February 13, 2020

Duckworth, Durbin Statement on Trump Administration's Failure to Include Funding for Great Lakes Shoreline Programs

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today called out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 work plan for not including funding for two important Great Lakes shoreline programs – the Great Lakes Resiliency Study and the Chicago Shoreline Project. 

“As the Great Lakes shoreline faces the most serious environmental threat in decades, the Army Corps’ work plan fails to provide funding for its protection,” Durbin said. “Ignoring the urgency of this threat to Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes guarantees this President will face a fight.”

“We should be doing all we can to protect and restore our beautiful shorelines in Chicago and I’m disappointed that the Trump Administration shortchanges Chicago in the U.S. Army Corps’ 2020 work plan by not including critical shoreline protection funding,” said Duckworth. “I’ll keep working with the Illinois delegation to pursue other funding opportunities for the Great Lakes Resiliency Study and the Chicago Shoreline Project.”

The Great Lakes Resiliency Study would map out a plan to manage and protect 5,200 miles of Great Lakes coastline.  Durbin secured authorization for the Great Lakes Resiliency Study in the 2018 Water Resource and Development bill.  Durbin and Duckworth recently sent a letter with a bipartisan group of Great Lakes Senators pushing the Corps to fund the study through the work plan. 

The Chicago Shoreline Project would re-evaluate the impact of climate change on the Great Lakes shoreline.  A re-evaluation of the project is needed to determine how best to expand the shoreline project to additional sections of the lakeshore and protect against rising lake levels.  Durbin and Duckworth recently sent a letter along with U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Bobby Rush (D-IL-01), Danny K. Davis (D-IL-047), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), and Robin Kelly (D-IL-02) pushing the Corps to provide funds to initiate a re-evaluation of the project.

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