ACTION ALERT: Stop the fast-tracking of the flawed Great Lakes Basin Compact!

July 30, 2008

According to recent articles, U.S. Congress is fast-tracking the Great Lakes Basin Compact, leaving no room for debate. Our allies in the U.S., including Food and Water Watch, are trying to secure amendments in order to prevent the agreement from giving new rights to the bottled water industry.

The Council of Canadians has endorsed the testimony of lawyers James Olson and Michael H. Dettmer, which was submitted to Congress today on behalf of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and several other groups in the U.S. We continue to seek other organizations in Canada to sign on to the statement. Olson and Dettmer argue three main points:

Congress must delete the "product" exception to the definition of "diversion" in the diversion ban.
Congress must also delete the bottled water provision. Bottling Great Lakes water must be banned unless it is in the public interest, without harm, and for fair consideration to the public.
Water should be protected by the public trust doctrine. The Great Lakes waters must not be subjected to private ownership. Reasonable use of a public water resource is allowable but privatization is not.

To read an article in today’s Detroit Free Press about the fast-tracking of the Compact legislation: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/NEWS06/807300373.

To find out about the Council of Canadians’ criticisms of the Great Lakes Annex signed by Ontario, Quebec and the Great Lakes states in 2005, leading to the Great Lakes Basin Compact, visit: http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Great_Lakes/index.html.

TAKE ACTION!

The U.S. law going through Congress to legalize the Great Lakes Basin Compact has the approval of the Ontario and Quebec governments despite the fact that it leaves wide open the possibility of massive removals of water from the shared watershed through bottled water exemptions. Let Congress know that Canadians are concerned by signing on to Food and Water Watch’s petition at: http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25279.