work through efforts such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Moreover, If Congress enacts HR 3898, it will undercut decades of regulatory investments and public health safeguards, and the Clean Water Act would be rendered a mere shadow of its former self.

Let me encourage you to pick at least one of the threats and weigh in now with your elected officials, or letters to the editor, social media, and/or donations to Great Lakes groups working to stem the flood Here’s a link to more information about HR 3898 provided by the Hydropower Reform Coalition. Whether you celebrate Canada Day, Independence Day, both or neither, please exercise your right to voice your concerns and make a difference. As I post this I am reeling from today’s Supreme Court decisions, and who knows what will happen this afternoon and tomorrow. As Curtis Mayfield sang, we’ve got to “Keep on keeping on” with whatever capacities remain.

—Jane Elder

GLEN welcomes diverse perspectives on Great Lakes protection. Please note that the views in our posts are those of the author. To learn more about GLEN please visit our website at https://www.greatlakesecoregion.org/

Image credit: California Department of Water Resources (for illustrative purposes only)