Sunday, November 11, 2007

More Reaction To Bill Richardson's Great Lakes Water Lust

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has wisely dropped his politically-charged suggestion that the parched US West get diversions of Great Lakes water, but the reactions keep pouring in.

Here's a recent Indiana editorial calling for adoption of the Great Lakes Compact to make sure the Great Lakes water stays in its basin.

(One note: the editorial erroneously states that the Compact would bar a diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin unless all Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces approve. If the diversion were to a community like Waukesha that is totally outside the basin, the states would all have to approve, but in no case would the Canadians have anything more than an advisory role. No vote.)

Richardson is a Democratic presidential candidate who is also auditioning for his party's vice-presidential nod. But he's has hurt his standing in the heavily-Democratic Great Lakes cities - - Chicago, Detroit, Gary, Milwaukee, Cleveland and others.

Throwing "Bill Richardson Great Lakes" into the Google search engine produces 921,000 hits.

Not all are about this controversy, but relevant listings still show up on the 66th page: a big and embedded gaffe for Richardson to overcome - - and a continuing boost to efforts to push the Compact forward where stalled, including Wisconsin

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