Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is part of an effort pressing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve state assistance for keeping beaches clean, including those along the Great Lakes. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today found that the EPA’s formula to distribute grants intended to help states monitor the well-being of beaches “does not accurately reflect the monitoring needs of the states.” In a letter to the EPA, Feingold and other Great Lakes’ senators and representatives asked the EPA to reconsider how it distributes BEACH Act grants.

“Beach closures due to health concerns have been a serious problem in Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states for too long,” Feingold said. “Not only is this a health concern, but the closures hurt local businesses and jobs that rely on lakefront recreation. While we have a grant program in place to help states monitor the health conditions of their beaches, we must use the authorized money much more effectively.”

The GAO report found that the formula EPA uses to distribute BEACH Act grants does not accurately reflect the needs of the states. The GAO recommended that grants be distributed in a way that helps states improve their water quality monitoring at beaches and how they notify the public about health conditions. The EPA makes grants available, under the BEACH Act (Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act), which passed in 2000, to participating coastal and Great Lakes states to develop and implement their statewide beach programs for monitoring and notifying the public of potential health risks.

“As beach closures become more and more regular, we have to find a way to improve how we care for our beaches in order to keep people healthy and businesses running,” Feingold said.