Barrett takes strong stand on water conservation

Also on this page: GAO says groups dodge responsibility for Lakes restoration. Bush, Kerry fight over who would better protect Great Lakes.

Oct. 22 -- Water conservation requirements should be the most important element in protecting the Great Lakes, according to Mayor Tom Barrett.

“It’s reasonable to assess a request for Great Lakes Water based on a community’s commitment to conserve and protect water,” Barrett said in a prepared statement.“Without measurable conservation standards, we will open up the basin to unprecedented pressure and withdrawals.”

Barrett's position on conservation was adopted by the Great Lakes Cities Initiative, a bi-national coalition of 49 mayors and other local officials, in comments sent to the Great Lakes Governors Association, one of the groups working toward new laws and treaties to protect the Lakes.

Barrett has indicated a willingness to consider selling Lake Michigan water to portions of Waukesha County across the subcontinental divide. Waukesha, though, has yet to enact the type of conservation measures that Barrett says are key.

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People, get your act together!
GAO report says Great Lakes coordination lacking,
EPA clueless

Oct. 22 -- Lots of organizations have grand ideas for restoring the Great Lakes, but they don't want to take responsibility for getting them done, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Chief among those dodging responsibility is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to the GAO. The EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office is responsible under federal law for coordinating many restoration activities, according to the report, "Organizational Leadership and Restoration Goals Need to Be Better Defined for Monitoring Restoration Progress."

The EPA has failed to fulfill its leadership role, the GAO said. Asked to respond to a draft of the report, EPA "did not address GAO's concerns about how the Great Lakes National Program Office will exercise its leadership and coordination responsibilities," the report said.

These are Lake Michigan, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The report, delivered in the calm tones of the GAO, is devastating in its findings. Among them:

• EPA and other organizations have proposed many restoration goals, but "few have monitoring activities to track...progress."
• Current EPA monitoring efforts "do not provide comprehensive information on the condition of the Great Lakes."
• Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA is supposed to work with a research laboratory to prepare for Congress a Great Lakes research plan and health report.The agencies thus far "have not prepared these plans or reported to the Congress because funds were not requestor or provided," the report said.
• Groups such as Council of Great Lakes Governors, chaired this year by Gov. Jim Doyle, have identified basin-wide restoration goals, but "do not have associated monitoring activities or monitoring plans to determine progress."
• No single organization has accepted a leadership role in coordinating the establishment of specific goals and a monitoring system for tracking progress. Several organizations are developing goals, "but without clearly defined leadership responsibilities to bring together or coordinate the various efforts."
• There is no centralized repository of information on monitoring activities.
• The governors from the eight Great Lakes states met for two years before agreeing in 2003 on vague priorities like "control pollution from diffuse sources into water, land, and air." No further details were provided on the kind and causes of pollution to be assessed or desired outcomes.

Want to read the whole thing? Click here.

Bush, Kerry fight over who would better protect Great Lakes

Aug. 22 -- Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry are fighting over who is more opposed to diverting Great Lakes water.

Each is trying to portray himself as the bigger Great Lakes champion. Here are some excerpts from recent news coverage:

Want to comment on the possibility of diverting Great Lakes water to Phoenix or Waukesha? Your chance is coming up! There will be a public comment session on the Great Lakes Charter Annex on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at the State Fair Park Youth Center, 84th Street just south of I-94. The session will include an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. with information stations and staff on hand to answer questions. A formal presentation and the public comment period will start at 6 p.m.

Known as the Great Lakes Charter Annex, or Annex 2001, the agreement would set standards for future diversions and withdrawals of water from the Lakes to areas outside of the Great Lakes drainage basin, areas as close as Waukesha, and as far away as Arizona.