Tag: precedent

Governor Blocks Great Lakes Water Diversion

The governor of Michigan is blocking a request by a town in
Wisconsin to pump water from Lake Michigan. The GLRC’s Sarah
Hulett reports:

Transcript

The governor of Michigan is blocking a request by a town in
Wisconsin to pump water from Lake Michigan. The GLRC’s Sarah
Hulett reports:


Under federal law right now, any one of the eight Great Lakes
governors can veto a proposed water withdrawal, but a
proposed agreement between the eight states would allow
communities that straddle the boundary that defines the Great
Lakes basin to draw water from the lakes.


The town of New Berlin, Wisconsin sits on the boundary. It’s
asking for permission to draw water from Lake Michigan for the
half of the city that sits outside the basin, but Governor Granholm
of Michigan says she won’t consider the request.


Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Spokesman Bob
McCann says he realizes one town won’t drain the lake:


“But a thousand such proposals coming in may do that. So the question is,
where do you draw the line?”


Michigan’s governor says until that new multi-state agreement is
ratified, it’s important not to set a bad precedent.


For the GLRC, I’m Sarah Hulett.

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Michigan Puts Cap on Water Withdrawals

In the Great Lakes region, Michigan is the last state to pass laws that protect the Lakes from large-scale withdrawals. The GLRC’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

In the Great Lakes region, Michigan is the last state to pass laws to
protect the Lakes from large-scale withdrawals. The GLRC’s Mark
Brush has more:


More than twenty years ago, the eight Great Lakes states pledged to
protect the Great Lakes from large scale water diversions. But until now,
Michigan officials never put a cap on how much water could be
withdrawn.


Mike Shriberg is the director of the Public Interest Research Group in
Michigan – an environmental advocacy group. He says it was especially
important for Michigan to pass these laws since the state is nearly
surrounded by the Lakes:


“Michigan needed to establish a precedent here saying we’re taking care
of our own water that we’re actually setting limits on who can use our
water, before we really had good standing in any regional debates over
diverting Great Lakes water as a whole.”


The new laws say any new businesses planning large scale water
withdrawals will need to get permits from the state. The laws will allow
bottled water to be shipped out of the region in containers as big as 5.7
gallons.


For the GLRC, I’m Mark Brush.

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