GLIN==> RELEASE: Canada and the U.S. Rushing Through Renegotiation of Great Lakes Agreement

Canada and the U.S. Rushing Through Renegotiation of Great Lakes Agreement

Accelerated timelines risk stifling public engagement and undermining final
Agreement

 

As the United States and Canada work toward a new Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement, environmental and conservation groups are telling the governments
that their timeline does not allow for proper public consultation, and that
this could seriously undermine the final Agreement, its implementation, and
ultimately the health of the Great Lakes. 

 

"The governments began consulting on thinking about the Agreement in March
of 2006. They only finally announced their intent to renegotiate last June,
and have proceeded to sit on their hands for the past eight months. Now,
they want to jam this process through by the end of the year," said John
Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics with Great Lakes United,
"I'm sorry, but that's just not good governance."

 

The dissatisfaction was expressed in a letter sent to the governments
earlier this week on behalf of 34 groups. It is a response to a presentation
by Environment Canada and U.S. EPA in a web conference earlier this month.
At that time, the government agencies revealed their process for the
renegotiation. Currently, they are inviting public comment on the issue of
governance until February 14 - exactly one month from the announcement. The
governments have given no indication how future public comment periods will
operate.

 

"By condensing timelines and asking broad, open-ended questions, the
governments are making it difficult to provide meaningful, in-depth comments
on the substance of a new Agreement," said Jane Elder, who served as a
citizen observer in the 1987 renegotiation of the Agreement. "The
governments need to provide a framework and timeline that enables the public
to be full participants in a dialogue about the substance and process of
Agreement, and 'click and send' just doesn't do it."

 

"We understand that we will not be provided with a document to respond to,
nor questions to answer on complex governance issues prior to the comment
period deadline. Yet, governance determinations are central to effective
future actions on the growing challenges impacting the Great Lakes
ecosystem," said Sarah Miller, Water Policy Researcher with the Canadian
Environmental Law Association. 

 

"The governments are moving fast, and while their eagerness is appreciated,
the short timelines they have set undermine the public's ability to improve
the final product," said Marc Smith, Policy Manager with National Wildlife
Federation. "The long term health of our majestic Great Lakes is reason
enough to ensure there's enough time to do it right."

 

"Public comment is a leading way that a community of concerned citizens and
advocates is given a voice in government processes. When these measures are
curtailed, the principles of our democracy itself are tarnished," said
Grenetta Thomassey, Policy Director with Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.

 

The groups, which include formal government advisors, offer six
recommendations to improve the process:

1.      Release a draft government position or options paper on governance
issues. 

2.      The release of the draft government position or options paper should
set off a 60-day public comment period. 

3.      Once the governments have negotiated draft language on governance,
release it again for a public comment period. 

4.      For the "issues" consultations, follow a process similar to
recommendations 1-3, with the release of a draft position or options paper
followed by a 60-day public comment period followed by another opportunity
for comment after the governments have completed their first round of
negotiations on the topic.

5.      Compile a web-posted summary of comments received from public input
at each stage of the consultations. 

6.      Release a final draft of the complete revised Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement for comment prior to completing negotiations and hold
public hearings in both countries on this draft. 

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was first signed by Prime Minister
Trudeau and President Nixon in 1972, and subsequently revised in 1978 and
1987. The Agreement committed the two countries to protecting the health of
the ecosystem, prohibiting the discharge of pollution in toxic amounts, and
to virtually eliminating dangerous, persistent toxic substances.

The Agreement has been the catalyst for major initiatives to clean up and
protect the Great Lakes. For example, in the early 1970s, the excessive
nutrients in sewage and agricultural runoff fertilized the massive algae
blooms that were literally strangling Lake Erie and causing severe damage to
the other Great Lakes. The effort behind the Agreement identified the causes
of the problem, generated the best solutions, and built relationships
between scientists, regulators and citizens groups across the borders. The
result was new laws and regulations and a massive effort to modernize sewage
treatment. This effort brought Lake Erie and the larger system back from the
brink of ecological collapse. The strategies also worked in other freshwater
systems across both countries and the world.

Read the Letter:

The letter can be downloaded from www.glu.org.

Contacts:

John Jackson, Director of Clean Production and Toxics, Great Lakes United,
519-744-7503, cell: 519-591-7503, jjackson at glu.org

Jane Elder, 608-255-2087, jane at janeelderstrategies.com

Sarah Miller, Water Policy Researcher, Canadian Environmental Law
Association, MillerS at lao.on.ca

Marc Smith, Policy Manager, National Wildlife Federation, 734-255-5413,
msmith at nwf.org 

Grenetta Thomassey, Policy Director, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council,
231-347-1181 ext. 118, grenetta at watershedcouncil.org

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________

Brent Gibson

Director, Communications

Great Lakes United

613-867-9861

 <mailto:bgibson at glu.org> bgibson at glu.org |  <http://www.glu.org>
www.glu.org

 

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