Great Lakes conservation pact gets approval Conservationists urge faster action; a paper industry representative calls it 'too broad' By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle A proposal to tighten controls on Great Lakes water by the governors of the states and provinces in the area received solid support Thursday at a state hearing in Ashwaubenon. The Department of Natural Resources took comments on the proposed Annex 2001 draft agreement updating the protection and management of the Great Lakes. The draft, released in July by the Council of Great Lakes Governors, would: - Minimize water loss by requiring users to implement conservation plans and to pump treated wastewater back into the basis. - Require approval of new or increased water withdrawals. An individual state would review diversions of less than a million gallons a day or withdrawals with a loss of more than 100,000 gallons a day. Review by all states and provinces in the region would be required for larger withdrawals. Federal law requires any diversion of water to be agreed upon by all eight states in the basin. The new compact would keep the states and provinces in charge of the lakes while changing some of the regulatory rules. Chuck Ladine of the DNR said one of the key measures in the agreement required full replacement of water used. "That's a real deterrent to taking water out of there," he said. In a public comment period during the hearing, several representatives of conservation groups generally supported the measure. "This should be put on the fast track," said Wayne Schroeder, president of the Fox Valley Conservation Alliance. The one shared complaint from the environmentalists is that the 10-year phase-in period for the new standards was too long. Ladine said the time was needed to allow states to change their laws and get appropriate enforcement in place. Several speakers also urged more of an effort from the council to fight pollution in the lakes and stronger water conservation measures. There was one call for a loosening of some of the standards in the draft. Ed Willis of the Wisconsin Paper Council, the paper industry's trade group, said the scope of the agreement was "too broad." He said there should be lower restrictions on in-basin economic activity and that reviews should be on a "programmatic basis." Former DNR Secretary George Meyer, now executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said he liked the clauses that would require large users to improve the basin with such moves as improving habitats or removing invasive species such as zebra mussels. "It's amazing eight states with such diverse interests came together on this," he said. Allouez resident John Trester, who also urged stronger efforts against pollution, said it was important to keep the Great Lakes under regional control and to keep the water in the basin rather than selling it to other states. "I have no sympathy for people who move to an area where there are no resources and then complain they're being cheated out of them," he said. The hearing was one of about 30 in the eight-state area.