Inside the National Press Club

For those of you who have never had a chance to attend a press conference at the venerable National Press Club in Washington D.C., it's a venue that provides rooms for press events (for a fee) and is where most organizations hold press conferences.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative held its press conference there today to release a report on spending by local governments on the Great Lakes.

This morning's event was attended physically by a handful of reporters, but 15 reporters also attended by conference call. This is a good turnout for this type of event.

Reporter interest was heightened by a front page New York Times story, provided to the paper as an "exclusive" for publication this morning. Exclusives are often a good tactic for stimulating reporter interest, particularly when a story is complicated.

The press conference format was simple. Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative members made brief presentations lasting approximately 15 minutes in all. Then reporters asked questions. The lead question from Bloomberg News was a common one for people working on Great Lakes issues: What kind of pressure are Great Lakes states getting to divert water to western U.S. states. The answer: None, for now, but it's coming.

Associated Press, attending by conference call, followed up with a question about the amount of money the federal government is investing in Great Lakes projects.

And that was it. Watch your paper for tomorrow's news.

Big News: Great Lakes cities spend $15 billion on restoration - where's Washington?

A New York Times article this morning has a story on a new report, detailing the amount of money Great Lakes cities and local governments are spending to protect and restore the Great Lakes - more than 15 billion dollars annually.

The report points out that the federal government's role pales in comparison - approximately $350 million annually, according to Jordan Lubkin, communications director for the Healing Our Waters coaltion.

Given that the Great Lakes comprise one-fifth of the world's fresh water and are critical to the region's economy both in terms of jobs and quality of life, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which released the report, believes that the federal government can and should do much more.

Great Lakes municiple leaders believe that the federal government needs to step up to the plate and help local governments maintain adequate sewage facilities, fight toxic pollution and ward off invasive species, among other problems.

"Municipalities in both the U.S. and Canada are spending billions of dollars on stewardship, protection, cleanup, to reduce and prevent pollution, and to buy and protect shorelines. Local government is pulling its weight and more. But federal funding has not kept pace," said James Ulich, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.