ACLU: Future of Great Lakes Water Needs Poor and Minorities at the Table

July 14 -- The ACLU of Wisconsin has urged Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to consider the concerns of the poor and minority communities as the Council of Great Lakes Governors considers standards for an enhanced water management system in the Great Lakes basin. The standards will regulate not only consumptive uses of Great Lakes water, but also water diversions from the basin.

In a July 13, 2004 letter to Wisconsin Governor Doyle, the ACLU of Wisconsin pointed out the special needs that poor and minority communities have in the Great Lakes. ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty wrote, "Citizens of Milwaukee face an immediate challenge because of the impact water diversions may have on suburban sprawl. … In a metropolitan area as segregated along racial lines as Milwaukee, diversions that go beyond the Lake Michigan basin will likely exacerbate the economic and residential isolation and deprivation of the city's poor and minority residents."

Ahmuty said later," poor people and minorities in communities from Duluth/Superior to Green Bay, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Rochester, should not have one of few resources in which they share taken away. For the ACLU of Wisconsin this is a matter of fair treatment and the voice of the people should be heard."

The Council is expected to release a draft of the standards in the form of implementing agreements to the Great Lakes Charter Annex 2001 in July. Once the draft is released the public will have a short period in which to comment before the review process moves on to several further stages.

The ACLU of Wisconsin urged Governor Doyle to provide for an robust and inclusion comment period in Wisconsin. The ACLU's letter urges Doyle to undertake several specific steps to assure that the review process will be fair. For example, the letter calls for several hearings in Wisconsin, including one in Milwaukee.

Ahmuty concluded, "I'd encourage you [Governor Doyle] to do as much as possible now, so that the review process will be credible and the ultimate result will treat all Wisconsin residents fairly."

The ACLU of Wisconsin, an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, has nearly 7,000 members.