Great Lakes Article:

Ban on Great Lakes drilling made permanent
Included in Energy BIll signed this week
By Mike Simonson
KUWS Radio (WI)
Published August 9, 2005

Environmentalists are applauding one provision of the new Energy Bill signed by President Bush Monday. As Mike Simonson reports, it bans drilling under the Great Lakes.

The ban on drilling was left off the first version of the energy bill although a moratorium has been in place and extended twice by Congress since 2001. Individual Great Lakes states have had drilling bans in place except for Indiana, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Alliance for the Great Lakes Director Cam Davis in Chicago says this is a big victory. "It shows once again that people who live in this region, residents and visitors alike, all are saying the same thing. That is, that they are not willing to roll the dice and gamble with the fate of the Great Lakes." He says although there is slant drilling in Canada without complications, he says leaks happen. "The amount of fossil fuel under the Great Lakes is so small, that it really wouldn't fuel the country for very long, probably a matter of minutes really. Again the amount that's down there and the amount it could supply us is not worth the risk." The five Great Lakes supply drinking water to 30 million people and make up about 20% of the world's fresh surface water.