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Great Lakes Compact Passes Congress

Klobuchar Backed Legislation Protects World's Largest Freshwater Resource

September 23, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar hailed today’s Congressional passage of the Great Lakes Compact as a vital step to ensure the future of America’s most precious natural resource.  Klobuchar backed the Compact that cleared the Senate this past August which restricts commercial usage of water from the Great Lakes.

“We must protect the Great Lakes and Lake Superior to ensure our businesses and families can continue to depend on it for fresh water,” said Klobuchar.  “Our businesses thrive on it for shipping and commerce, and for our families, going up to the Lake has become a favorite pastime’ – this type of responsible stewardship is vital to Minnesota’s environment and economy.”

The measure, titled the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact, sets stewardship rules for governing the Great Lakes.  Without the Compact, the Great Lakes would have been vulnerable to commercial interests looking to divert Great Lakes water from the Great Lakes Basin.  The Great Lakes account for 20% of the world’s freshwater supply.

The Compact bans new diversions of water from the Basin but allows limited exceptions in communities near the Basin when rigorous standards are met.  It also sets regional goals and objectives for water conservation and efficiency to be reviewed every five years. Each state is obligated to develop and implement a consistent water conservation and efficiency program that may be voluntary or mandatory.

Ratified by the U.S. Senate in August, the Compact passed the House of Representatives today.  The President is expected to sign the bill into law sometime in the coming weeks.  The Inter-state compact was passed on a state level over a ten year period by each of the eight states within the Great Lakes Basin:  Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.  Almost identical legislation has been adopted by two Canadian provinces that border the Great Lakes, Quebec and Ontario. 

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