LANSING -Responding to the urgency of Michigan's failure to enact Great Lakes protections, an unprecedented coalition of groups proposed today strong new measures to regulate water exports and to protect lakes, rivers and streams from the impacts of water withdrawals.

The groups said bipartisan support is being sought for the proposals in order to end nearly two decades of delay in enacting Great Lakes water withdrawal legislation.
"The goal is to end this delay and more than a year of gridlock between Republicans and Democrats that has left Michigan's waters exposed to unregulated exports from multinational corporations and other states and countries," said James Clift, Michigan Environmental Council Policy Director. "Today we want to start with a new set of ideas and a comprehensive approach. We will be taking our ideas to lawmakers and the public with an eye toward legislative action before the end of the year."

From residential wells in Monroe County going dry, to diminishing lakes, rivers and streams in Mecosta County, to expanding privatization of Great Lakes water by multinational corporations, irresponsible water use is having an impact on the Great Lakes state. "Michigan's rivers, lakes and wetlands rely on inputs of cold, clean ground water. We cannot allow water withdrawals that harm our precious water resources," said Will Cwikiel, program director of Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.

Just six years ago a Canadian company called the Nova Group received a legal permit for more than 150 million gallons of water annually in a tanker from Lake Superior to Asia. The permit was rescinded but no Michigan law exists that would prevent a similar proposal from happening in Michigan.

Nine groups in all were involved in various stages of drafting the proposals during the past three months. The groups planned to brief Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the package Wednesday morning. Proposals from the groups include: establishing strict standards for water exports; enacting tough new restrictions on privatizing and commercializing Great Lakes waters requiring approval of the Legislature; and ensuring our streams, rivers and lakes are not harmed by large or numerous withdrawals of water, including ground waters.

New water conservations measures are also being proposed, as well as a call for firm guidelines for implementing federal Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) provisions outlawing Great Lakes water exports if one or more of the eight Great Lakes states objects. WRDA is the only federal law regulating Great Lakes water exports and is increasingly seen as a politically fragile and limited federal protection that relies too heavily on other states' cooperation and the diminishing political clout of Michigan and other Great Lakes states in Congress.

"Our lakes, rivers, and Great Lakes are what make Michigan a great place to live. For the health of our families and our quality of life, we need to protect these waterways," said Kate Madigan, PIRGIM Environmental Advocate. "Without strong water use laws, our state is leaving our most crucial natural resource vulnerable to abuse."

In March 2004 Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed the Water Legacy Act to address water exports while Republicans initiated a study of ground water and are awaiting those findings.

"Right now it's still 'anything goes' with our Great Lakes waters," said Cyndi Roper, Clean Water Action Great Lakes policy director. "To date there has been no legislative action to protect Great Lakes water from overuse or exports. Meanwhile, multinational companies are making plans to ship millions of gallons of Great Lakes water out of our state.

"There is an urgency to this because we could soon reach the point where the Great Lakes will be viewed as just another commodity like oil. That's not what the people of the Great Lakes state want to see happen, but it will unless we act to prevent it."
"Michigan needs to be a leader in caring for this national treasure now," said Cheryl Mendoza, program manager for the Alliance for the Great Lakes (formerly the Lake Michigan Federation). "We can't wait for a disaster to happen before acting like we did during the lumber era when we clear-cut the entire state, or with commercial fishing which is now crashing."

Groups Calling For Action
Alliance for the Great Lakes, Cheryl Mendoza, 616-550-0876.
Clean Water Action, Cyndi Roper, 517-490-1394
Michigan Environmental Council, James Clift, 517-487-9539
Tip of the Mitt Water Watershed Council Will Cwikiel, 231-347-1181 ext. 115
PIRGIM, Kate Madigan, 517- 803-7450
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, Terry Swier, 231-972-8856
Detroit Audubon Society
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation
Sierra Club
Michigan League of Conservation Voters

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