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remove. significant amounts of water from the basin. for sale in far-flung destinations, so long as they use Small <br />containers. And several high -profile disputes have brought. public attention to the issue, including a.decade-long. <br />litigation over the Nestle Company's withdrawal of groundwater in Stanwood, Michigan for use. as bottled <br />water.ss Nonetheless; it is worth noting the finding of a :IJC report, which estimated the amount of bottled water <br />imported into the basin exceeds the amount leaving by a.factor of 14;56 <br />State management of in --basin uses <br />To implement the compact's provisions, each Great Lakes state was required, within five years; to .create a <br />program for the management and regulation of new.ar increased withdrawals and consumptive. uses of basin <br />water by adopting and implementing Taws, regulations, or other requirements consistent with the compacts <br />"decisiommaking.sta_ndard.." 57 <br />The dedsion-making.standard sets forth mandatory criteria for approval of proposed withdrawals above <br />thresholds set by each of the:states; including the "exception.standard" requirements. listed above, as well as a <br />requirement that a proposed use.be."reasonable:" Rea.sonableness.is determined on the basis of factors such as <br />the supply potential of the source water and the balance between -economic development, social development, <br />and environmental protection.58 Minnesota has complied with the compact's state management program <br />requirements by enacting thie compact itself into state law, as noted previously; and by demonstrating that <br />existi ng. state rules. and .programs—mostiythe Minnesota Department of Natural Resources{DNR) water <br />appropriations permit program —meet the -compact's requirements. The council approved Minnesota's water <br />management program in 2015:59 <br />Enforcement <br />The compact also provides mechanisms to enforce its.provisions,:a significant difference from the 1909 Boundary <br />Waters Treaty, .In addition to the management provisions in each Great Lake state's own laws, the compact <br />empowers the council to conduct special investigations and bring court actions to enforce the compact's <br />provisions.60 Moreover, the compact authorizes any aggrieved person or state to bring a civil action in the <br />appropriate. state court to compel any person to: comply with the..compact; provided, however, that no action is <br />allowed (a) if the relevant state has already approved the use or diversion at issue, or (b) before the plaintiff has <br />given 60 days prior notice to the state, council,.arid the person alleged to be in noncompliance.&� <br />.imitations of the compact <br />By any measure, the adoption of the Great .Lakes-5t. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources. Compact and the <br />Great Lakes -St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement represents a remarkable political <br />.and env ranmental:achievement, and. the compactand agreement have served the Great Lakes region well. Since <br />their adoption in 2005, thetwo accords have quickly squelched any new dreams of large-scale. diversions of Great <br />Lakes water to other parts of the country: -Any futu re. like Thomas Kieran's :GRAND canal, or the use of <br />Great Lakes water to replenish the Ogallala aquifer, for example, would be prohibited by section.4.8 of the <br />Compact, because. they would.both involve the transfer of Great Lakes water out. of the Great Lakes basin. <br />That said, the compact's prohibitions are not immutable: Section 8.5. of the compact provides that it can be <br />amended following the same.steps by which it was initially approved. In addition; there is some. case: law. <br />suggesting that Congress may be able to. take.trmeasu.res to render a compact. practically ineffective (although the <br />issue has yet. to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court).6.2 Theoptics of doing so for a popular multistate <br />agreement like the compact suggest that it would be politically unrealistic, .at Ieast currently, for Congress to <br />scuttle the compact. <br />The prospect of getting all the Great Lakes states to agree.to terminate or. significantly amend the compact seems <br />similarly remote. But imagine, if you will, how the calculus might: evolve if, as expected, the freshwater crisis in the <br />