John Jackson
The time has come to rewrite the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
On April 15, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) in recognition of the urgent need to improve environmental conditions in the Great Lakes. The Agreement was revised in 1978 and amended in 1987, and now, 23 years later, it is time to revitalize it once again. Great Lakes United is calling on you to make your voice heard in this historic renegotiation process.
Ensuring public input in Great Lakes Agreement renegotiation
A compressed timeline for renegotiation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is silencing the public’s voice. Will a prolonged period of inaction followed by an accelerated timeline lead to a compromised Agreement?
Whither Remedial Action Plans (RAPs)?
Of 40 Areas of Concern identified in 1987, only three have been delisted, and only two are in recovery. Are these meager results for Remedial Action Plans all we can expect? Is the Areas of Concern designation a failure that should be closed down altogether?
Waterkeeper takes lead role in implementing Buffalo’s clean up plan
Waterkeepers have arisen in communities around the world as grassroots advocates for clean water and conservation of water resources. Usually these groups act as advocates outside of the government structures; however, the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper has moved from campaigning for cleanup, to leading the job itself.
State of the Lakes? Not that Great
After decades of monitoring the Great Lakes ecosystem, the Canadian and U.S governments still have only limited knowledge of the status of human and wildlife health in the Great Lakes and do not know whether that status is improving or getting worse.
The Northern Waters Complex: A dream come true?
The Montreal Economic Institute announced a plan to divert the spring runoff of three Northern Quebec Rivers down to the St. Lawrence River. According to the proposal, the plan would make 70 million cubic meters of freshwater newly available, provide 14 terawatt-hours of energy each year through hydroelectric generation, and generate $7.5 billion to $20 billion of revenue from water sales annually and another $2.3 billion of revenue annually from energy sales.
Nipigon AOC receives final funding push
While the province and federal government came to the aid of Nipigon, municipalities across the Canadian side of the basin still struggle to find the third of funding for clean up projects expected of them.
Great Lakes United wins mining lawsuit
The Canadian Federal Court decision requires Environment Canada to make the mining industry annually report the toxic waste accumulating in tailings ponds and waste rock piles.
Study says drop in lake levels natural, no need to act
In May, an International Joint Commission’s study board released a report asserting that relative changes in the levels of Lakes Michigan-Huron and Lake Erie since the last major dredging of the St. Clair River in 1962 is not the result of human activity.
The accidental environmental treaty
When it was signed in 1909, the Boundary Waters Treaty was a means of settling water use disputes that could have led to armed conflict. At the time, no one anticipated that one sentence would set in motion a century of progressive, binational environmental protection initiatives.
© 2009 Great Lakes News. 
