Historic regional agreement to protect Great Lakes

In late September, Congress approved a historic water resources policy, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, a multi-state agreement to ensure more sustainable use of Great Lakes water. Millions of Americans depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water and recreation, and although vast, the lakes are vulnerable. When too much water is taken out of the Lakes, everything from shoreline wildlife to fishing and boating is disrupted.

The Great Lakes Compact will help prevent this threat by prohibiting nearly all new or increased out-of-basin water diversions and requiring Great Lakes states to develop water conservation and efficiency programs. Over the last two years, Environment Ohio partnered with Environment Illinois, Wisconsin Environment and other state members of the Environment America federation to help pass the Great Lakes Compact in their respective states, and our staff in Washington, D.C. advocated its passage in Congress.

Making homes more energy efficient

In September, state building code officials from across the country approved the largest improvement in our federal building codes in recent history. If Ohio’s governor authorizes the new codes, the energy efficiency of new Ohio homes would increase by as much as 20 percent.

“Much work needs to be done to move America toward a future of super-efficient and, better yet, zero-energy buildings,” said our chief energy advocate, Rob Sargent. “Ohio should take full advantage of all energy efficiency opportunities by going above and beyond this national code.”

Environment Ohio called for making building codes 30 percent more efficient—a goal that our research showed was feasible with current technology. To make the case we released a white paper in July, titled “Building an Energy-Efficient America.” Later that month, Brad Heavner, from our sister organization Environment Maryland, testified before a key congressional committee, urging the federal government to support efforts to improve building efficiency.