At a recent news conference and bill signing on the Lake Michigan shore near Saugatuck, Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that they had just saved the state’s water resources.
“Our Great Lakes water belongs to everyone; the waters are not Democrat or Republican,” said state Sen. Patricia Birkholz, chairwoman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee in a news release.
The sentiment is wonderful, but that’s not what the legislation does.
More than 23 years after the signing of a regional pact to protect the Great Lakes and 10 years after a Canadian company proposed to capture and ship 50 freighters per year of Lake Superior water to Asia, Michigan politicians have just signed onto weak measures that will do as much harm as good.
Here’s why:
* Sen. Birkholz and other members of the State Senate refused to adopt language in the water bills that would have required that new major water uses be in the public interest. In practice, this would have made it far more difficult for private companies to take Michigan water, package it, mark it up in price 1000% and sell it to out-of-staters with no benefit to the waters of the state.
As former Governor William G. Milliken, the longest-serving chief executive in Michigan’s history, said recently, “We in Michigan have a long tradition of appreciation and conservation of our incomparable Great Lakes, lakes and streams, and the groundwater that feeds them. This tradition embodies the public trust principle – a principle of strong stewardship for the benefit of our citizens, businesses, and communities, and future generations. The state must be required to consider the public interest for any large withdrawals – especially private taking of water for sale.”
It’s too bad the Republican State Senate wouldn’t listen to the Republican ex-Governor.
* The Great Lakes Compact which the state also joined has a fatal flaw. Negotiations on the Compact began 10 years ago when a Canadian company got permission to ship 50 freighters of Lake Superior water each year to Asia. The public said it didn’t want the Great Lakes to become a product.
After 10 years of effort, the Compact just consented to by Michigan specifically allows Great Lakes water to become a product – the direct opposite of what the public wanted. While proponents of the Compact say it bars major water exports, there’s a loophole – there is no limitation on the amount of water that can be removed and exported from the Great Lakes as long as it is done in containers of under 20 liters (5.7 gallons). And Michigan law specifically exempts packaged water from the ban on diversions.
Why this happened is less important than how to fix it. Most importantly, Michigan lawmakers need to know their job is far from done. It’s hardly begun. The state needs quickly to close the water-for-sale loophole. And if the Legislature and Governor won’t do it, the people should do it through a petition drive and referendum.
The alternative is more misleading news releases – and the slow draining of the Great Lakes for the benefit of a select few.
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