By AP
TRAVERSE CITY, MI –
President Barack Obama's 2012 budget calls for spending $350 million on a long-range Great Lakes cleanup program.
The proposal released Monday represents a cut from the $475 million that Obama proposed and Congress approved for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative during his first year in office.
But it's an increase from the $300 million that Obama sought for 2011, although it's uncertain whether that money will come through because Congress has yet to approve the budget for the current fiscal year.
During his campaign in 2008, Obama pledged $5 billion over a decade for the program, which would battle invasive species, step up removal of toxic sediments, restore wildlife habitat and take other steps to fix longstanding environmental problems in the Great Lakes.