Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 2 • Summer 2007
Lake Michigan
Basin Update
Illinois Joins Minnesota in Protecting Great Lakes Water
By Jamie Cross, Alliance for the Great Lakes
In a monumental step forward for the
basin, Illinois legislators unanimously
approved the Great Lakes and Saint
Lawrence River Basin Water Resources
Compact in May. The new Illinois law
comes after Minnesota became the first
state in the region to pass the Great Lakes
Compact into state law earlier this year.
The Compact provides uniform and binding water use standards
for the region. Among its key protections are water conservation
measures to minimize damage to Great Lakes ecosystems, public
participation, enforcement, and state flexibility to go beyond the
minimum protections in the Compact.
The Compact also governs new or increased water withdrawals, and
clamps down on wasteful water use. Furthermore, new or increased
water "diversions" to places outside the Great Lakes watershed will
be banned, with some exceptions. "This is a huge step for
protecting the waters we all revere," said Joel Brammeier, associate
director for policy at the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "In order to
keep decision making here, states need to pass laws at home – now
– that guarantee our fair control of Great Lakes waters."
Illinois' move comes at a critical time when other states, such as
Wisconsin, are considering permitting new water diversions. The
community of New Berlin recently submitted a revised application
for Lake Michigan water to Wisconsin DNR after their first
application was scrutinized and deemed deficient by other states
and members of the public.
"Like Minnesota and Illinois,Great Lakes states should be focused on
passing the Compact, not permitting new diversions," said
Brammeier. "Adding new permits is starting a game without
everyone knowing the rules."
Many Illinois groups, including the Illinois Environmental Council,
Environment Illinois, Openlands Project, and Prairie Rivers Network
played a crucial role in gaining support for the Compact. Faith-based
organizations like Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago
organized letter-writing campaigns in support of this regionally
critical legislation.
While Illinois is exempt from the sections of the Compact governing
diversions, its use of Lake Michigan water will continue to be
governed - and controlled - by a Supreme Court consent decree.Now
it is up to the remaining six states to support a sustainable future
for Great Lakes waters by passing the Compact into law.
Once passed by all eight Great Lakes states, the Compact moves to
the U.S. Congress for final ratification. The Canadian provinces of
Ontario and Quebec are considering a complementary agreement
that mirrors the Compact - an agreement that Ontario's legislature
recently endorsed.
For more information contact Joel Brammeier,
associate director of Policy at the Alliance for the Great Lakes,
at jbrammeier@greatlakes.org or 312-939-0838 ext. 224.
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