A decision by Republican lawmakers to vote down an amendment Tuesday that would strengthen Great Lakes water diversion is proof they are trying to undermine recent efforts to prevent the diversion, state Democratic lawmakers say.
But some Republicans argue the amendments aren't needed because an amendment that provides similar provisions is already in conference committee.
The proposed amendment, which was voted down 42-59, would add more stringent provisions to protect Great Lakes water from diversion to other states by outlining a water management plan.
In March, state Rep. Chris Kolb, D-Ann Arbor, introduced a bill to create the Water Legacy Act, which would modify the Michigan Constitution to make it harder for legislators to allow water diversion.
But the original bill had a loophole that would leave the state vulnerable to legal challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, interstate commerce and trade laws, Kolb said that those challenges could result in out-of-state bottlers sucking up Great Lakes water.
To resolve the problem, he proposed an additional amendment to counter the threat of lawsuits.
"Other states that want Great Lakes water will come through interstate trade laws like NAFTA," said Dan Farough, press secretary for the House Democratic Caucus. "What Michigan needs is legal tools to fight off these threats."
The amendment would add provisions to improve restrictions on water bottling facilities. Permits would be required for all new facilities using more than two million gallons per day in a month or 100 million gallons per day in a year.
State Rep. Kathleen Law, D-Gibraltar, proposed another amendment to prohibit diversion from inland lakes and water, but her amendment was also defeated. Law was one of the legislators who led the charge to prevent dumping of Canadian trash in Michigan landfills.
"Water is a commodity in the minds of commodity-brokers," Law said. "If someone's looking to make a buck, you better believe they're going to be coming to get it."
But state Rep. David Farhat, R-Muskegon, who sponsored the constitutional amendment but voted against Tuesday's proposed amendments, said he already introduced an amendment that deals with the problem of Great Lakes water diversion. He added that the amendments proposed by Kolb and Law blur the issue.
"What they were, were an attempt to take a very clean issue... and trying to dilute it with discussions of regulations that are contained in a package of bills that are in already in committee," Farhat said.
