the Great Lakes are a most important natural resource to the eight Great Lakes States and two Canadian provinces, providing water supply for domestic and industrial use, clean energy through hydropower production, an efficient transportation mode for moving products into and out of the Great Lakes region, and recreational uses for millions of United States and Canadian citizens;

the Great Lakes need to be carefully managed and protected to meet current and future needs within the Great Lakes basin and Canadian provinces;

any new diversions of Great Lakes water for use outside of the Great Lakes basin will have significant economic and environmental impacts, adversely affecting the use of this resource by the Great Lakes States and Canadian provinces; and

four of the Great Lakes are international waters and are defined as boundary waters in the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 between the United States and Canada, and as such any new diversion of Great Lakes water in the United States would affect the relations of the Government of the United States with the Government of Canada.

to take immediate action to protect the limited quantity of water available from the Great Lakes system for use by the Great Lakes States and in accordance with the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909;

to encourage the Great Lakes States, in consultation with the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, to develop and implement a mechanism that provides a common conservation standard embodying the principles of water conservation and resource improvement for making decisions concerning the withdrawal and use of water from the Great Lakes Basin;

to prohibit any diversion of Great Lakes water by any State, Federal agency, or private entity for use outside the Great Lakes basin unless such diversion is approved by the Governor of each of the Great Lakes States; and

to prohibit any Federal agency from undertaking any studies that would involve the transfer of Great Lakes water for any purpose for use outside the Great Lakes basin.