Legislators from Ohio and five other Great Lakes states should quickly pass an interstate agreement which could forge the first line of defense against water diversions to arid areas outside the region, the National Wildlife Federation urged Tuesday.
The Great Lakes are facing the one-two punch of global warming and water diversion, said Noah Hall, an environmental law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. Existing laws are inadequate to protect the Great Lakes from diversions and overuse . . . climate change is certain to put additional stress and pressure on the Great Lakes.
Hall spoke to media in a teleconference from Ann Arbor Mich. and co-wrote a report for the wildlife federation on climate change and water resources released by the group Tuesday. Go to www.nwf.org/news/ to read the full report.
The 44-page report echoes the dire warnings of increased temperatures and water shortages made in previous government documents such as the International Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC http://www.ipcc.ch/ is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations.
Hall urged swift passage of the proposed Great Lakes Compact because of its emphasis on conservation.
Taking steps to use water more efficiently and wisely is really a no-brainer, Hall said in the teleconference. Its a sure-fire way to make sure water demands dont outstrip water supplies.
Possible diversions of Great Lakes water to thirsty areas such as Arizona and more recently Atlanta, Ga., meanwhile, have become hot political topics this year as drought spread throughout much of the West and South.
The compact would prohibit those diversions without approval by all eight states. Governors in the eight states of the basin approved the proposal in 2005, but legislators in each state must still OK the bill before it becomes law.
Minnesota and Illinois legislatures have adopted the compact, while it awaits only the governors signature in New York. Lawmakers have introduced the proposal in three other states - Indiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Neither Ohio nor Wisconsin currently has proposals pending.
Ohio Rep. Matt Dolan, a Russell Township Republican, sponsored the compact in 2006. It passed the Ohio House 82-5 in December, but stalled in the Senate - mostly due to strident opposition from State Sen. Tim Grendell, a Chester Township Republican.
Dolan said Tuesday that the proposed compact remains a high priority, though he is unlikely to re-introduce it before January.
It remains and essential piece of legislation for the health and well being of industry in our area as well as the economic development of the entire Great Lakes, Dolan said in a telephone interview. I respect Sen. Grendells opinion, but we should move forward on this.
Grendell, who could not be reached Tuesday, has said he and other opponents are concerned that the compact includes language that could convert privately owned water such as lakes, ponds and wells into public trust property.
But National Wildlife Federation President Larry Schweiger likened the importance of passing the Great Lakes water compact to the 1970s approval of the federal Clean Water Act, which is now credited for saving the long-polluted waterways of the region.
Without decisive action to address global warming and to protect the water and wildlife of the Great Lakes, all the hard-fought progress made by so many to restore the Great Lakes could be lost, he said in written statement accompanying the report.
The National Wildlife Federation is the countrys largest conservation organization with more than 5 million members and an annual budget of more than $125 million.