Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News

The Newsletter of Freshwater Future

The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of Freshwater Future, published four times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.

Volume 16, Number 2 • Summer 2008

Regional Policy Updates - Great Lakes Compact May be Headed to Congress Soon!

In May the Michigan and Wisconsin legislatures passed the Compact out of both legislative chambers. While the Wisconsin environmental community is largely satisfied with the Compact's accompanying legislation, Michigan's environmental community is still fighting for accompanying legislation that would strongly protect Michigan's water resources. "We are really rallying folks to contact our state lawmakers in a massive way -now more than ever" stated Cyndi Roper, Michigan Director of Clean Water Action. "Thousands of people have been calling their lawmakers asking them for their support of the House package -the one the Michigan environmental community supports. We need to keep those calls and emails flooding in." On the east side of the Great Lakes basin, after much debate, the Ohio Senate and, again, House are expected to pass the Compact within the next few weeks. Lastly, Pennsylvania is expected to pass the Compact out of both chambers by late summer.

With Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania expected to ratify the Compact in the coming months in addition to Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and New York's ratification, the Council of Great Lakes Governors held a briefing with Congressional staff to warm them up for a smooth introduction of the Compact before Congress.

Disclaimer: The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.

Freshwater Future builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. We work toward this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Through these efforts we work with over 1,800 grassroots watershed groups and citizens to protect and restore the rivers, lakes and wetlands in their communities. Freshwater Future is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

For more information, please contact:

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