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Great Lakes
Article:
Lt. Gov. Fisher raises possibility of Great Lakes water sales
Toledo Blade Staff
Toledo Blade
Published March 31, 2008
Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, speaking to an economic development summit in Lucas County Monday, said the Great Lakes region may have to decide in less than a decade whether to sell water to other parts of the country that need it.
Mr. Fisher said that his and Gov. Ted Strickland’s first priority now is to protect and conserve the world’s largest source of fresh surface water, but he left open the question of whether it would be wise to make Great Lakes water available to other states and even other countries.
“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,” Mr. Fisher said.
The lieutenant governor, who is also the director of the state’s Department of Development, was a key speaker at the summit held at the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center in Oregon sponsored by the Lucas County commissioners. The event drew about 45 participants from Lake Erie counties from Lucas to Ashtabula.
Mr. Fisher said that a top priority is passage of the Great Lakes Compact, now awaiting action in the Ohio Senate. The compact would further restrict diversions of water from the five Great Lakes.
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