Great Lakes Commission Meeting March 22 at Crossroads

Door County residents will get another chance to comment on the International Upper Great Lakes Study when commissioners from the International Joint Commission appear at Crossroads at Big Creek March 22 at 6pm.

The hearing is the first of six public comment sessions the commission has scheduled around the Great Lakes. The commission has taken heat for not scheduling hearings in Milwaukee, but John Nevin, the study committee’s policy advisor, said Door County residents have simply shown more interest in the study.

“We’ve had hearings in Milwaukee and not many people came,” Nevin explained. “In Door County we’ve had as many as 200 people show up.”

The $3.6 million study that looked at the effects of dredging in the St. Claire River since 1962 determined that remedial measures were not recommended to bring lake levels back up. Nevin said these hearings give the public the chance to either express support for that determination or to urge commissioners to make a different recommendation to government. It’s also a chance for the public to let the commission know if the study should be expanded to look at pre-1962 activities.