Environmental groups are continuing to complain that they’re kept out of the loop on updating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is being revamped by the Canadian and United States governments
That’s a commitment of U.S. and Canadian governments to protect the Great Lakes.
In September, 41 citizens’ groups submitted a list of concerns to agreement negotiators asking for a bold, urgent plan with more timelines and specific goals.
I bet they’d also like to read the agreement before it’s signed.
For more on the issue, check out what Echo commentator Gary Wilson has to say.
It isn’t that we’re feeling left out, we ARE left out. But it isn’t about bruised feelings or our personal egos about not being consulted. It is the disappointment that the substance of a profoundly important Agreement will move forward without the rigor of informed deliberation by committed and concerned leaders and stakeholders who could make the final Agreement stronger, more robust, and something that would serve to rally passion and action around Great Lakes solutions. In 1987, so many of us felt that the Agreement that was signed was in some sense OUR agreement, even with its flaws and shortcomings, because we helped forge it, right down to specific phrases. That helped build a sense of ownership and commitment to achieve its goals among a broad constituency, and has shaped Great Lakes policy–especially in the realm of toxic pollution in myriad ways since. I don’t know who will “own” the new Agreement, and without a passionate constituency, its ability to influence future Great Lakes policy and action will be minimal, and that would be a tragedy.