This sharp piece of investigative reporting should set off alarms around the Great Lakes Basin. It's almost literally an attempt to make off with a piece of the Great Lakes, outside state and federal law.
The Waukesha Water Utility has kept the recent spotlight away from the issue of its possibly seeking a controversial, predecent-setting diversion of piped-in water from Lake Michigan.
But behind the scenes, the utility is playing hardball, tasking its lawyers with trying to win state support for a jaw-dropping plan: obtaining its desired supply of fresh water from Lake Michigan without having to apply to regional regulators as a new diverter, or get the approval of the other Great Lakes states or be required to return an equal amount of water to the basin for treatment and replenishment.
Lawyers at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., under contract to the utility, twice this spring proposed to Gov. Jim Doyle that the state allow the city of Waukesha access to Lake Michigan on terms that would help avoid litigation, according to documents obtained from the utility under the Wisconsin Open Records law.
Dropping "litigation" into discussions of Great Lakes water policy-making is like throwing a grenade into a plywood shack.
Posted by Dave at September 11, 2006 07:49 PM