07/24/2007

Lakes issue highlights fed, state differences

By George Weeks
Syndicated columnist

ACME — In his first term, President George W. Bush formed a multi-agency Great Lakes Task Force and vowed to give the lakes increased attention and resources.

At the National Governors Association annual meeting here, I asked Environment Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson what's been accomplished. He replied:

"Thank you for asking me, because we're making very good progress on our commitments as part of the collaboration across not only the federal government, (but also) states, tribes, as well as cities.”

He said: "We are continuing to meet our commitments. We identified as part of the federal government's portion of the collaboration … 48 near-term objectives that we were going to achieve. To date, we have completed 12 of those, and we are continuing to make progress. And, of course, were are looking forward to state and tribal officials to continue efforts to get the Great Lakes cleaned up.”

I then asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm if she was satisfied with the progress. She snapped: "No. What progress?” Noting that she raised the issue with Johnson in a private weekend meeting that included Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, she said: "We had a whole flags and bagpipes meeting in Chicago a couple of years ago where we all agreed what the priorities would be, and there would be restoration, and the federal government (would) clean up toxic spots — all of the things that needed to happen — and there has not been follow-through. In fact, there has been reduction on the part of the federal government on the comment given to (Department of Environmental Quality), for example.”

Granholm said she and Doyle told Johnson: "You've just got to realize that on the ground here, it looks like nothing has happened.”

When I told Granholm that Johnson said 12 objectives had been met, she said: "He told me that same thing. I told him 'you need to do a better job of educating us as to what those 12 are. We haven't seen the results of those.' ”

Johnson, in an impromptu press gathering as he left the Grand Traverse Resort, cited clean-up of some non-Michigan toxic sites. He also said: "Currently, as a federal government, we're spending … a little over $500 million in the Great Lakes, across all departments and agencies. In the president's 2008 budget, there was a request for increased funds to finance Great Lakes activities, particularly the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which has been very, very successful.”

When I asked a Johnson deputy for specifics on the 12 accomplishments, he referred me to EPA's public affairs office in Washington, which referred me to the EPA's Great Lakes office in Chicago. As of deadline for this writing — nearly 24 hours after Johnson's assertion — I await a response.

O'Connor speaks

Governors are executive branch people. But they paid tribute here to two of the most prominent members of the federal judicial and legislative branches in recent decades:

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the headliner at the NGA closing session Monday on judicial independence, which is increasingly hard to achieve in states where political parties and interest groups get heavily involved.

The current election system in many states was lamented here by former Texas Chief Justice Tom Phillips, as it has been by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Betty Weaver of Glen Arbor.

Phillips said, "Most of the really offensive television ads that we have seen in Michigan and elsewhere in the judicial campaigns have come not from the candidates but from independent committees over which the candidates have no control.”

Quick hits

• Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, dean of the House and once again chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, was not on the official program but attended health, natural resources and other sessions and was without fail hailed by the presiding governors at each session.

• Former NGA Chairman Bill Milliken of Traverse City, Michigan's longest-serving governor, declined a Granholm invitation to be credentialed at the conference.

But he stopped by one day at the Grand Traverse Resort to meet with Democratic Gov. Tom Kaine of Virginia, son-in-law of ex-Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, a Republican and Milliken buddy who served back in the days when there were some moderate GOP guvs in the GOP across the land.

Although lacking credentials, Milliken was recognized by state police security folks and given a handy parking spot.

George Weeks is a retired journalist whose syndicated column appears weekly in the Record-Eagle. He's attended more than 20 NGA conferences over the years and covered the event exclusively for the Record-Eagle.