The proposed Great Lakes water protection agreement could get its final vote in Congress Tuesday. The House started considering the compact Monday. Its approval would send the agreement to President Bush.
Wisconsin is among eight states that ratified it. It would stop dry cities like Phoenix from raiding the Great Lakes for their drinking water and it would create a more definitive approval system for places just outside the lakes' natural basins to tap in.
Waukesha has tried to tap into Lake Michigan for years. And the city now says its wells are getting so low, more cancer-causing radium is getting into the water.
Wisconsin lawmakers in Washington have generally expressed their support for the company. But a Michigan Democrat is still trying to stop it. Congressman Bart Stupak again asked his colleagues Monday to hold up the agreement, saying it has too many unanswered questions. He's against a proposed exemption which allows bottled water from the Great Lakes to be shipped from the Midwest.
