Great Lakes compact still on Legislature’s table

Talk about it

The state’s budget deficit is not the only issue still on the table for Wisconsin lawmakers this year.

Both parties continue to negotiate a deal to ratify the Great Lakes water protection agreement.

Should that deal be made, Gov. Jim Doyle says he’ll call a special session to get it passed.

The agreement keeps distant dry cities from raiding the Great Lakes for their drinking water.

Lawmakers disagree on how hard it should be for places just outside the lakes’ natural basins to be able to tap in.

The proposed agreement lets a single governor veto any proposed diversion in any Great Lakes state.

Assembly Republican leaders say it would make it too hard for places like Waukesha to stop relying on their depleting water wells and it could hurt the state’s economy.

In Ohio, GOP lawmakers are also wondering about groundwater rights. Those legislators want the whole agreement changed but the eight Great Lakes governors say no.

They say it would jeopardize the whole concept of keeping Great Lakes water in the region and the entire agreement could collapse as a result.

Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and New York have ratified the agreement.

It has passed in one house in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin where senators OK’d it. A bill in Michigan is still pending.

Tags: wisconsinnews, greatlakescompact, onhold