T.S. Alberto made landfall on Manitoulin this morning. Damaging wind, but no damage here except for the top half of a big poplar between our driveway and Viewpoints. The downfall missed the Lane, so is probably of little concern. Enough rain to satisfy the herbs and newly planted tomatoes, but nothing of hurricane proportions.

The storm temporarily diminished caterpillar numbers, but by afternoon, when once again warm and steamy, caterpillars were not in short supply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
The Expositor asked if I would comment on the Foxconn water diversion. So I did:

It was close. But last week, on the last day of possible objection, the environmental law organization Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) in Madison, WI filed a legal challenge to Racine, Wisconsin’s request to divert 7 million gallons a day out of the Great Lakes basin.

Racine wants the water to supply a factory under development by Taiwanese electronic display manufacturer Foxconn. Almost all of the factory’s site lies outside the Great Lakes basin, and so the diversion would seem to be in violation of the Great Lakes Compact.

In spite of objections by citizens, environmental organizations, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initative, and the states of New York and Illinois, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved the diversion request last April. This is not surprising in that the DNR has been stripped of its scientists and its mission of science-based permitting by “tea party” governor Scott Walker.

MEA says that its legal challenge was “essential, as Wisconsin’s approval of the Lake Michigan water diversion requested by Racine tests the integrity of the Great Lakes Compact by ignoring a key requirement of the historic agreement entered into by the eight Great Lakes states and enacted into federal law. This mistake must be corrected to defend the Great Lakes Compact and to protect our magnificent Great Lakes in the near and distant future.”

The majority of the 7 MGD of water requested for transfer out of basin will be used to supply Lake Michigan water to one single private industrial customer, Foxconn.

The MEA legal challenge says that “the Wisconsin DNR disregarded and unreasonably interpreted a core Compact requirement that all water transferred out of the Great Lakes Basin must be used for public water supply purposes, clearly defined as ‘serving a group of largely residential customers.’”

I am grateful that Midwest Environmental Advocates has challenged the Foxconn diversion request. I think the residents of Manitoulin, and Ontario, should also be appreciative and supportive. Water diverted out of Lake Michigan is also water diverted out of Lake Huron. And the Compact, designed to prevent diversions, is only effective if it is enforced and protected.

Two years ago the Ontario government went meekly along with the approval of the Waukesha, Wisconsin diversion. I tend to think it’s unreasonable to expect much future diversion opposition coming from MNRF.

Although there should be.

Peter Annin, the author of Great Lakes Water Wars, is working on a new edition of his book, and he foresees continued and intensified demand for Great Lakes water as the warming climate intensifies the west’s great thirst. If a Trans Mountain pipeline can be built to transport oil, certainly a mid-continent pipeline could be built to transport water from Lake Superior to Arizona.

The Compact is a bulwark against diversions, but it’s a fragile one. Thank goodness for Midwest Environmental Advocates. Perhaps it would be prudent for the people of Ontario to send a little support their way: http://midwestadvocates.org.