This week's hearing in Ashland, WI on the proposed Great Lakes water conservation pact yielded this comment:
"The 800-pound gorillas are the corporations that are going to want our water," said Donna Williamson, co-chair of Ashland's Comprehensive Plan committee.
"Williamson predicted industry would try to reduce the standards in the compact. 'We're going to have to fight for it every step of the way,' she said.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's biggest business group, did not have a representative speak at the hearing but issued a statement this week contending the compact would put too much of a burden on industry."
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/9854683.htm
It sounds like the 800-pound gorillas include more than a few simians from within the region -- industries that don't see it's in their own interest to set up rules on the taking of water.
We're still facing a terrible dilemma. Industry thinks the pact is too strong; many citizens think it is too weak (the proposed 'trigger level' for regional review of water withdrawals, for example, would probably not affect a single use in Michigan). There is a way to solve this -- and I'll write about it soon.