Stop the Foxconn Loophole, Take Action Today!

The Great Lakes Compact and Agreement, enacted in 2008, are historic bi-national agreements to protect the Great Lakes from being drained or diverted. The Compact says that any diversions of Great Lakes water outside the basin should be rare and limited to diversions that primarily benefit residential households. Foxconn, a private international company, wants to take 7 million gallons of water a day out of the Great Lakes for private industrial purposes. The city of Racine in Wisconsin has requested an exception to the Compact in order to divert this water on Foxconn’s behalf.

A Loophole for Foxconn

However, Racine’s request is premised on a wrong read of the Compact. The 7 million gallons a day that the city is seeking to supply Foxconn will NOT provide water mostly (or at all) to residential households as required by the Compact. Rather, the entirety of the water sought for diversion will serve one private company’s industrial interests. This is a loophole never intended by the Great Lakes Compact and Agreement.

On May 29, 2018 Midwest Environmental Advocates and their clients; Milwaukee Riverkeeper, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy filed a legal action to challenge the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) April 25, 2018 approval of the City of Racine’s request to divert 7 million gallons of Great Lakes water per day for use by a private industrial user.

Join us in calling for Great Lakes states and provinces to reject Wisconsin’s misread and misuse of the Compact, opening the door to diversions basin-wide for largely private purposes. Take action today. The Great Lakes Compact is crucial to preserving the Great Lakes for future generations. We must defend against setting a precedent that would allow water-hungry industrial interests to undermine the Compact and take Great Lakes water for private industrial use.

The Great Lakes are great, but they are fragile. We have an obligation to future Great Lakes residents, citizens, and families to defend our water and protect the greatest freshwater resource in the world. Since the Compact is relatively new, the decision we make on the Foxconn Loophole now will reverberate for decades.

You Can Help!

Join us in calling on the Great Lakes states and provinces to fix the the Foxconn Loophole for the sake of the Great Lakes for generations to come!

Take Action Today