Press release: “Restoring the Great Lakes to health will create $50 billion in economic benefit for the region, a new cost-benefit analysis conducted by the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program finds. According to Healthy Waters, Strong Economy: The Benefits of Restoring the Great Lakes Ecosystem (16 pages, PDF), efforts to improve the health of the Great Lakes will produce economic gains that are worth almost twice as much as the cost of those efforts. Funding to modernize wastewater treatment systems would reduce sewage and other contamination, which would result in improved water quality and fewer beach closings; efforts to eliminate invasive species would increase the supply of fish in the lakes and stem the dislocation of sport-fishery workers and assets; restoring and protecting wildlife habitat for birds and waterfowl would benefit naturalists and hunters; and removing contaminated sediment in areas of high concern would reclaim communities and increase property values.”