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• February 21 – 154 page bill on the Great Lakes Compact publicly introduced as SB 523.
  
• February 21 – Senate committee held a public hearing on SB 523 introduced that day.
  
• March 3 – Senate committee Chairman introduced 33 amendments on SB 523.
  
• March 4 – Committee vote was scheduled to take place but was delayed due to the o complexity of the 33 amendments.
  
• March 5 - Committee voted 3-2 to pass SB 523 with the 33 amendments.
  
• March 6 – Senate floor vote held on the amended SB 523 with an additional amendment
  
• March 10 – Assembly committee held a twelve hour public hearing on SB 523.
  
• March 11 – Motion raised on Assembly floor to pull SB 523 out of committee and hold an immediate floor vote on it.

As legislators, we are elected to thoughtfully consider and deliberate the merits of all bills brought before us, but the process for SB 523 was anything but that. The senators had little if any time to review the bill or the amendments and seek input from their constituents. Because the amended bill was recently passed by the Senate and still in an Assembly committee when the pulling motion was made, I had not yet read the amendments and would have been unprepared for a sudden late-night Assembly floor vote on the bill.

Bill must be studied carefully
As an example of what unintended consequences can result from pushing through legislation without proper review, it is interesting to note that the bill introduced by the Senate contained a provision that would have prohibited the Miller Brewery from brewing its beer with Great Lakes water if the product was then shipped and consumed outside of the Great Lakes Basin. This provision would have had a devastating impact not only on Miller Brewing Company, but on bottlers in the Green Bay area that ship and distribute their products outside the Great Lakes Basin.

The Chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources committee has been reviewing the Compact word by word and has found numerous unintended consequences, even as recently as last week. This clearly demonstrates why we have the committee process, and why it would be irresponsible to vote on legislation without properly reviewing it.

Another problem with Senate Bill 523 is that the Senate threw in extra provisions that go way beyond passing the enabling legislation necessary to ratify the Compact. It includes broad, expansive new water policies including a new water permitting plan and new mandatory statewide water conservation measures. Even the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is opposed to some of the new language. These provisions have nothing to do with the Compact and should not be included with the enabling legislation for it. Since these provisions only have to do with Wisconsin, these issues should be fully debated as stand-alone legislation done with input and recommendations from both the DNR and the Groundwater Advisory Council.

The original intent of the Great Lakes Compact was to prevent bulk water transfers to geographically distant areas like Arizona or Nevada, and I wholeheartedly agree with that intent. However, as the Compact is written, diversions would not be allowed outside of the Great Lakes Basin even within a state that borders a Great Lake. Wisconsin has a unique geology such that several growing communities in Southeast Wisconsin that come as close as 10 miles from the lakeshore actually lie outside the Basin and would be prohibited from getting a water diversion. However, these communities are federally mandated to find an alternative source of drinking water because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) detected high radium contamination in the city wells. Diverting water from Lake Michigan is their most appropriate solution.

This should sound familiar to folks in the Greater Green Bay area. In 2003, the EPA found that the water in several communities in our area such as Howard, Bellevue, Ledgeview, Lawrence, Allouez, and DePere had high concentrations of radioactive radium that exceeded the safe drinking water standard. Federally mandated either to reduce the radium or find an alternative water source, these communities eventually worked out a deal with Manitowoc to build a pipeline to get Lake Michigan water. The pipeline started flowing Lake Michigan water into those homes in August 2007. The City of Green Bay has been on Lake Michigan water for decades.

Wisconsin is at a disadvantage
Our communities were lucky enough to be located inside the Great Lakes Basin, but for the folks in Southeast Wisconsin, the current language in the Compact poses a potentially serious problem. Approvals for their water diversion requests would need unanimous consent from the governors of all the Compact states. That means just one governor, in one state, can prevent Wisconsin communities from getting the water its residents need. In comparison, over 95% of Michigan lies within the basin, so the compact has no impact. Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York have very little shoreline along the lakes and the areas bordering it are sparsely populated, also presenting no need for water. Illinois has a generous U.S. Supreme Court Decision which allows 2.5 billion gallons of water to be diverted each day out of Lake Michigan, sent across the state, and deposited out through the Mississippi River. Indiana has the authority to increase its water diversions out of Lake Michigan up to ten times its current level.

All of these states have protections to secure not only the current water needs of their citizens but any future water needs they may have due to growth and development. Therefore, they have no incentive whatsoever to help our citizens and businesses get the water they need. In fact, they have every reason to deny our requests for water diversions because it will put their states at an economic advantage over ours.

Along with Wisconsin, Ohio is the only other Great Lakes State negatively impacted by the language in the Compact. Ohio legislators agree that the Compact should allow members of the Compact to provide for the water needs of its own citizens. This especially should be the case when our communities are willing to return the diverted water back into the Great Lakes Basin, unlike the State of Illinois.

Groundwater
Another area of concern is that the language of the Compact creates an unprecedented expansion of the public trust doctrine to include groundwater, not just surface water. This raises serious concerns for individual property owners and farmers throughout Wisconsin. Essentially, the state would own the groundwater, and your private well and usage from the well could be controlled by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Because of these concerns, the Wisconsin and Ohio legislatures are working together to create a fair and level playing field for all member states. We want to ensure that our citizens bordering the lake have access to the water they need, to make it harder for our neighboring states to play politics with economic development within our borders, and to protect the private property rights of our citizens.

Committed to passing a strong Compact
As I said at the outset, the Great Lakes are a valuable resource worth protecting, and I am committed to passing a strong Compact to do just that. However, it must be one that helps, not hurts, the citizens of Wisconsin. With so much at stake, clearly we need to take the time necessary to get the Compact done right, and get it done right the first time. Our citizens can’t afford the consequences of any unintended consequences which are likely to happen if we hastily approve an incomplete bill that has not been properly reviewed.

To that end, we are working with members of Governor Doyle’s administration, the Department of Natural Resources, and members in both houses and both parties to move the Great Lakes Compact forward responsibly. We have been making significant progress toward finding consensus, and once we reach a final agreement, we will vote to pass the agreement in special session. I am confident we will be able to pass the Great Lakes Compact yet this year.

Rep. Karl Van Roy is a Republican and represents the 90th Assembly District.

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