Ohio Lt. Governor raises possibility of selling Great Lakes water

This is not an April Fools’ Day joke.  The Toledo Blade reports that Ohio’s Lt. Governor, Lee Fisher, told a local audience at an event near Lake Erie that “I think it's fair to say that we’re going to see in the next decade states and other countries looking for ways to get access to our fresh water supply and we're going to have to make some tough decisions about whether we want that to happen and, if so, how.”  The Lt. Governor, who is also director of the Ohio’s Department of Development, made the comment in response to audience question.  The Governor’s office backpedaled from the comment, and made clear that Governor Ted Strickland does not support selling Great Lakes water.  From my work with the Governor’s administration, which strongly supports the Great Lakes Compact to prevent the sale and diversion of Great Lakes water, I think this was a simple mistake by the Lt. Governor on a subject that he doesn't regularly address.  Still, it is a good political lesson for the handful of Ohio state senators that are trying to block the one law – the Great Lakes Compact – that would effectively block the diversion of Great Lakes water.