Number: 1987-21
WHEREAS, the Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of freshwater–over one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater; and
WHEREAS, 24 million people drink Great Lakes water and one-fifth of the United States population (40 million people) and three-fifths of the Canadian population (15 million people) live in the Great Lakes region; and
WHEREAS, the Great Lakes are an important economic resource, as well as a critical natural resource, attracting over five million anglers every year and generating an annual regional economic benefit of over $2.2 billion in the sport and commercial fisheries; and
WHEREAS, the Great Lakes ecosystem is threatened by toxic chemical pollution with over 450 priority organic and heavy metal contaminants identified in the Great Lakes ecosystem; and
WHEREAS, these toxic pollutants threatening the Great Lakes derive from various sources including industrial and municipal wastewater discharges, urban and rural runoff, atmospheric emissions from industries and municipal incinerators, agricultural practices, volatilization of organic pollutants from municipal wastewater treatment plants and hazardous waste disposal sites, contaminated groundwater, and contaminated river and harbor sediments; and
WHEREAS, Canada, the United States, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York share the benefits from the Great Lakes and the responsibility for protecting and enhancing water quality; and
WHEREAS, Canada and the United States have recognized their shared responsibilities for protecting the Great Lakes in the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Great Lakes states have recognized their shared responsibilities in the 1986 Great Lakes Toxics Substances Control Agreement;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Wildlife Federation and the Canadian Wildlife Federation in joint annual meeting assembled March 19-22, 1987, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada that Canada and the United States should renew their commitment to protect and enhance Great Lakes water quality in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and take all necessary legislative action to confirm the provisions of the existing Agreement as enforceable domestic law in each nation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Ontario and Quebec should sign the Great Lakes Toxic Substances Control Agreement of 1986 and that states and provinces should take all legislative and administrative actions necessary to implement this Agreement; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all new atmospheric sources of toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes Region should be required to install the best available control technologies to minimize emissions; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the jurisdictions cooperate in developing and then adopting adequate uniform standards of water quality, and methods for controlling loadings of toxic pollutants into the Great Lakes ecosystem; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States and Canada should provide increased funding for research into the sources, fate and effects of toxic pollutants found in the Great Lakes ecosystem and for the development of needed control programs; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the jurisdictions require reductions in current toxic pollutant loadings, and prohibit new or increased loadings as necessary to achieve uniform standards or to preserve existing high quality water, and that they require remedial action in localities where contamination of Great Lakes water by toxic chemicals is of urgent concern.