NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Great Lakes United opposes HR 1330 and S 1463 and endorses HR 4255 as an important, fair legislative tool to halt further loss of wetlands in the US.; AND

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Great Lakes United will communicate this position to all U.S. Senators and Representatives from Great Lakes states within the next month.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the following recommendations with respect to the Agreement, as well as such others as shall be developed by task forces of Great Lakes United, be brought to the attention of the International Joint Commission, the Governments of the United States and Canada, the Governors and Premiers of Great Lakes States and Provinces, members of Gongress and Parliament, the legislators of said states and provinces, and other interested parties.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, THAT Great Lakes United reaffirms ite support of the policies of the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and opposes any weakening of the Agreement. Great Lakes United will continue to work towards increase public participation in the implementation and review of the Agreement and offers the following recommendations which apply to any opportunity to strengthen the Agreement by technical Amendment or other means:

1. The Parties ehould adopt an integrated approach to protecting both water quality and water quantity in the Great Lakee Basin.
2. The IJC strengthen its commitment to an ecosystem approach by developing specific programs to coneider the interactione between environrental components, ae well aa the effects of chemical and other contarinante on thoee interactions.
3. The existing Agreement's policies for the virtual elimination" and "zero discharge of persistent toxic subetancee ahould be retained in the Agreement, but they ehould be clarified.
4. The Great Lakes States and Provinces and non-government bodies should be urged to develop environmentally sound alternative methods for the disposal of hazardous waetes. Great Lakes United also encourages the Great Lakes states and provinces to follow the lead of New York State in implementing a phased reduction of the landfilling of hazardous organic waetes, as an initial step towards better policies that do not degrade the environmental quality of the Great Lakes Basin.
5. The IJC and the Parties enter into diecuesions for the purpose of including provisions to protect the Great Lakes Ecoeystem from any potentially adverse

Et Cetera.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Great Lakes United petition Congress to increase the funding for federal Great Lakes research programs because of their losses due to inflation since 1980; these programs include , but are not limited to:

(1) NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
(2) BPA's Large Lakes Research Station, Grosse Isle, Michigan;
(3) Great Lakea research programs funded through the United States Commerce Department'e Sea Grant Program at universities in the Great Lakes Region; and
(4) Great Lakes research program funded through the U . S . Fish and Wildlife Service.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Great Lakes United petition Congress to increase the funding for federal Great Lakes research rograms because of their losses due to inflation since 1980; these programs include, but are not limited to:

(1) NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
(2) EPA's Large Lakes Research Station, Grosse Ile, Michigan;
(3) Great Lakes research pro rams funded through the United States Commerce De artment's ea Grant Program at universities in the Great Lakes Region ocused on restoring environmental quality;
(4) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fisheries Center - Great Lakes, Ann Arbor, Michigan; AND
(5) NOAA's Great Lakes Research Coordinating Office as specified in the 1987 Clean Water Act; AND

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Great Lakes United support the full annual eleven million dollars funding level authorized in Congress to implement the Great Lakes Amendment to the Clean Water Act.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, be It resolved by the delegates assembled for the 10th Annual Meeting of Great Lakes United (GLU) request the State of Indiana to contribute to the Great Lakes Protection Fund.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United does not endorse the principle of quantitative risk assessment as the sole basis for eetabliahing environmental standards for carcinogens;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United also recognizes that the quantitative evaluation of data may be useful in sore circumstances, such as the prioritization of environmentally significant chemicals;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United encourages the development of alternative rethoda to set environrental standards for carcinogens, such as goals of non-detectable discharges and lowest achievable discharge linite, using Best Available Technology, where they prove to be more protective to human health and the environment;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United encourages the State, Provincial and Federal government and the IJC to coordinate the development of standards and guidelines consistent with the principles articulated in the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement or any revised agreement.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Great LakeS United encourages the State, Provincial and Federal governments as well as industries that discharge wates into the Great Lakes, to expand their efforts to curtail the pollution of the Great Lakes by examing source reduction and source elimination technologies, and any other environmentally sound alternatives for waste disposal.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United supports the concept of the states establishing a fund to provide additional, stable, long term financing of Great Lakes research, monitoring and clean-up activities; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United urges the Great Lakes Governors and a steering committee of the Great Lakes Protection Fund to provide for environmental group and public representation on the steering committee, the Board of Trustees and on all other entities created to oversee or administer the Fund; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that this endowment fund not be invested in corporations or municipalities or bond issues of those entities who have a record of violations of environmental laws; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that contributions to the Fund and disbursements from it should supplement and not replace direct state or federal funding of Great Lakes research, monitoring, or clean-up activites, and that such fudning be consistent with the "polluter pays" principle as adopted by Canada and the Unisted States as members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Great Lakes Governors should agree to perform and make public an annual audit of each state's spending on Great Lakes research, monitoring, and clean-up activities, including the expenditure of federal grant funds, so as to demonstrate that contributions to or from the Fund are not replacing direct state or federal funding of Great Lakes research, monitoring, or clean-up activities; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that the governing body of the Fund with the advice of policymakers throughout the basin should establish clear priorities as to the types of projects eligible for funding and that, within those priority categories, funding decisions should be made exclusively on their scientific merit; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that Great Lakes United supports the participation of Ontario and Quebec in the Fund or the establishment of a companion fund in Ontario and Quebec; AND

FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that all research, literature review leading to that research, and monitoring data be made readily available to the public.

On the eve of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway,
conservation groups are urging U.S. and Canadian governments to stop the introduction of aquatic non-native organisms into the lakes and to protect the region’s $4.5 billion world-class fishery.

Postcards in support of the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act

Presentation material from the Navigation webinar that took place on August 2, 2011 at 12:00pm EDT.  

Presented at the 2005 Great Lakes Conference and Biennial Meeting of the International Joint Commission

Kingston, Ontario

Request on behalf of the Great Lakes United, Environmental Defence Canada, Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Silver Valley Waterkeeper (Indiana),Grand Traverse Baykeeper, St. Clair Channelkeeper, Detroit Riverkeeper, Western Lake ErieWaterkeeper, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Georgian Baykeeper, Ottawa Riverkeeper, Fraser Riverkeeper, Fundy Baykeeper and Grand Riverkeeper Labrador to the U.S. Secretary of State and to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerning s. 310 of the Clean Water Act regarding the need for urgent action to address the threat of migration of Asian bighead, silver, grass and black carp into the Great Lakes.