Reforms proposed
Among 14 reform ideas proposed by MEC in its report:

• Changes in the way the IJC operates and is constituted, lessening partisan politics in the U.S. appointment process, and permitting citizens to directly petition IJC to take an independent look at Great Lakes problems.
  
• Creation of a "Great Lakes Internet Capitol" enabling time-pressed citizens to learn about and make their preferences known about Great Lakes decisions through electronic means.
  
• Enactment of a Great Lakes Ecosystem Accountability Act and trust fund to assure perpetual monitoring and reporting to the public on the health of the Great Lakes.
  
• Clear public oversight mechanisms in any U.S. Great Lakes restoration legislation, assuring an independent audit by citizens of how funds are spent and how successful funded initiatives are.

Trends

MEC noted a number of adverse trends suggesting that governments are responding sluggishly at best to warning signs of declining Great Lakes health:

• Of 14 selected Great Lakes indicators identified by regional experts at a 2002 conference, 12 were rated between "mixed" and "deteriorating."
  
• While old, banned persistent toxic compounds linger in the Great Lakes ecosystem, new chemical threats, such as sharply rising levels of brominated fire retardants-some of them neurological toxins-are going largely unaddressed.
  
• After years of recovery, Lake Erie has again sickened since the late 1990s, featuring an annual summertime "dead zone" and die-offs of fish and wildlife.

The full text of the report, Restoring Greatness to Government: Protecting the Great Lakes in the 21st Century, is available at http://www.mecprotects.org.