HISTORIC PROTECTIONS FOR THE GREAT LAKES TAKE ONE STEP FORWARD: Wisconsin Senate Passes the Great Lakes Compact by Bipartisan Supermajority

March 6, 2008
Midwest Environmental Advocates has long been at the forefront of this important policy issue, working closely with legislative sponsors and Legislative Reference Bureau drafters to ensure that the implementing provisions of the legislation reflect the key policy concerns of the environmental and conservation community.

Four of the other eight Great Lakes states ( Minnesota, Illinois, New York and Indiana) already have passed the Great Lakes Compact. With the Senate vote, Wisconsin joins two other states, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with one house having passed the Compact.

Midwest Environmental Advocates strongly urges the Wisconsin Assembly to join their legislative colleagues to pass the Great Lakes Compact in an expeditious, bipartisan manner.

Thank you to all the Senators who voted to pass the Compact! There were only six rogue Senators who opposed this historic law. Voting against: Kedzie, Schultz, Grothman, Lazich, Fitzgerald, Kanavas.

PLEASE CALL your Senator and thank him/her if they voted 'yes'.  If your Senator voted  'no', please call them to express your disappointment that they did not vote to protect the Great Lakes from water diversions.  For your senator’s contact information, go to the Conservation Vote Tracker.

Read below for the Senate Vote record:

Senate:

Passed

Cowles, Robert:

Yes

Carpenter, Tim:

Yes

Taylor, Lena:

Yes

Plale, Jeffrey:

Yes

Lasee, Alan:

Yes

Darling, Alberta:

Yes

Leibham, Joe:

Yes

Harsdorf, Sheila:

Yes

Kedzie, Neal:

No

Breske, Roger:

Yes

Fitzgerald, Scott:

No

Olsen, Luther:

Yes

Robson, Judith:

Yes

Miller, Mark:

Yes

Schultz, Dale:

No

Roessler, Carol:

Excused

Ellis, Michael:

Yes

Grothman, Glenn:

No

Wirch, Robert:

Yes

Lassa, Julie:

Yes

Jauch, Robert:

Yes

Risser, Fred:

Yes

Erpenbach, Jon:

Yes

Lazich, Mary:

No

Decker, Russell:

Yes

Hansen, Dave:

Yes

Kapanke, Dan:

Yes

Kanavas, Theodore:

No

Sullivan, Jim:

Yes

Lehman, John:

Yes

Kreitlow, Pat:

Yes

Vinehout, Kathleen:

Yes

Coggs, G. Spencer:

Yes