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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Michigan governor signs Great Lakes compact
7/9/2008, 12:37 p.m. EDT
By JOHN FLESHER
The Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan has become the last of the eight Great Lakes states to join a compact designed to protect the region's water.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation approving the compact during a ceremony Wednesday at Oval Beach in the Lake Michigan town of Saugatuck. A day earlier, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced he had signed a ratification bill.
"This is a defining moment in Michigan history," Granholm said. "We must do our part to ensure that our Great Lakes are protected and preserved for generations to come. This legislation fulfills that promise."
The pact still needs approval of Congress and the White House. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have adopted a nearly identical document. They could not join the compact because U.S. states cannot make treaties with foreign governments.
The agreement outlaws diversions of Great Lakes water from their natural drainage basin with rare exceptions, while requiring the states to regulate their own large-scale water use.
Granholm also signed bills to manage Michigan's use of surface and ground water. It establishes a computer system to help businesses determine when and where they can make withdrawals.
"This historic legislation will help preserve our waters but keep them available for recreational, agricultural and business purposes," said state Sen. Patricia Birkholz, a Republican from Saugatuck Township and chairwoman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.
The Council of Great Lakes Governors spent four years negotiating the deal amid rising concern that the worldwide freshwater shortage would lead thirsty regions to tap into the lakes.
Measures seeking congressional ratification should be introduced soon, said David Naftzger, executive director of the council. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are expected to be primary sponsors.
In the House, support for the pact will be led by Rep. James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
More than 20 members of Congress have endorsed the compact, as have Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. The Bush administration has voiced no opposition.
Supporters hope it can be ratified this year, Naftzger said.
"With the momentum that's been generated by the states getting finished and the broad-based support in Congress that is growing every day, we feel that's a good goal to work toward," he said.
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On the Net:
Council of Great Lakes Governors: http://www.cglg.org
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Location: Rhinelander | Good news, do you see this as a major conservation development or mostly political? |
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| Until I see some actual, tangable action I see this as political |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | I'm not sure. Our Governor didn't actually discuss all the parametors with Red Neck Teck before signing, so the jury is still out.   
Edited by walleye express 7/11/2008 9:12 AM
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| That's because it would break international laws or something since Michigan became part of Canada |
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| Nice to see Michigan on board. Key word from the first paragraph is "Last". The states around the Great lakes are at least organizing to do something about it. If memeory serves me correctly the St Larry Seaway is US controlled. So with the States forming a pact and going to congress/the feds. I see it as more than just politcal action.
There is much more tied to this pact than just Saltys traveling the Great Lakes. There is discussion of building large wind farms on the Great Lakes for energy production. There is also discussion of water supplies being tapped from the Great lakes for other states in the south and west. All of these will be overseen by the Pact.
Knowledge is power. |
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Location: Westland, Mich. | i see it as a little of both. the political part is up front, first thing you see. the practical part could take decades to become apparent. The feds now must get their hands around the whole program and give it a hug.
Bottom line, I don’t mind our water being used, but you’d better be a resident or business using it right here.
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| Right. The most significant part of the compact is the fact that Great Lakes water needs to stay in the Great Lakes watershed. There is some lip service for ocean going traffic, but I suspect that the compact will not have an effect on that. The real drivers behind this were two things...the Nestle Ice Mountain bottling plant in Mecosta Michigan (sending Lake Michigan aquifer water out in bottles by the million) and a small town in either Illinois or Indiana (sorry can't remember which) that was being serviced with drinking water from Lake Michigan - yet their sewer systems ran to a different watershed. I suspect that there are many loopholes in the compact so it remains to be seen how it will work (if).
As another poster said...shame on Michigan for being the LAST to jump on board. As the state that sits squarely in the middle of the great lakes, you'd think that Michigan would be the leader in Great Lakes issues. Unfortunately an incompetent DEQ and a nearly incompetent bureaucracy in Lansing continues to have Michigan mired in the mud. The most economically depressed state in the union. |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | A true conservation effort has always been behind it, but the prcoess of approving it has been a politically motivated battle for a few years in Michigan. It's just sad that Michigan took this long, mostly because the lobbying efforts of Nestle seem to outweigh the overwhelming and indisputable will of the constituents. Just glad it's done and off to Capitol Hill. Let's hope politics don't hold it up there. Unfortunately, you can virtually guarantee it will.
Now will someone get Redneck a copy so he can veto it? LOL |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | Based on what Red? I didn't realize you moved here to Michigan and have been keeping up on the story. The tangable action starts the minute it's signed into law. No longer will companies tell us where they're setting up shop to extract water and how much they will be extracting. We will tell them when, where, and how much the minute it is signed. |
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| Terror...Now Michigan residents are the only ones involved in this? Last time I looked Wisconsin has a big chunk of the lake also. Michigan was the one dragging their feet on this! The compact has a way to go before it has teeth. And even so, there are many laws and compacts out there that are ignored or altered at a later date to please people of differing opinions or generations. |
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| Why is ther shame on Michigan? My point about them being the last, was more meant that they have all of the states that surrnond the Great Lakes on board.
Kinda like when they ratified the constitution.  No shame in that. |
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| I am not aware of anything that is not positive about this bill, unless you want to draw water and not return it to the Great Lakes. In my area, New Berlin and Waukesha would like to get the water but are not in the watershed. I am happy to see the law progressing to the Congress. Now lets see what the dopes in Washington do with it???
Jim |
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| I'm a Michigan resident and still say shame on them.
You could look at it as "ratifying", and I'm sure that's the way that the beaurocracy will spin it. But, name one law or policy concerning the Great Lakes that Michigan has proposed. They jump on at the last minute almost all of the time. For crying out loud - Pennsylvania - which has a grand total A TOTAL of 43 miles of Great was the only state that signed after Michigan. Michigan, as having more Great Lakes coastline than any other state should be a leader, not a follower. Yet, that is where we always seem to end up.
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