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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Environment - Still more on "Great Lakes Compact on track"

Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 10th, the Great Lakes Compact legislation, SB 45, has passed third reading in the Senate and now will move across the Statehouse 3rd floor to the House of Representatives. From a press release issued by the bill's primary author, Sen. Beverly Gard:

If passed by the House and signed by the governor, Senate Bill 45 would make Indiana the third to ratify an eight-state a regional agreement to help monitor, manage and protect water resources from the Great Lakes. Gard said the agreement was important, because the five great lakes contain 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply, a supply some drought-stricken states would like to start drawing from to relieve their water shortages.

“We may be the only state in this process that has received such overwhelming support from both the industrial and environmental sectors,” said Gard (R-Greenfield). “So far, there has been no significant opposition.”

In addition to sharing a portion of Lake Michigan, Indiana also has part of the watershed for Lake Erie. Gard said states in some drought-stricken regions have already begun seeking water from here in the Midwest.

“This legislation is about diversion, not water quality,” Gard said. “Officials in some states hit hard by drought have already talked about purchasing water from the Great Lakes region and having it delivered, not only by tankers, but possibly even pipelines.”

Officials from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDNR) say management of great lake resources is currently “an unorganized patchwork of laws which allow other states to arbitrarily impact what Indiana can do with water in and near the basin.” A compact like this, they say, would provide a uniform set of standards and procedures for all eight states to follow.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 17, 2008 06:43 PM
Posted to Environment