Letter to the Chicago Sun Times Editorial Board - Feds must help protect Great Lakes shorelines

Letter

The Sun-Times' recent editorial is right: the Trump Administration must do more to protect the shorelines of the Great Lakes, including the crown jewel that is our Lake Michigan.

That is why last month I joined a bipartisan group of Great Lakes Senators in sending a letter urging the Trump administration to fund and complete the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study. I helped authorize the study in the 2018 Water Resources Development Act, but the Trump administration has continued to block funding. The study would identify areas in the Great Lakes that are vulnerable to climate change and recommend measures and infrastructure to increase resilience.

Additionally, I joined Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Bobby Rush, Danny K. Davis, Mike Quigley and Robin Kelly in sending a letter to the Trump administration to call for funding in order to conduct a reevaluation of the Chicago Shoreline Project. The reevaluation would help expand the shoreline project to additional sections of the lakeshore and protect against rising lake levels.

It is critical that we maintain a safe, updated, and strong shoreline along Lake Shore Drive, especially as impacts of climate change will test the strength of Chicago's shoreline in the years to come. I've made it a priority to fight for federal investments to protect our shoreline in the past -- helping secure $185 million for already completed sections of the Army Corps' Chicago Shoreline project -- and I will continue to do so.

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