MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on potential Great Lakes Compact, a binding document between the eight Great Lakes states to adopt uniform state laws regulating water withdrawals. Minnesota laws are already stricter than possible compact.
The compact was designed after past attempts from outside groups at acquiring lake water. In the mid-1980s, a coal company proposed to pipe Lake Superior water to Montana to feed a coal slurry pipeline. In 1999, a company wanted to fill tankers with Lake Superior water, and sell the water in Asia.