About Waukesha's Water Plan, Thunder From The North

The Mayor of Thunder Bay, Ontario is strongly objecting to Waukesha, Wisconsin's plan to divert Lake Michigan water across the boundaries of the Great Lakes basin.

Thunder Bay's mayor says he'll fight an American city's bid to take Great Lakes water...

Waukesha's plan has been stalled since mid-2010, and is being rewritten because the original application was based on a proposed supply deal with the City of Milwaukee that fell through acrimoniously.

How come? Waukesha's refusal to meet Milwaukee's conditions, that included its unwillingness to supply water that Waukesha intends to pipe to several of its smaller neighboring communities whose need for diverted water may not meet the requirements of the US-Canadian 2008 Great Lakes Compact.

A secondary diversion, if you will, that Barrett said spelled trouble for the plan when it went out to the other Great Lakes states for approval.

Back to Thunder Bay's Hobbs: Now you might think that Hobbs, on his own, posed that much of a threat to Waukesha's plan. 

Ontario only has an advisory role in reviewing Waukesha's application, though Canadian concerns have been aired before; to be implemented, the plan needs only the approval of the eight US Great Lakes states' governors for implementation.

But wait, there's more, as it turns out that Hobbs is not your run-of-the-mill Canadian provincial official: 

"This is an issue that's kind of frightening for us,” said Hobbs, who recently became chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

 And just what is that organization?  As it explains on its website:

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI) is a binational coalition of mayors and other local officials that works actively with federal, state, and provincial governments to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. GLSLCI is an independent 501(c)(3) headquartered in Chicago.

Well, that's interesting. Sounds like the organization has credibility and clout across a wide region.

Any other directors on its board of directors we might be interested in? 

Oh, this guy, last year's chairman:

Mayor Tom Barrett