The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative says that their member municipalities are willing to spend the money to protect the shoreline, but they’re hampered by inflation and labour shortages.
In a recent survey, GLSLCI found that most of their member communities will spend anywhere between $1 million and $10 million through 2026 to make shorelines more resilient.
Bruce County Warden Chris Peabody says that “We appreciate the Great Lakes Cities Initiative pursuing this with the shoreline erosion that we experienced two years ago, with the high water levels. The trail to the Cabot Head lighthouse — the road was totally wiped out, and Saugeen Shores experienced significant damage, so we really appreciate that this year they’re focusing on getting funding to mitigate shoreline damage.”
The organization is praising recent moves by both the Canadian and American federal governments.
The Canadian government recently announced they were committing $1.6 billion through its National Adaptation Strategy, which is meant to fund local and regional disaster mitigation measures.
Peabody adds that while municipalities, including in Bruce and Grey Counties are doing what they can, “We definitely can’t get by mitigating damages to our shoreline without provincial and federal help.”
The United States government made more than $8 billion available through their Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act for both state and municipal governments to implement climate change action plans and coastal resilience measures.
“The other thing that the county is doing for concerns about environmental damage linked to global warming is that we’ve committed funding and support to the Clean Energy Frontier Group, which is out of the Nuclear Innovation Institute, so we are supporting their efforts in advocacy in promoting Net Zero and carbon-free energy. So we’re strong partners in the clean energy frontier.”
Although the federal government has committed funding, there is no word on when or how that money will be made available.
The GLSLCI is set to hold its annual conference this year in Chicago from June 6-9th, according to the organization’s website.
The conference is meant to have the mayors of member municipalities meet and collaborate with others experiencing climate-related challenges, as well as meet with world-renowned climate planning experts.
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is a bi-national, mayor-led coalition of both Canadian and U.S. cities that are dedicated to protecting the environmental and socioeconomic health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin, and has more than 230 member municipalities.