Bill Richardson On Great Lakes Water

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Bill Richardson is all over the news these days for his endorsement of Barack Obama; He was all over TreeHugger last year for his suggestion that "I believe that Western states and Eastern states have not been talking to each other when it comes to proper use of our water resources...States like Wisconsin are awash in water."

And how did Wisconsin respond? Essentially by saying "Take it, Bill" by screwing up on the Great Lakes Compact. In Ohio they have wrestled with the same issue, with what has been described as a "lunatic fringe" trying to "hijack" the process of protecting the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Compact passed in the House but the President of the Senate tried to change it. The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote in an editorial:

"Since Ohio Senate President Bill Harris and many of his colleagues apparently don't understand the importance of protecting northern Ohio's most precious asset, perhaps they should heed the words of Bill Richardson.

The New Mexico governor recently had the audacity to suggest publicly what many in the Southwest think privately: That diverting water from the Great Lakes might help the nation's dry spots.

Richardson quickly recanted, but his words should send a clear message to statehouses in Columbus and nine other capitals: If the Great Lakes states and provinces don't take decisive action to prevent the raiding of the Earth's largest supply of fresh water, the water rustlers will continue seeking ways to steal it. Eventually, they may find one.....

How can Harris not understand that if the lunatic fringe is allowed to hijack the process of protecting Great Lakes water, there is no chance it will ever win the necessary approval of all eight states, Ontario and Quebec?" ::Cleveland Plain Dealer