Great Lakes Law

Safe Drinking Water: A Tale of Three Cities - Sixteenth Annual Great Lakes Water Conference at University of Toledo College of Law

Safe drinking water will be the focus of the 16th Annual Great Lakes Water Conference on Friday, November 4, 2016 at the University of Toledo College of Law. Todd Flood, Special Counsel for the Michigan Attorney General Flint water crisis investigation (and a Toledo Law alum) will open the conference with a keynote speech, followed by a panel I’m moderating that will explore the situation and legal developments in Flint in more detail (with NRDC... Read more →

Waukesha Great Lakes water diversion proposal strongly opposed

A proposal by the Wisconsin City of Waukesha to divert Lake Michigan water out of the Great Lakes basin has generated strong opposition from environmental organizations, which have formed a regional coalition on the issue. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has weighed in with a letter expressing his concerns with the proposal. The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and Wayne State’s Transnational Environmental Law Clinic filed a comment letter authored by Charlotte Johnson, and she... Read more →

Law and Governance of the Great Lakes

Along with my friend and colleague Ben Houston, I’ve published a new article entitled simply “Law and Governance of the Great Lakes.” The article appears in the DePaul Law Review’s special symposium issue on the Great Lakes, 63 DePaul Law Review 723 (2014). It aims to explain the law and governance of the Great Lakes within the United States (apologies to Canada, that’s a subject for another time). While discussing the key laws and policies,... Read more →

New book announcement - Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections

My new book, Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections, has been published by Foundation Press and is available on Amazon. I was honored to work with two superb co-authors on this book - Robert Adler, Interim Dean and James I. Farr Chair in Law, and Robin Kundis Craig, William H. Leary Professor of Law, both at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public... Read more →

Governor Snyder appoints Jon Allan as director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes

Governor Rick Snyder gets huge kudos for tapping Jon Allan as the next director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes. Jon will succeed Patty Birkholz, a long-time champion of Great Lakes protection who earned a reputation for putting environmental policy before partisan politics. Jon Allan will take a leave of at least one year to serve the state as an “Executive on Loan” from Consumers Energy, where he is currently the director of... Read more →

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Implementation of the Great Lakes Compact – Guest Post by Sara Gosman

The following guest post is by Sara Gosman, a water resource attorney with the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, and the leading regional expert on state implementation of the Great Lakes Compact. Sara is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School, teaching a variety of environmental law courses (see her faculty bio for more details). Two weeks ago, Ohio became the last state to take action to implement the Great... Read more →

Capping the Bottle on Uncertainty: Closing the Information Loophole in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact – Guest Post by Jeff Dornbos

This is the second of two guest posts by Jeffrey Dornbos, an attorney with Warner Norcross & Judd in Holland, Michigan. In addition to his legal background, Jeff also taught environmental science, holds a captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard, and is a SCUBA diver. Jeff’s guest posts introduce his two excellent law review articles focusing on management of transboundary water resources – “Capping the Bottle on Uncertainty: Closing the Information Loophole in the... Read more →

Interstate Water Compacts and Climate Change Adaptation

I’ve just published a new article – “Interstate Water Compacts and Climate Change Adaptation” in the Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal. As the name suggests, the article looks at the major interstate water compacts in light of expected climate change impacts on water resources. The article may also be a useful resource for water policy wonks, as it includes short summaries of every interstate water allocation compact (27 in all) and brief analyses... Read more →

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

Apologies for the shameless shilling of a product, but if you are looking for a last-minute holiday gift for the water wonk in your life, consider the new book, The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water. (I contributed a chapter on the Great Lakes but don’t get any royalties, although I did get one free copy of the book to put on my shelf.) Here’s the description from the publisher (Springer): The Evolution... Read more →

Genesee County’s proposed Lake Huron water withdrawal would drain public resources and undermine regional cooperation

The following guest post on Genesee County’s proposed Lake Huron water withdrawal is by Nick Schroeck. Nick wears several hats – attorney and regional representative at the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, board member of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, and professor at Wayne State’s new Environmental Law Clinic. He is also a former Sea Grant Fellow with the Great Lakes Commission. Nick’s work focuses on water protection at the local, regional,... Read more →

UN World Water Day 2009 focuses on transboundary waters

For 2009, the United Nation’s World Water Day (March 22) focuses on transboundary waters (thanks to the Cr!key Creek blog for the reminder). While most of the attention will be on shared international waters, it’s a good opportunity to consider the stakes for transboundary interstate water management in the US. Over 95% of the available freshwater resources in the United States are interstate in nature, so obviously transboundary water management policies are critical for water... Read more →

Stimulating the economy with transbasin water diversions?

Nothing gets a water wonk excited like a hot debate over transferring water from one part of the country to another (well, a few things get us more excited, but that’s for another blog). While piping massive quantities of Great Lakes water to the south or west would violate the recently-enacted Great Lakes Compact, water supplies in other relatively wet eastern states are not similarly protected. So it’s big news when Pat Mulroy, General Manager... Read more →

Great Lakes Compact to take effect, first meeting of Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council in Chicago

On December 8, 2008, the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact will take effect as Public Law 110–342 (122 Stat. 3739). The brief delay since Congressional approval and the President’s signing was based on the effective date of Ohio’s ratification. While Ohio approved the Great Lakes compact back in June, the approval’s effective date was delayed until December 8 after Ohio’s constitutional amendment on groundwater rights would take effect. The Council... Read more →