Monday, April 19, 2004

My Green Governor:

Governor Granholm asks Great Lakes Governors to Establish Uniform Quality Standards for Great Lakes

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that she has asked Great Lakes governors to establish uniform standards for determining Great Lakes water quality.

“The Great Lakes are our greatest treasure” said Granholm. “But each state measures and monitors different standards and then reports those in a different way around the basin, making determining the health of the Great Lakes a challenging process. It is time we made the information uniform.”

Last month, Governor Granholm sent letters to her fellow governors asking them to work with Michigan and Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester to ensure that all Great Lakes states are using the same language to keep citizens informed of the drink-ability, fish-ability, and swim-ability of all of the Great Lakes. To date, Minnesota has responded to the Governor's letter, and Chester is contacting the other Great Lake states to discuss their involvement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already indicated its support for such an effort.

Big round of applause for Jennifer on this one. She is really moving on the environmental issues, especially the water.