TORONTO (AP) -- Legislation to strengthen the protection of water
in the Great Lakes will be introduced Tuesday in the Ontario
legislature.
The Canadian Press has learned that the Ontario government was
successful in persuading the American states involved in the plan
to agree to much tougher rules than were originally outlined.
The bill will implement a deal signed in December 2005 between
Ontario, Quebec and eight U.S. states called the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement.
The agreement strengthens the ban on water transfers out of the
Great Lakes, which will prevent parched states elsewhere in the
U.S. from raiding the huge freshwater lakes for their own needs.
It will also allow provinces and states bordering the Great
Lakes to seek a judicial review of water diversion and withdrawal
decisions made by their neighboring jurisdictions.
The Ontario sources say the legislation shows a willingness on
the province's part to take the lead on cross-border environmental
issues instead of waiting for federal governments to act.
Quebec's National Assembly has already ratified the agreement,
but hasn't yet updated its water use laws.
All three of the
province's major parties are considered supportive of the water
agreement, so the Liberals' loss of their majority in last month's
provincial election shouldn't threaten the deal.
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are the U.S. signatories.
Environmental advocates had complained that the Sustainable
Water Resources Agreement benefited developers rather than the
public, and did not adequately address intra-basin diversions -- the
legal transfer of water from one lake to another as long as it
stays within the Great Lakes basin.
There's been little research on the possible negative effects of
large transfers in the basin.
Environment Canada forecasts a 3-to
4 1/2-foot drop in water levels for some of the Great Lakes over the
next 50 years due to climate change.
Minnesota was the first state to ratify the deal, which easily
cleared its House and Senate in February.
But enabling legislation
awaits action in many other signatory states.
In Michigan, House and Senate bills have been introduced to
ratify the pact, which Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports.
The Illinois House approved the deal 115-0 and supporters were
optimistic about the Senate, where a vote is expected soon.
The compact got off to a good start in New York when approved by
the Assembly in 2006.
But it went nowhere in the state Senate
because many senators were unhappy that it lets citizens sue
government agencies over alleged violations, such as permitting
excessive water withdrawals.
The Ohio House approved the compact last year, but it bogged
down in the state Senate when conservatives said it would infringe
on state sovereignty and property rights.
A special committee in Wisconsin is seeking common ground on a
number of issues before bills are introduced to approve the
compact.
The water protection pact has had little impact in Pennsylvania,
where the only part of the state adjacent to the Great Lakes is a
40-mile stretch of Lake Erie frontage in the far northwestern
corner.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
