The Great Lakes, located in the northeastern part of the U.S., represent five massive bodies of water holding one-fifth of the world’s surface water. Comprised of Lake Superior (the largest), Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, these lakes (with the addition of Lake St. Clair and the St. Lawrence River as their drainage basin) serve the water needs of eight U.S. states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York) and several Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec), all of whom are more or less unwilling to share this vast resource with the lower 48 states, many of which are experiencing either chronic or sudden, inexplicable drought as a result of global warming.
Recent action to protect these lakes began on December 13, 2005, when governors from the various states and Canadian premiers from associated provinces signed agreements at the Council of Great Lakes Governors’ (CGLG) Leadership Summit. These agreements -- The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement and The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (otherwise known as The Great Lakes Water Compact, or simply the Compact) -- have since morphed into a complex suite of rules and regulations governing the disposition and export of Great Lakes water, which becomes increasingly more precious as the Southwest grows drier and typically wet regions like the Southeast become parched.
To date, six states (Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Michigan and Wisconsin) have ratified the agreement, with Ohio and Pennsylvania pending approval by their respective state senates. When all eight states have ratified The Compact, it will go to Congress for final approval. Once approved, any state governor could block diversions of water to areas outside the Great Lakes drainage basin. This is especially important for Ohio, where Lake Erie -- the shallowest of the five lakes -- depends on Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior for 80 percent of its water, and is the most susceptible to ecological damage due to fluctuating water levels.
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After two decades of diluting or deleting Clean Water Act provisions by the Bush administration, the Great Lakes again faces rising pollution, fluctuating water levels, invasive species, and backfilling of wetlands and streams whose waters feed and clean the Lakes. Proponents of the Compact argue that the law will be toothless if Congress doesn’t also pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2008 – a bill that restores the enforcement power lost under the above-mentioned administration.
Opponents of the 2008 proposal, also known as the Oberstar/Feingold Clean Water Restoration Act, insist the Act is nothing more than an attempt to restrict water sports enthusiasts and will do nothing to improve the various Lakes’ environmental quality. Congressman James Oberstar (D-Mn.), one of the sponsors, denies this charge and insists that the bill, if passed, will, at the very least, clear up Supreme Court confusion created in 2006, when the Court ruled that the federal government was limited in its power to enforce regulations but failed to define those limits. Others charge that the removal of the word “navigable” exempts far too many bodies of water from protection.
Opponents of the Compact fear that some environmental groups are trying to make Lakes water public property by expanding the Public Trust Doctrine to include groundwater. Others argue that, since regional landowners don’t actually own groundwater, the Compact’s proposed phrasing (instituted at the behest of Wisconsin and Ohio) doesn’t endanger the rights of those first users, who by law have the right to a reasonable use of that water. Companies who exceed the allotted 5 million gallons per day may, however, have to submit to regional review and advisory.
Most of the arguments are moot, since an approved Compact would allow any single governor to block exportation of water. One of the Compact’s champions, Senator Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck), heaved a sigh of relief when Michigan finally voted, citing a remark by Gov. Bill Richardson (D – N. Mexico), who described Wisconsin as “awash in water”. The envy was clear; New Mexico, with an average annual precipitation of 14 inches and a growing population, drinks from the Colorado River, a source being depleted both by rising populations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California, and global warming.
And this is the great fear of the 21st century, that lack of that most essential ingredient to life – water – will precipitate water wars between the haves and the have-nots -- a fear precipitated by actual events and spurred on by research suggesting that the western US will become a dustbowl over the next 150 years.
To read more on the Great Lakes, and the Compact, visit:
