For Immediate Release
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KOHL APPLAUDS SENATE APPROVAL OF GREAT LAKES COMPACT

9/22/08

Calls on House of Representatives to Speedily Approve Historic Agreement

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, US Senator Herb Kohl applauded his colleagues in the Senate for unanimously approving the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.  The Compact is an historic agreement among the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario to protect and preserve the largest freshwater bodies in the world.

 

"The Great Lakes play a vital role in the daily lives of the people of Wisconsin providing drinking water, jobs, energy, shipping and recreation," Kohl said.  "The Compact protects the Great Lakes by banning new or increased diversions outside of the Great Lakes Basin, and will promote efficient water use and minimize waste.

 

"I applaud the Senate for approving this historic agreement, which would preserve and protect one of our national treasures for us and future generations.  It now falls on the House of Representatives to approve the Compact as the final step in its ratification."

 

Senator Kohl, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, participated in a hearing held by the panel on the Compact earlier this week.  Governor Jim Doyle testified before the committee as a witness at the hearing, which was chaired by Senator Russ Feingold.

Two weeks ago, Senators Kohl, Feingold, and a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of federal lawmakers sent a letter to the Great Lakes states governors, applauding their success in winning approval of the Compact in their individual states.  The letter also stated the lawmakers' commitment to ensuring Congress ratifies the agreement.

 

Wisconsin approved the Compact in May.  The Compact protects the Great Lakes by banning new or increased diversions outside of the Great Lakes basin.  In addition, the Compact requires states to implement water conservation programs, mandates state 'water resources inventory' and regulations of withdrawals, and imposes reporting requirements on large withdrawals of water.  The Great Lakes, covering over 94,000 square miles, contain 95 percent of our country's fresh surface water, and about one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water supply.  Work on the Compact began in earnest after a controversial proposal was defeated in 1999 to ship Lake Superior water to Asia.

 

 

 

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