What started this was that I saw TV interview yesterday. There's a new book called "The Second Civil War"...
The next civil war( in some fashion ) will be over water rights:
Legislators: Hands off our water
Two House members from Michigan demand no diversion of the Great Lakes to other states
November 9, 2007
BY TODD SPANGLER
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
WASHINGTON -- Two Michigan members of Congress fired a stern warning Thursday to colleagues in faster-growing, drought-stricken parts of the nation:
Don't even consider using a seemingly harmless bill to study the nation's water usage as cover to begin a process aimed at taking Great Lakes water.
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"I don't think I'm being too alarmist about this," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican. "Do not look to the Great Lakes to solve the nation's water problems."
Her Michigan colleague on the House subcommittee on water resources and environment, Grand Rapids Republican Vern Ehlers, predicted what might happen if anyone attempted a water grab.
"I would suspect we'd call up the militia and take up arms," Ehlers said. "We feel that serious about it."
Their comments came Thursday during a discussion about legislation called the 21st Century Water Commission Act, which would authorize a study of how the nation uses water, where it comes from and how long it will last.
But worries are high among some in the upper Midwest that dry states could look to solve their problems by going after the Great Lakes and their vast supply of fresh water, despite laws already in place allowing the region's governors to block any attempt to divert water and the massive public works undertaking such an effort would entail.
The dry context
Fueling those concerns are global warming, a decade of drought in the West where population has grown enormously, and recent news reports of a faltering supply of fresh water in the southeastern United States.
Last month, Democratic presidential contender and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson touched off a controversy when he said the upper Midwest (specifically Wisconsin) is "awash in water."
Richardson's staff later made it clear he wasn't in favor of any federal move to transfer water from the Great Lakes.
On Thursday, Rep. John Linder, the Georgia Republican proposing the water commission for the third time, also tried to allay fears that Great Lakes water would be diverted or that states' rights would be trampled.
"This is not to establish any new federal policy to tell the people of the Great Lakes what to do with their water," said Linder, adding that the commission is more about getting people to talk about conservation -- how to capture and reuse water.
Miller wasn't buying it.
She noted that the panel talking about the legislation included speakers from Arizona, Georgia and Texas -- and none from the Great Lakes region.
And she noted that the commission and a possible national water policy were being proposed by Linder, who represents a drought-stricken area.
So, Miller said: "Forgive me if I, as a representative of the Great Lakes State, become concerned when I hear people promoting a national water policy or strategy. But the only logical conclusion I can come to is that such a commission is subversive attempt to divert water from the Great Lakes to other parts of the United States.
"And I do not intend to let that happen."
Against the flow
She may not be able to stop the commission, though.
Similar legislation was passed by the House in the last Congress, over Miller's objections, but got bottled up in the Senate. This year, it was included in an energy bill approved by the House, though the Senate, again, hasn't taken it up.
Miller asked the bill's supporters if they would be willing to add a provision specifically saying the commission wouldn't recommend diverting water from the Great Lakes.
Some supporters were somewhat in agreement, though they generally were against taking any point of discussion off the table.
That wasn't good enough for Miller.
"I'm very parochial about this," she said.
jodiFL, don't you dare go away! :nono1:
You belong here too. 