密歇根新闻广播 五大湖调水计划受到新审查的原因

When Peter Annin, director of the Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College, was completing research for an updated version of his book The Great Lakes Water Wars, he discovered a detail about Great Lakes water diversions that had gone unnoticed for 8 years.

According to his findings, the state of Wisconsin never announced that in 2010, it approved the village of Pleasant Prairie's request to extract seven million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan, the largest water diversion in the state.

Annin joined Stateside's Lester Graham to talk about whether the diversion might have violated the Great Lakes Compact, a regional agreement between the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces signed in 2008. It bans the "diversion of Great Lakes water outside the basin, with limited exceptions." Annin refers to the compact as a "legal water fence" that "is designed to keep Great Lakes water inside the Great Lakesbasin."

Communities that are partially¹ located in the Great Lakes basin, as well as those incounties that straddle the basin, are the only exceptions to that rule. Those communities are allowed to apply for water diversions.

Annin explained that following the signing of the compact, Great Lakes governors were required to report the levels of all existing diversions to be grandfathered into futureextraction plans. Wisconsin's Pleasant Prairie had been approved to use Lake Michigan water in the late 1980s following public health concerns. At this time, Pleasant Prairie was approved for a diversion of 3.2 million of gallons of water per day.

According to Annin, when Wisconsin's state officials reported their diversion levels tothe Great Lakes Governors Association, they boosted Pleasant Prairie's diversion levelsto 10.69 million of gallons of water per day. That made it the largest water diversionin all of Wisconsin, and its approval came with no public notification.

In 2016, when the Wisconsin city of Waukesha wanted to draw increased amounts of water from Lake Michigan, it had to get the approval of the governors from all eight Great Lakes states. This April, before the Foxconn Plant in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin received approval from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, drafters of the Great Lakes Compact discussed whether or not the corporate² use of the water violated the agreement.

"The Great Lakes Compact was adopted in an incredibly transparent³ way. The Waukesha diversion was also was processed in a very transparent way, and what is shocking a lot of people is that you could have this massive seven million gallon water diversion for a relatively⁴ modestly sized community—that became the largest water diversion in Wisconsin—and nobody knew," said Annin.

"Wisconsin now has more water diversions than all other great lakes states combined. And it has become sort of what I call the new frontline in the Great Lakes water war," he added.

Stateside contacted the office of Gov. Rick Snyder for a comment. Press Secretary Tanya Baker⁵ sent us this statement:

"All jurisdictions⁶ take compliance⁷ with the Great Lakes Compact very seriously. The state is looking back through the record to try to understand the history, as well as reviewing the case to see what the impact of the withdrawal⁸ is. If an issue is identified, it will be taken up with the Compact Council."

Grant Trigger, Michigan’s representative to the Great Lakes Compact Council, told Stateside's Cynthia Canty that the state is talking to Wisconsin and reviewing the information about the 2010 approval. But he said that it is too early to say whether or not Pleasant Prairie's water withdrawal violates the rules of the compact.

Listen Listening...6:39 Stateside's conversation with Grant Trigger, Michigan's representative to the Great Lakes Compact Council

"I mean it's very possible that there isn't really anything of significance here if Wisconsin did it in accordance with their state law. And whether Wisconsin did it in accordance with their state law isn't something I can speak to right now because we haven't considered it yet," he explained.

The question over the volume of water withdrawal in Pleasant Prairie, Trigger said, hadn't been considered until the recent revelations from Annin became public.

"And so we're gonna take a look at it, have some discussions with other states, anddetermine if there’s any basis for the concern that Peter [Annin] has raised," Triggeradded.

Annin said that the Wisconsin DNR is adamant⁹ they have followed the letter of the law and that the Pleasant Prairie water diversion is legal. But he said not everyone agrees with them, and the Chicago-based environmental group the Alliance for the Great Lakes is currently consulting attorneys over the issue.

1 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

2 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

3 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

6 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

7 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

8 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

9 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。