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GLIN==> Great Lake United Resolutions

Subject: [gluwatch] Coalition resolutions passed on GLWQA and more
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:07:08 -0400
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Resolutions from Great Lakes United's 24th Annual General Meeting
The Great Lakes United coalition held our annual meeting outside of Detroit, Michigan last month. Six resolutions promoting involvement in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement review process, habitat protection, nuclear-free environment were passed by the coalition membership. Resolutions can be found on the GLU website at: http://www.glu.org/english/resolutions.htm.

Resolution on the review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement urges that the Great Lakes United coalition membership participate in the governmentsâ?? review of the GLWQA; requires GLU to confer with its members throughout the review process to develop positions on actions that should be taken as outcomes from the review; requires GLU to continue to consult with its members and communicate to the governments recommendations to improve the review process as it moves forward, and; requires GLU to communicate to the governments that the they should first review the purpose and scope of the GLWQA and provide for broad public input, before review of the Agreement and Annexes.
 
Resolution on roles for non-federal governments in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement urges representatives of the basinâ??s First Nations, tribes, provinces, states, counties, regions, and municipalities to seek means by which their roles in Great Lakes protection are defined in any future revision of the GLWQA, and; urges the two federal governments to include the above by defining their role and relative responsibilities.
 
Resolution to protect Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River bottomlands urges Great Lakes states, provinces, First Nations and tribes to develop a consistent proactive basin-wide plan to guide the ecologically sustainable management of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River bottomlands; ban the transportation of fuels (or other toxic substances) by new pipeline siting within bottomlands, to protect the freshwater resource and the public drinking water reservoir, and urges that existing authorities be exercised to delineate complementary policies for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River bottomlands that:
·         As a first priority, identify and map areas that should be protected from any significant lakebed alternations, and designate them for legal protection;
·         Prohibit uses of lakebed that are not water dependent;
·         Identify locations for siting of projects in areas that can tolerate such disturbances;
·         Prevent degradation of aquatic habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms, water dependent birds, and other wildlife from proposed uses;
·         Require a demonstration of clear and substantial public benefit, including but not limited to environmental benefit ? including the reduction of electric generation from coal-fired power plants or nuclear waste generating-facilities - before authorizing such uses;
·         Require the assessment of alternatives to bottomland-use proposals;
·         Apply mechanisms to collect fair market value for the use of bottomlands to assure the public is compensated for lakebed alterations, including lease costs;
·         Require that funds collected for the fair market value use of bottomlands be dedicated to protection and restoration of the Great Lakes;
·         Require long-term ecological monitoring to be paid for by those who undertake projects that alter lakebed habitat, and provide for adjustment or disapproval of projects that impair the trust values of bottomlands.
 
Resolution to place conditions on where Michigan road paving materials are sourced recommends to Governor Granholm that Michigan enact policies to discourage the paving of Michigan highways with aggregate sources from environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant areas, such as the shores of Lake Superior.
 
Resolution calling for an independent review of Ontario Power Generation's proposed deep geologic repository for nuclear waste at the shore of Lake Huron calls on the federal Minister of the Environment to realize the overwhelming public concern about a project that can inflict unmentionable harm on our children and future generations; states GLUâ??s opposition to the planned construction of this deep geologic repository, and; demands that the federal Minister of the Environment have this first-of-its-kind project brought before an Independent Panel for an in-depth Review with full public participation, under the provisions of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
 
Resolution on radioactive waste and restoration efforts urges that restoration processes related to the Great Lakes Regional Collaborativeâ??s restoration plan include means for addressing cleanup of radioactive mining, research, and power generation waste.
 
 
 

Jennifer Nalbone

Campaign Director, Great Lakes United

(716) 213-0408; web: www.glu.org

 

Great Lakes United staff represented by UAW Local 55

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