Water Levels and Flows

Compact in Congress’ hands

Two and a half years after the governors of the Great Lakes states signed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and the companion Agreement with the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, the Compact has been ratified by all eight states. On July 9, Michigan became the final state to pass the Compact.

The Compact is now in front of the United States Congress. Environmental organizations from across the Great Lakes region, including Great Lakes United, as well as national organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, are working with the Council of Great Lakes Governors to ensure that Congress acts quickly to ratify this historic agreement.

On July 23, Senate Joint Resolution 45 and House Bill 6577 were introduced to grant consent to the Compact. Congressional consent is required by the Compact Clause of the United States Constitution and is generally given by passing a joint resolution or a bill, which is then signed by the president.

The proposed legislation has broad support from U.S. legislators representing the Great Lakes region. The Senate resolution was introduced by the co-chairs of the Great Lakes Task Force, Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and George Voinovich (R-OH), and is co-sponsored by all of the other Senators from the region. The House bill is sponsored by Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and has 33 co-sponsors from the region as of July 24. More representatives are expected to show their support.

President Bush issued a statement on July 28 calling the Great Lakes a “national treasure” and urging Congress to provide “rapid approval.”  Both presidential candidates—Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ)—have also declared their support.  In announcing his intent to be an original co-sponsor of the Senate resolution, Senator Obama called the Compact “perhaps the most significant legal action to protect the Lakes in the last 100 years since the Boundary Waters Treaty between the U.S. and Canada.”

Both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have scheduled hearings on the Compact for July 30. Supporters hope that the Compact will clear Congress by the end of this session, or at least by 2010, when a new census will likely cause the Great Lakes region to lose congressional seats to the south and west. Both of these areas suffer water shortages that may worsen in the face of global warming.

The Compact is a proposed agreement among the eight Great Lakes states to manage the region’s water resources. Together with the agreement between the states and Quebec and Ontario, the Compact prohibits diversions with limited exceptions and directs each state to create a regulatory program for in-state withdrawals consistent with a minimum conservation standard. Some states, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, enacted state programs at the same time as they ratified the Compact.

Minnesota became the first state to adopt the Compact in February 2007. Illinois adopted the Compact in August 2007, Indiana in February 2008, New York in March 2008, and Wisconsin in May 2008. In a flurry of legislative activity before the summer break, Ohio ratified the Compact on June 27, Pennsylvania on July 4, and Michigan on July 9, 2008. The Compact was supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and many of the legislatures passed the Compact unanimously.

As of June 2008, 41 interstate water compacts have been consented to by Congress. 45 states and the District of Columbia belong to at least one interstate water compact, while many states belong to more than one.

© 2009 Great Lakes News.