February 21 ALERT: Great Lakes Compact - Please Email Your Legislators!

Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Compact Bill was finally released February 20 – and, except for two points that need improvement, it looks really good. The bill, however, faces very vocal opposition, so we need your help. Even if you have contacted your legislators before in support of the Great Lakes Compact, please contact them again as soon as possible and include the two points below.

To find out who your legislators are and their contact information, go to http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/

Because the bill was released just one day prior to the February 21 hearing before the Senate Natural Resources Committee (in Kenosha), several members of the Coalition to Protect the Great Lakes spent all of yesterday reviewing this 150 page bill. They evaluated whether or not it contained the 7 elements of the STRONG Compact for a Strong Wisconsin (see below for the list of these 7 important points). Their analysis found that points 3-7 were in the bill, but that points 1-2 still need improvement.

Please include these points in your e-mail to legislators:

1. The bill needs to clearly spell out that water being returned to the Great Lakes is the right temperature and quality, so it won’t harm habitat and drinking water. We want to be sure that water being dumped into Wisconsin rivers is clean and cold!
2. The in-basin standards must be strengthened to include the interim period between the passage of the bill in Wisconsin and the passage of the bill at the federal level. It may take several years for Congress to pass the Compact. In the meantime, we want users of Great Lakes water in Wisconsin to make efforts to conserve and wisely use the water.

• Your personal reasons for wanting to protect the Great Lakes
• A special thank you to legislators for inclusion of the bottle water provisions, which almost didn’t make it
• Acknowledgment of the efforts legislators have put in over the last year working on this bill
• Urging legislators not to weaken the bill.

This bill faces very vocal opposition, not the least of which is coming from the Speaker of the Assembly, Rep. Huebsch, and Rep. Gunderson, who put out a press release last week which opposed even a BASELINE Compact. They would rather see the entire Compact re-negotiated, throwing years of negotiations between the 8 Great Lakes states out the window and leaving our Great Lakes vulnerable to diversions and lawsuits.

Yesterday, the opposition attempted another assault on the Great Lakes by trying to muddle what ‘strong’ actually means by calling for a ‘strong and fair’ Compact while at the same time trying to kill the bill altogether. But to conservationists who care about protecting the Great Lakes, ‘strong’ ACTUALLY means something.

A STRONG Compact for a Strong Wisconsin means:

• That there are standards for environmentally responsible ‘return flow’ of diverted water, ensuring that the water is returned at a temperature that won’t harm the natural fishery, is of a quality that won’t harm drinking water supplies and natural habitat, and is a quantity that will not disrupt natural flows and contribute to erosion, polluted runoff, and flooding.
• That there is a mechanism for managing and regulating in-basin water use which ensures sustainable water management practices that include intelligent reporting and monitoring requirements and an appropriate threshold to ‘trigger’ the state’s review of in-basin water uses.
• That communities seeking a water diversion meet enforceable, demonstrable water conservation standards prior to an application for a diversion.
• That communities looking to extend or build new water supply pipes/systems as part of a diversion request will comply with current regional water supply quality plans—this will help ensure rational development.
• That bottled water companies do not get a loophole, but, instead, meet the same standards as all other water users.
• That the bill ensures adequate citizen participation in a practical and protective manner.
• That the bill includes the above points and becomes effective upon enactment of Wisconsin’s legislation.

Thanks once again for taking action!