Great Lakes Officials Pledge to Conserve Battered Ecosystem

CHICAGO, Illinois, November 30, 2004 (ENS) - Dozens of federal and state government officials and Tribal representatives will convene at the Hilton Chicago Hotel on Friday to sign a pledge of cooperation aimed at solving the array of environmental problems confronting the five Great Lakes - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

They will sign the Great Lakes Declaration, an intergovernmental pledge of support for the development of a strategy to protect and restore the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration process.

Sand blowing on beach near Oscoda, Lake Huron, Michigan (Photo by Carol Swinehart courtesy EPA)

The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh, surface water on Earth, containing roughly 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply. They are a source of drinking water for more than 30 million people, support the cultures of native communities, and are the support for shipping and fishing industries and trade worth many billions of dollars each year. They provide food and recreational opportunities for millions of American and Canadian citizens.

Great Lakes environmental issues include water quality, sewage contamination, mining and industrial pollution, wasteful water use and commercial exploitation, public access to the shoreline, and the presence of invasive species such as zebra mussels, sea lamprey, and the threat of Asian carp.

Michigan residents protest a mining company's plan to discharge wastewater into Lake Michigan by tunneling through a barrier dune. (Photo courtesy Lake Michigan Federation)

The collaboration is intended to cut through an increasingly complex jurisdictional network that includes two countries, multiple Tribes and First Nations, more than 140 U.S. federal programs, eight Great Lakes states, and numerous city programs - all dealing with the five lakes.

Officials at the Chicago signing ceremony will include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, U.S. senators and congressional representatives, state senators and representatives, and Great Lakes governors, tribal leaders, and mayors.

In a speech to the International Association of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Mayors' Conference in July, Leavitt outlined his vision for the signing ceremony that will take place on Wednesday.

"I envision a meeting of conveners," he said, "what I euphemistically call a 'Flags and Bagpipes' meeting. It will be a gathering of principals - governors, mayors, cabinet members, members of Congress, ministers and tribal representatives - all gathered to declare their support of the Great Lakes and this regional collaboration."

"We start with the priorities of the Great Lakes governors and mayors," said Leavitt. "We inventory what has been done. We ask ourselves how we can do it better. Then we organize this into a region-wide action plan that fills in any missing pieces, sets a schedule, allocates resources to priorities, and provides for a cohesive management process."

"This region needs to be able to say to with a unified voice to the President and Congress, 'here is what we have done; here is what we need, and here is what we will do with it,'" Leavitt said.

Dow Chemical factory on Lake Michigan at Ludington, Michigan (Photo courtesy EPA)

The collaboration is focused on three goals. First, it will utilize strategy teams to develop a Great Lakes Restoration and Protection Strategy to "inform future implementation of programs and funding throughout the region," the draft states.

Second, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration will serve as a forum for addressing near term regional issues that relate to Great Lakes ecosystem protection and restoration.

Third, the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration will create an oversight forum to coordinate and enhance implementation of the strategy.

The first priority in the October 1, 2003 Council of Great Lakes Governors document addresses water use and diversion issues. This priority is being handled through ongoing binational efforts with Canada to implement the Great Lakes Charter Annex of 2001, and will not be dealt with by the strategy teams.

The second priority, which will concern the strategy teams, is to protect human health against adverse effects of pollution in the Great Lakes ecosystem. A third priority is for research and monitoring.

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration will operate by consensus, defined as "a generally accepted agreement without a majority vote." Consensus does not require unanimity.

Anyone with a dissenting opinion, whether they have voiced that opinion actively or have remained silent, may either issue that opinion in writing to accompany the recommendation or withdraw from the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration.

The first draft strategy is scheduled for Summit I of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Members in the summer of 2005, and the group will aim to complete a revised final strategy by December 2005.