Great Lakes compact coming to State Senate floor in MN

The MN State Senate could take up the compact as early as Monday. Here are the facts:

Keeping Decisions about the Great Lakes Closer to Home:
Why SF 38 Makes Sense for Minnesota

SF 38 (sponsored by Sen. Ann Rest) ratifies the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact agreed to by the eight Great Lakes States in December 2005. This legislation is an insurance policy designed to prevent water grabs by other regions or Washington, D.C., and to promote conservation of the source of 18% of the world's surface fresh water.

What does the compact do?

The compact, once ratified by the legislatures of the eight Great Lakes states and Congress, provides for coordinated and consultative decision-making by the states themselves on large-scale water uses.

Why is the compact needed?

A proposal to build a coal slurry pipeline from Duluth to the West in the 1980s and a proposal by a Canadian company in 1998 to ship 50 tankers of water to Asia revealed weaknesses in the region’s defense against large-scale diversions and exports. Current state and federal law does not set the conservation standards that some legal experts believe are needed to defend the Great Lakes.

What are specific features of the compact?

The compact bans new or increased diversions of Great Lakes water, provides for limited exceptions to the ban for communities close to the Great Lakes Basin divide (like Hibbing), and promotes the adoption by each state of water withdrawal and conservation legislation.

Will SF 38 impose burdensome new requirements on Minnesotans?

No. Minnesota has had water withdrawal laws affecting industry, municipalities and other users like those required by the compact for years. According to the Minnesota DNR, the state already complies with all of the regulatory requirements of the compact. The other seven Great Lakes states will be required to come closer to the Minnesota standard.

Will SF 38 interfere with private property rights?

No. All private property rights related to use of water are unaffected. Minnesota retains final decision-making authority over all new or proposed consumptive uses. The compact only requires that it seek comment from other states on proposed new consumptive uses of 5 million gallons a day or more – approximately enough to supply a city of 50,000 or more. Even for such uses Minnesota is the final and sole decision-maker.

Why does SF 38 make sense for Minnesota?

Because Lake Superior, a Minnesota asset and 10% of the world’s surface fresh water, will be better protected. Because SF 38 increases the chances of keeping the from being drained or exported. Because it keeps decision-making about major Great Lakes water uses within the region. Because it helps continue Minnesota's tradition of stewardship of water resources.