Great Lakes Law

Minnesota approves regulations to stop the spread of invasive species from ballast water

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Citizens’ Board has approved a new general permit to stop the spread of invasive species from ships’ ballast water discharges. The new permit is MPCA’s response to a state court’s ruling that the agency must take steps to regulate ballast water discharges pursuant to state and federal law. The case was brought by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, an innovative and legally sophisticated state environmental group (I may... Read more →

US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approves Great Lakes compact

In an historic vote for Great Lakes protection, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Great Lakes compact today. The Senate has already approved the Great Lakes compact and it now goes to President Bush, who has stated he will sign it. The vote was postponed by a procedural maneuver yesterday, but Congressional leaders supporting the compact prevailed less than 24 hours later. Some of the House leaders that made the compact a priority... Read more →

Bottled water exporters and importers

With the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of a new Nestlé well to supply its bottled water plant in northern Michigan and debate over bottled water at the Great Lakes Town Hall, I’ll offer a graphic to tell a thousand words about the global bottled water market. Source - UN Comtrade online database, 2006; Cartographer/Designer - Emmanuelle Bournay (original available at http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/major_bottled_water_exporters_and_importers) Read more →