GLIN==> Experts Call for New Great Lakes Agreement on Treaty’s 100th Anniversary

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this morning.



Experts Call for New Great Lakes Agreement on Treaty’s 100th
Anniversary
HAMILTON, ON, June 8, 2009 
 A cross-border group of [38] leading Great
Lakes and St. Lawrence River experts is urging the U.S. and Canadian
federal governments to use this week's 100th anniversary celebrations
of the Boundary Waters Treaty in Niagara Falls, Ontario to roll-up
their sleeves, get down to work and re-negotiate an outdated Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

“While officials should be commended for making strides in Great Lakes
protection and restoration, the job is not even close to being done,”
said Dr. Gail Krantzberg, director of the Centre for Engineering and
Public Policy at McMaster University.  “We urge the Canadian and U.S.
governments to take this watershed opportunity amidst this great and
historic celebratory time to demonstrate true leadership for the Great
Lakes St. Lawrence by committing once-and-for-all to renegotiating the
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.”

Boundary Waters Week runs this week and celebrates 100 years of
cooperation between Canada and the United States in managing the two
nations’ shared waters. Events throughout the week culminate June 13
with the official centennial celebration in Niagara Falls with
Commissioners from the International Joint Commission, the mayors of
Niagara Falls Ontario and New York, and local senior politicians.


The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin is one of the largest
economic units in the world. However, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence
ecosystem currently faces more severe threats than ever before and the
majority of these threats require united action simultaneously from
Canada and the United States.  Problems facing the Great Lakes St.
Lawrence include: alien invasive species, toxic chemicals, climate
change, air pollution, habitat loss, drinking water quality, and
excessive nutrients. 

A recent report released by Krantzberg and Jack Manno (SUNY) concluded
that
the chronic and historic questions of responsibility, leadership and
accountability remain as important as how many dollars governments
promise for the binational Great Lakes. The prospects for a healthy
Great Lakes in the 21st century would be substantially improved by
updating and negotiating a new water quality agreement under the
historic 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty.

“Those who work to regulate, improve, protect and restore the world’s
largest body of freshwater cannot be expected to succeed using outdated
tools,” said coalition member John Jackson, program director, Great
Lakes United.  ”Using the 37 year-old Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement is like expecting hybrid performance and efficiency from a
1972 clunker.” 

In 2007 the governments of Canada and the United States undertook a
binational review of the agreement.  Under pressure from those outside
of government, the process went public. The response was overwhelming:
update the agreement to include modern management principles like
accountability and the precautionary approach; principles that are
effectively employed elsewhere to manage other shared water bodies. 

Despite this mandate from the public, for two years neither government
has responded on what will come of the review. The undersigned groups
are certain that a new water quality agreement for a new century is
essential.

Contacts: 

Dr. Gail Krantzberg				John Jackson
Director					Program Director
McMaster Centre for Engineering &		Great Lakes United
Public Policy
416-560-4839					519-591-7503

The report of Krantzberg and Manno can be found at
http://msep.mcmaster.ca/publications/GreatLakesGovernanceWorkshopReport.pdf


Signatories

Dr. Gail Krantzberg
McMaster University, Ontario

John Jackson 
Great Lakes United, binational

Dr. David Schindler
University of Alberta

Rosanne W. Fortner
Ohio Sea Grant Education Program

Sandy Bihn
Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association

Maureen Carter-Whitney, LL.B. LL.M.
Research Director
Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, Ontario

Dr. Jeffrey S. Farrah
Oakland Community College, Michigan

Dr. Carol A. Stepien, 
University of Toledo, Ohio

Kevin McMahon 
Director, Waterlife
Primitive Entertainment, Ontario 

Kristy Meyer
Ohio Environmental Council

Dr. Greg Boyer, Director
Great Lakes Research Consortium, New York  

Douglas Markoff
Mississauga, Ontario 

Dr. Don Scavia
University of Michigan

Dr. George Francis
University of Waterloo, Ontario 

Victoria A. Harris 
UW Sea Grant Institute, Wisconsin

Doug M. Bondy
McGregor, ON

Dr. Grenetta Thomassey
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, Michigan

Karen Kraft Sloan
Former Canadian Ambassador for the Environment, Ontario

Anastasia Lintner
Elaine McDonald
Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund), Ontario 

Theresa McClenaghan
Canadian Environmental Law Association, Ontario 

Ken Schmidt
Essex Region Conservation Authority, Ontario


Cheryl Mendoza
Policy and Network Specialist
Freshwater Future, Michigan

Marc Hudon
Nature Quebec

Fabio Tonto, MEPP
Pollution Probe, Ontario

Captain Rich Greenwood
Great Sailing-Great Partners-Great Lakes:  
Come Sail Away Charters, LLC
St. Joseph, Michigan

F.Ned Dikmen
Publisher, Great Lakes Boating Magazine
Chairman, Great Lakes Boating Federation, Illinois

Ed Houghton
Town of Collingwood, Ontario

Andy Knott
Executive Director
The Watershed Center of Grand Traverse Bay
Traverse City, Michigan


Dr. Jon MacDonagh-Dumler
Institute for Water Research, Michigan State University.

Tom Muir
Environment Canada - Retired
Burlington, Ontario.

Kathy Evans, Director
Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership

Kevin Mercer
RiverSides Foundation, Toronto


Cynthia Price, Chair
Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership


Dr. John Zekas MD
University Heights, Ohio 

Oliver Brandes
POLIS Project on Ecological Governance -- University of Victoria, B.C. 

Bob Sandford
Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations ‘Water for Life’
Decade, Canada

Erick Lafleur 
Les Amis de la Terre de Québec

M. André Stainier, president
Les Amis de la Vallée du Saint-Laurent