[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2595 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2595

 To place a moratorium on the export of bulk fresh water until certain 
                          conditions are met.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 1999

 Mr. Stupak (for himself, Mr. Barrett of Wisconsin, Mr. Brown of Ohio, 
 Mr. Bonior, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Quinn, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Upton, Mr. 
    McHugh, Mr. Barcia, Mr. Klink, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. LaFalce, Mr. 
  Kucinich, and Mr. Gillmor) introduced the following bill; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To place a moratorium on the export of bulk fresh water until certain 
                          conditions are met.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the water resources of the Great Lakes Basin are 
        precious public natural resources, shared and held in trust by 
        the Great Lakes States and the Canadian Provinces;
            (2) the Great Lakes and other fresh water resources of the 
        United States are renewable but finite waters that must be 
        protected, conserved, and managed for the use, benefit, and 
        enjoyment of all citizens and future generations;
            (3) the Great Lakes comprise almost 20 percent of the 
        world's fresh water supply;
            (4) global water demand is doubling every 21 years; and
            (5) any bulk exportation of waters from the Great Lakes or 
        other fresh water sources could have unintended consequences 
        with respect to international treaties and significant adverse 
        effects on the environment, economy, and welfare of the Great 
        Lakes and other fresh water regions.

SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON EXPORT OF BULK FRESH WATER.

    (a) Moratorium on Exports.--No bulk fresh water may be exported 
from the United States.
    (b) Lifting of Moratorium.--Subsection (a) shall cease to apply 
when--
            (1) the International Joint Commission, as directed by the 
        Governments of the United States and Canada on February 10, 
        1999, issues its final report on the use, diversion, and 
        removal of waters along the border of the United States and 
        Canada; and
            (2) the United States Government, after the issuance of the 
        report under paragraph (1), has enacted legislation that has 
        taken effect, or issued regulations that have taken effect 
        and--
                    (A) implements or implement, as the case may be, 
                measures designed to protect and preserve in perpetuity 
                the fresh water resources of the United States and 
                their ecosystems, including the Great Lakes Basin;
                    (B) specifically regulates or regulate, as the case 
                may be, any resumption of exports of bulk fresh water; 
                and
                    (C) in the case of regulations, are certified to 
                the Congress as meeting the requirements of 
                subparagraph (A).

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

    As used in this Act, the term ``bulk fresh water'' means fresh 
water extracted from a lake, river, stream, spring, well, aquifer, 
glacier, or other natural source of fresh water, or ground water, in 
amounts intended for transportation by tanker or similar form of mass 
transportation, without further processing. The term does not include 
drinking water in containers intended for personal consumption.
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