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Environmentalists say bills would put Lake Erie watershed at risk

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau Updated 8:40 AM Tuesday, June 21, 2011

COLUMBUS — Under proposed new rules, businesses would be allowed to pull as much as five million gallons a day from Lake Erie or its navigational channels without a government permit — a move that environmentalists say puts the Lake Erie watershed and all its economic activity at risk.

Two bills are pending the General Assembly that would establish new rules on who can draw water from the basin and how much. State Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, the main sponsor of House Bill 231, said the plan is to approve the bill on Wednesday and get the Senate to vote on the same version next week.

The bill has broad support from business groups, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, he said.

Currently, Ohio pulls 3.5 billion gallons from Lake Erie each year — mostly for power plants and drinking water, according to the Great Lakes Commission. No permit is required — just notification to the state Department of Natural Resources if a business is going to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons a day, Wachtmann said.

House Bill 231 would set up a permit system for businesses that draw more than five million gallons a day from Lake Erie or its navigable channels, more than two million gallons a day from rivers or groundwater within the Lake Erie basin, or more than 300,000 gallons a day from a river designated as “high-quality.”

The Ohio Environmental Council said the thresholds are not based on any scientific model and are higher than what other Great Lakes states allow. The environmental group also said the bill’s mechanism for measuring the impact water withdrawals have on the basin is not scientifically based and could harm tributaries to Lake Erie.

The Great Lakes Compact, which was approved in 2008, requires states to adopt water management plans by 2013.