2025 State Budget

Right now, Michigan has a unique opportunity to remediate decades of legacy pollution in the Detroit and Rouge rivers.

Over 5 million cubic meters of contaminated sediments currently sit in the Detroit and Rouge rivers—two critical waterways. Cleaning up pollution of this scale is incredibly expensive—but the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a federal program, will cover a majority of the cost if Michigan can provide a small fraction in state funding.

Lawmakers have the power to secure these federal funds by allocating $100 million for cleanup of these rivers in the 2025 State Budget. There is no guarantee that this sum of federal funds will be available again. It is crucial that we act now to remediate and revitalize these waterways.

Right now, Michigan has a unique opportunity to remediate decades of legacy pollution in the Detroit and Rouge rivers.

Over 5 million cubic meters of contaminated sediments currently sit in the Detroit and Rouge rivers—two critical waterways. Cleaning up pollution of this scale is incredibly expensive—but the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a federal program, will cover a majority of the cost if Michigan can provide a small fraction in state funding.

Lawmakers have the power to secure these federal funds by allocating $100 million for cleanup of these rivers in the 2025 State Budget. There is no guarantee that this sum of federal funds will be available again. It is crucial that we act now to remediate and revitalize these waterways.

Tell your lawmakers: This funding can secure landmark remediation of Detroit & Rouge rivers

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I am writing as a concerned resident of Michigan to encourage you—my elected official—to support funding for contaminated sediment remediation in the Detroit and Rouge rivers in the 2025 State Budget.

Last year, the State of the Strait Report from the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research issued a call to action to clean up long-standing contaminated sediments in the Detroit and Rouge rivers—two Great Lakes Areas of Concern. As you may have heard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) identified up to 5.1 million cubic meters of contaminated sediments on the U.S. side of the Detroit River that need remediation. Additionally, an estimated 344,800 cubic meters of contaminated sediment also require remediation in the lower part of the main stem of the Rouge River.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) includes over $1 billion in direct funding to support legacy polluted sediment cleanup efforts in the Great Lakes, specifically targeting Areas of Concern. These allocated dollars will directly provide 65% of the funding requirements for cleanup efforts in the Detroit and Rouge rivers, both Areas of Concern. The catch: these funds require a 35% non federal match.

For the Detroit River, U.S. EPA and EGLE staff estimate the total cost of sediment remediation at over $900 million. Of that total cost, they are hopeful that over $580 million will be covered by the U.S. EPA through the Great Lakes Legacy Act and $245 million will be covered by industrial partners. That leaves approximately $75 million needed to cover all the likely orphan sites in the Detroit River.

For the Rouge River, U.S. EPA and EGLE staff are estimating the total cost of sediment remediation at over $480 million. Of that total project cost they are hopeful that over $255 million will be covered by the U.S. EPA through the Great Lakes Legacy Act and $200 million will be covered by industrial partners. That leaves approximately $25 million needed to cover all the likely orphan sites in the Rouge River.

We have a unique opportunity to bridge this gap today. We ask state legislators to earmark the $100 million in bridge funding needed to provide the 35% cost share for the known orphan sites in the Detroit and Rouge rivers.

Experience throughout the Great Lakes has shown that remediating contaminated sediments can lead to restoring habitats that leads to reconnecting people with water through greenways and water trails that leads to community and economic revitalization. Simply put, investing in remediation means investing in revitalization.

With only three years remaining to spend down federal Great Lakes Legacy Act funding, we ask that legislators consider this historic opportunity and see the urgency to support earmarking these non-federal match dollars. If this window of opportunity is missed, there is no guarantee that comparable federal money will be available in the future.

We ask that Michigan legislators consider their important role in solving a long-standing pollution challenge in our region. We have a once-in-a-century opportunity to address it for both present and future generations.

Thank you for considering this urgent need.

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