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Threats to the Great Lakes

Water Removal
The Great Lakes contain 20% of the worlds freshwater—a finite resource. As water shortages become more frequent and severe across the nation and around the world, it is important to protect the Great Lakes water from being diverted. The Great Lakes Basin Compact is a multistate agreement to promote conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes Basin. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario are all part of the agreement. The Great Lakes Basin Compact delineates a border around those cities closest to the Great Lakes and acts to ensure that no Great Lakes water is shipped outside of this region. This agreement, which was signed in December 2005 by the governors of the eight states, came about when a Canadian company announced that it wanted to ship water in tankers from Lake Ontario to Asia. As of January 2008, the governors of Minnesota and Illinois have ratified the compact, creating momentum for the other six states to officially adopt the compact.

Invasive Species in the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are more than just water. They are at the heart of America's culture, economy, and health. However, exotic invasive species such as zebra mussels and sea lampreys are causing substantial environmental and economic consequences to this unique ecosystem. For more information on aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes, read Audubon's Aquatic Invasive Species Fact Sheet (550 kb PDF) and also visit Audubon's Invasive Species webpage.

Potential Impacts of Corn Ethanol in the Great Lakes
Increasing energy costs and policies to reduce dependence on foreign oil have substantially increased the U.S. production of bioethanol as an alternative fuel. In 2007, the Great Lakes region had 39 ethanol production facilities with an additional 28 facilities and facility expansions underway. Despite the benefits of biofuel production, corn ethanol manufacturing in the Great Lakes region has environmental and socio-economic impacts that need to be addressed when assessing the benefits and costs of increasing corn ethanol production in this sensitive ecosystem. Some of the environmental consequences include:

• Conversion of agricultural lands to corn production instead of other less profitable crops;
• Agricultural monoculture, loss of conservation acreage through the Conservation Reserve Programs [link to Audubon’s fact sheet on CRPs];
• Soil erosion and sedimentation;
• Water use; and
• Loading of nutrients and persistent contaminants.

Download the Great Lakes Coalition's report published on ethanol's potential impacts in the Great Lakes region (1.25 MB PDF).