6,807
Recent Tweets
- Celebrate Small Business Week by helping us pick the winner of our Up & Coming #Entrepreneur Contest:. Like you fav: http://t.co/WIsiFA22
- INDEED! RT @CreditUnionLink: @BuyMichiganNow And a shout out to the Michigan credit unions who are providing some of them with loans.
- It's National Small #Business Week! Shout out to all our #Michipreneurs who are bringing our economy BACK!! #Michigan
- Sounds like fun! RT @SteinerTractors: Gera Old Tractor Days is having a Pig Roast on Sunday at the Gera Tavern (N. of #Frankenmuth)
- What's the best thing happening in #Michigan this weekend?
- @BetterMade @DinaJ @BernieRitchey @TBDEnterprises @248Landscape @natmmom @jAtApA071012 Thanks for the #FF love! Happy weekend!!
- Kudos! RT @nustep_annarbor: NuStep, Inc. an Ann Arbor Company receives Presidential “E” Award for Exports #50thEAward http://t.co/NEjODckO
Did You Know?
The nation's first 4-way traffic signal was installed at the intersection of Fort...
What Can I Do?
Review the vendors your business supports and look for Michigan-based alternatives.
State Legislature Acts to Protect Great Lakes
by Ashley Woods
Michigan's state legislature took a historic step on June 23rd to protect the Great Lakes from pollution, water diversion and corporate interests. The Michigan House and Senate agreed to pass legislation barring outside interests from profiting from the five Great Lakes, which hold 90% of the freshwater available in the United States.
The Great Lakes Compact will, with a few exceptions, prevent the transport of Great Lakes water outside of the area's drainage basin. This vast area stretches from the St. Lawrence River to Duluth, Minn., which hugs the western beach of Lake Superior.
Businesses who aim to pump at least 1 million gallons of groundwater every day will be required to seek a collective permit from all eight Great Lakes states. Potential harm to the region will be determined by a new web-based tool that scientifically measures the effect of diversion from each location. The states will also pioneer state-of-the-art water management procedures and regulations, with an emphasis on sustainability.
Politicians first began to put together the Great Lakes Compact in 1998, after a Canadian company obtained a permit from Ontario to ship tankers of Lake Superior water to Asia. The plan never went through, but American lawmakers realized they had no legal grounds to stop outside interests from selling Great Lakes water on the international market. Recent droughts in the American South and Southwest have also led to calls for diversion of water sources from the Great Lakes.
The eight states first signed a voluntary treaty agreeing to protect the Great Lakes in 2001. Writing legislation to create a new national law has occupied the politicians involved in the cause for the past seven years.
Though the states couldn't sign binding agreements with Ontario and Quebec, the two provinces adopted nearly identical bills into Canadian law.
The issue united business groups, environmental PACs, farmers, and bureaus of tourism across the Great Lakes region, yet also sparked fierce debates in a number of states, including Michigan, where lobbyists squabbled over in-state water withdrawals for private companies.
Eight American states and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec will now back the legislation. Michigan and Pennsylvania’s legislatures were the two last states to sign the package of bills in legislature. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has promised that she will soon ratify the Great Lakes Compact, but many leading newspapers claim the fight to protect the freshwater lakes is not yet concluded. The treaty still needs to be ratified by the U.S. Congress and the President in order to become law. Word has it that states from Arizona to Arkansas will fight to defeat the passage of the bills in D.C., claiming that the states need freshwater resources in order to provide their cities with clean drinking water. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have both endorsed the Great Lakes pact in recent weeks.
One local critic of the bill is Rep. Bart Stupak, (D-MI), who says the bills contain a loophole allowing bottled water to be shipped from the Great Lakes. On the other hand, Michigan Rep John Proos (R-St.Joseph) said the bills' ratification is long overdue, "As dry desert states such as Arizona continue to grow and clamor for water resources, we must make clear that the Great Lakes are off limits," Proos said. "As the saying goes - if you want sunshine, move to Arizona. If you want water, move to Michigan."
User Comments (2)
It is important to make more people aware of this legislation. As Michigan has suffered through a very unstable economy we need to protect our Great Lakes for the future. Who knows, instead of people leaving our state, perhaps our water will be the reason our state becomes a more attractive place in which to reside.
I must agree that living in Michigan is a great idea based on the water resource if nothing else. Many people have a deep love for water activities and spend much of their time seasonally exploring these. It is becoming apparent much sooner than expected due to climate issues, that Michigan is one of the most bountiful resources for drinking water. The fact that this loophole exists in the most recent legislation to protect the Great Lakes is a very serious issue. We need to protect our natural resource from people who mean to make a personal financial profit from selling it as bottled water. We also must prevent western states from taking our water, thinking they have a right to it.
To post a comment you have to login. Login here