I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2973
To impose a moratorium on the export of bulk fresh water from the Great
Lakes Basin.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 29, 1999
Mr. CAMP (for himself, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. KNOLLENBERG,
Mr. SMITH of Michigan, and Mr. UPTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To impose a moratorium on the export of bulk fresh water
from the Great Lakes Basin.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the waters and water-dependent natural re-
sources of the Great Lakes Basin are precious public
resources, held in trust by the Great Lakes States
and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec;
(2) authority over the Great Lakes is vested in
the Governors of the Great Lakes States by the
Water Resources Development Act of 1986;
(3) the Great Lakes Charter of 1985 is a vol-
untary international agreement that provides the
procedural framework for notice and consultation by
the Great Lakes States and the Canadian provinces
concerning the withdrawal of water from the Great
Lakes Basin;
(4) the Governors of the Great Lakes States, in
exercise of their authority under the Water Re-
sources Development Act of 1986, and the premiers
of the Canadian provinces have based decisions on
proposals to withdraw, divert, or use waters from
the Great Lakes Basin on the extent to which such
proposals conserve and protect waters and water-de-
pendent resources of the Great Lakes Basin;
(5) decisionmaking must remain vested in the
Governors of the Great Lakes States and the pre-
miers of the Canadian provinces, who currently man-
age the Great Lakes Basin on a day-to-day basis;
(6) demand for clean and fresh water is grow-
ing around the world and bulk exports pose a unique
challenge to the management of the Great Lakes;
and
(7) the ecological effects of bulk exports of
water from the Great Lakes are unknown, and there
is presently no credible means of regulating such ex-
ports on a binational basis.
SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON EXPORTS OF BULK FRESH
WATER.
(a) MORATORIUM
ON EXPORTS.—No bulk fresh
water from the Great Lakes Basin may be exported from
the United States.
(b) LIFTING OF MORATORIUM.—Subsection (a) shall
cease to apply on the earlier of—
(1) December 31, 2001; or
(2) the effective date of an Act of Congress ap-
proving an agreement among the Great Lakes States
to implement a mechanism that provides for a com-
mon conservation standard to make decisions con-
cerning the withdrawal and use of water from the
Great Lakes Basin.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘bulk fresh water’’ means fresh
water extracted in amounts intended for transpor-
tation by tanker or similar form of mass transpor-
tation, without further processing;
(2) the term ‘‘Great Lakes Basin’’ means the
water within Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario,
St. Clair, and Superior, within interconnecting wa-
terways, within all other watercourses draining into
and between those lakes, and within all tributary
surface and underground channels or areas which
drain into or comprise part of any watershed drain-
ing into any of those lakes; and
(3) the term ‘‘Great Lakes State’’ means each
of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Min-
nesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wis-
consin.
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