Great Lakes Regional Collaboration

US & Canada to Iron out Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

New threats are driving the US and Canada to reconsider the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that lays the original milestones for restoring and then protecting the chemical and biological make up of the Great Lakes.

It only took two decades to out-date the latest version of the Agreement as new invasive species, chemicals and pollution seeped into our fresh waters. During the same era, our understanding of the region’s environment grew and also made the former agreement a bit anachronistic. Add in the predictions associated with climate change and it becomes real apparent real fast that we need to Read More » »

Espirit de corps

Republicans and Democratic lawmakers from the Great Lakes region have joined together in one voice to implore their colleagues to fully fund President Obama’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In a strongly worded letter, the Great Lakes Congressional Task Force explained the importance of this funding to our region and entire nation as the need for fresh drinking water shrinks around the globe. The letter is a rallying cry, evidence that our lawmakers will not back down because regardless of their politics they think this initiative is necessary for the nation.

The new money would address the problems of invasive species and Read More » »

President’s Plan Gains Definition

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a fantastic story that outlines excactly where the $475 million will go if the House and Senate Appropriations Committees fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Word on the Street

Even before Barack Obama won last night, he had teams of people planning for his 76-day transition. Word on the streets of Chicago and Washington is that Illinois Democrat Rahm Emanuel is on Obama’s short list for the Chief-of-Staff position.

This is the same man who stood before HOW a little more than a year ago and implored us to make this Presidential election about the Great Lakes. The same man who said he would do everything in his power to get the $26 billion into law that we need to heal and revive the lakes. Now, the Washington Post Read More » »

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

Hear ye, hear ye, the Great Lakes Compact is law. With one fell swoop of his pen, President George Bush sealed the deal on our eight-state-two-nation compact.

While some argued that the Compact moved to swiftly through the ratification process, Gov. Jim Doyle pointed out that it took years to forge the pact – ten to be exact. “After years of negotiating and building support for this interstate compact, we now have a defined legal framework to protect the waters that define us,” Doyle stated.

The whole thing started ten years ago when our region was outraged that a Canadian businessman would Read More » »

It’s a Celebration

The fourth annual Healing Our Waters Coalition Conference opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Wednesday night to much fanfare and celebration over the successful passage of the Great Lakes Compact in the eight state legislatures. The following morning, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (D) used his keynote speech to implore those concerned with the Great Lakes to take it to the next level and use the Compact as a foundation to meet all the goals for restoration set by the eight states just a few years ago.

“We need to make sure this is a top priority for everyone in the United Read More » »

US Senate Approves Great Lakes Compact

US Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-OH) pushed the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Compact through the US Senate today. The Senate passed the bill unanimously this afternoon. The US House is expected to take up the legislation when they return from summer recess in September. Thanks to our Great Lakes Senators for ensuring the success of the Compact!

By and By

Finally, President G.W. Bush is seeing some progress being made on his 2004 Executive Order to come up with a strategy to restore the Great Lakes, and he is enthusiastically urging an apparently willing Congress to push the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Compact through the ratification process. On the eve of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Compact, the US President released a congratulatory statement to the eight states for the enormous cooperative effort shown in approving the compact.

“Made in the spirit of cooperative conservation, this Compact is the result of many years of close coordination Read More » »

Some in Ohio and Wisconsin Need Convincing

The recent momentum generated by Indiana and New York’s approval of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact may not be enough to convince a few lawmakers in Ohio and Wisconsin to follow suit. Legislators in the two states, currently a battlefield for the democratic presidential nominating process, are also stymieing the compact over last minute legalistic arguments. At stake is the ability of the Great Lakes states to keep the water in the Great Lakes, as well as limit invasive species and ecological devastation.

“This is a shortsighted move that places the special interests of a few Read More » »

Eight Is Enough

Indiana’s Senate has discovered a good way to ensure that the Great Lakes don’t lose precious water to Southern and Western states – and that they remain ecologically and economically sound by passing the regional Compact.

If Indiana’s House shows similar support – the Senate passed it unanimously – then it will become the third state to agree to regulate, conserve and protect the five lakes. Minnesota and Illinois have signed the compact. There are rumblings in New York supporting it too, according to recent news stories that have appeared in the Buffalo News and the Rochester Democrat Read More » »