The Evolution of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

Abstract

This thesis considers the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada from the perspectives of both ecological science and law and policy. Since the signing of the first GLWQA in 1972, ecological issues affecting the Great Lakes have been addressed by multiple overlapping regulatory agencies and stakeholders. Despite bilateral and unilateral efforts at all jurisdictional levels to control environmental degradation, problems like algal blooms, disease outbreaks, and loss of wetlands continue to damage the Lakes today. The GLWQA, as non-binding international “soft law”, may or may not be the proper instrument to address these resurgent problems. In this thesis, changes in the GLWQA over time are compared to the most pressing environmental crises in the Lakes today in an attempt to determine how the Agreement practically functions in the complex and interconnected realm of environmental law and policy. The ecological science and hydrologic scope of the 2012 Agreement has been expanded to cover multiple new issues and pathways of environmental degradation. The soft law tone of the Agreement, however, remains general and somewhat vague in nature; undercutting the efficacy of its provisions. The 2012 GLWQA has the potential to be a very beneficial tool for coordination and cooperation in addressing environmental problems in the Great Lakes. Whether that potential will be fulfilled or not, however, is ultimately up to the many stakeholders who address the ecological issues on the ground.