Michigan Politics
Will Great Lakes Water Protection Policies Include Groundwater?
By George Weeks

There is concern in some circles that the Great Lakes Compact, the anti-diversion pact sent to Congress last week after Michigan was the last state to approve it, might fail on Capitol Hill because thirsty states have more clout than the lakes states.

Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, chairman of the Great Lakes Commission, is not in that circle - especially if Congress votes before the next Census costs Rust Belt states even more seats.

Congress up to this point has been responsive to "regional needs," Cherry said in a phone interview as he worked his way up the Lake Michigan shoreline for Saturday events at Traverse City's National Cherry Festival. Congress has approved about 40 water compacts.

Cherry noted that the National Lieutenant Governors Association in February unanimously approved a resolution that he cosponsored in favor of the compact.

Much more significant is the support of two senators who are presidential nominees-in-waiting, Republican John McCain of thirsty Arizona and Democrat Barack Obama of our Lake Michigan neighbor, Illinois.

On his Michigan visit last week, McCain joked to the Associated Press: "I've often had dreams of a giant pipe that ended up in my backyard in Phoenix. But the fact is that any decision concerning water should be made by the people who own the water. That's the states."

Senator Carl Levin will lead compact efforts in the Senate along with Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio), fellow cochair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force.

In signing the compact, Governor Jennifer Granholm called it "a defining moment in Michigan history. We must do our part to ensure that our Great Lakes are protected and preserved for generations to come. This legislation fulfills that promise."

Not quite. It's weak on protecting groundwater.

"If you're not in favor of commercializing the Great Lakes, you won't be pleased by the water policy Michigan's Legislature just enacted," said Dave Dempsey, former policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council and author of a powerful and most timely book, "Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps."

It was published by the University of Michigan Press and Petoskey Publishing of Traverse City about a month before the Legislature's June 23 compact compromise. But Dempsey, ever the advocate since his days as environmental aide to ex- Governor Jim Blanchard, wrote in the Detroit Free Press:

"While the laws contain some worthwhile features, they establish a state policy that the water in Michigan's lakes and streams and springs can be sold; that our water can be exported in any volume as long as it goes out in containers of 20 liters or less; that up to 25 percent of any Michigan river or stream can be legally consumed by water exporters and others; and that groundwater, which supplies up to 50 percent of the flow to the rivers and Great Lakes that we enjoy for fishing, boating, swimming and drinking, is not protected by a public trust standard."

It's encouraging that Cherry, in response to my question, said, "I personally favor" ultimately extending the public trust concept to groundwater. He said, "It makes sense. The line [between groundwater and flowing waters covered by the compact] is pretty thin."

But he hailed the compromise worked out between the Democratic House and Republican Senate, and said it is "inevitable that there will be further efforts" to strengthen the standards "in stages."

Cherry, named the 2005 Conservationist of the Year by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, is working with the MUCC on developing a Great Lakes agenda to present to the next president.

In that pursuit, he is talking up issues as he did last week - watershed restoration in Benton Harbor, pollution issues in Muskegon, Great Lakes tourism in Traverse City.

His goal, he says, is to emphasize importance of commerce, as well as conservation. He said, "The Great Lakes always have been a foundation of our economy" - attracting fur traders, transporting lumber, luring tourists.

He bristles at those of us who note that his tour, beyond any policy value, contributes to build-up toward a likely 2010 bid to replace term-limited Granholm, a decision he says he will make early next year.

He said, "I would run based on my passions." Protection of the Great Lakes "is a passion of mine."

Indeed it has been. Having covered the Legislature when Cherry chaired the Senate Conservation Committee, and written a book about the governors of Michigan, I'll say this:

If Cherry, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, runs for governor, he will enter gubernatorial campaigning as the staunchest conservationist since Republican Chase S. Osborn, who was state game and fish warden long before he became Michigan's only governor from the Upper Peninsula in 1911.

George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.