President Bush Signs Great Lakes Compact

President George Bush signed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact October 3, endorsing protections for the Great Lakes that represent a decade's worth of work by conservationists, government agencies, businesses, the public, and local, state, and federal leaders.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes and the National Wildlife Federation, both engaged in the compact from the start, applauded the effort.

The eight-state water management pact protects the nation's largest fresh surface water resource from depletion and diversions. Together with companion laws in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the compact stresses conservation and establishes first-of-its-kind decision-making standards for Great Lakes water use.

Before winning approval from the U.S. House of Representatives in September and the U.S. Senate in August, the compact was approved by the legislatures of the Great Lakes states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania.

A report on the passage of the compact was published October 2 in The St. Ignace News.