In his last weeks in office, on March 4th, former Gov. Elliot Spitzer signed legislation authorizing New York State to join the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. With the State Assembly and Senate’s passing of the legislation last month and former Gov. Spitzer’s signature, New York State joins Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana as the fourth state to ratify this important interstate compact to ban water withdrawals from outside of the Great Lakes Basin.
The strength of this Compact, however, lies in all eight Great Lakes passing identical pieces of legislation ratifying the Compact. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have passed the bill in one house while Michigan has introduced an active bill to ratify the Compact. When all eight states sign on, the Compact can be presented to the United States Congress for their consent.
The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact began in 2001 when the eight American Great Lake states, in cooperation with Ontario and Quebec, meet to create a new conservation and protection standard for the Great Lakes.
To deal with many of today’s complex environmental problems, regional and international cooperation is essential. The Great Lakes Compact will act as a progressive global example of policy collaboration past political boundaries. With New York State ratifying the Compact we take a step closer to such a future policy. Incoming Gov. David Patterson applauds the Compact for its commitment amongst the Great Lakes States to achieve common goals to protect a common natural wonder.
To stay up to date with the Compact and the status of legislation in other states, be sure to check the Council of Great Lakes Governor’s Website on the Compact here.
(In January, Great Lakes United posted several blogs on the importance of the Compact and the threat of water diversion. To see these posts, click here.)
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