Indiana Looking To Join Great Lakes Compact

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(STATEHOUSE) - A state senate committee opens hearings Monday on making Indiana part of an eight-state agreement to protect the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Compact commits states bordering the lakes to pass regulations governing who can divert water from the lakes, how much, and under what circumstances.

Governor Mitch Daniels and his counterparts in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York And Michigan signed an agreement in principle in the compact in 2005.

Senate Environmental Affairs Chairman Beverly Gard (R-Greenfield) says it took until the 2007 session to draft a proposal on how to implement the compact. Legislators didn't have time for the issue until now.

Gard says water levels in the Great Lakes have dropped four feet in the last few years. She says that's an indication the states bordering the lakes need to take action.

So far, only Illinois and Minnesota have ratified the compact. Gard says the only serious opposition to the agreement appears to be in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Congress must give final approval, and can only do so after all eight states act.

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