1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             requesting the governor to include the Great Lakes and 
  1.3             Lake Superior in providing comments on a certain 
  1.4             federal report. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, the United States Commission on Ocean Policy 
  1.7   recently released the first major federal report in the last 
  1.8   three decades on the health of our nation's marine waters; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, the governors of each state are asked by the 
  1.10  United States Commission on Ocean Policy for their review and 
  1.11  input on this report; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, we border the Americas' deepest and largest 
  1.13  freshwater lake, linked to the Atlantic Ocean by the St. 
  1.14  Lawrence Seaway as part of the chain of Great Lakes; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, there is a continuing need for basic and applied 
  1.16  research to understand the Great Lakes ecosystem and the linkage 
  1.17  to our coastal marine waters; and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, our largest city on Lake Superior has experienced 
  1.19  closed beaches and sewage overflow that has the potential to 
  1.20  harm the lake's environment; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, our governor has an impaired waters initiative to 
  1.22  bring parties together to focus on water pollution through 
  1.23  better monitoring and improved program efforts; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  1.24     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  1.25  that it urges the governor in his official remarks to the United 
  2.1   States Commission on Ocean Policy to stress the importance of 
  2.2   the Great Lakes for inclusion in, and for federal action as a 
  2.3   result of, the report to assist the State of Minnesota in its 
  2.4   understanding and protection of Lake Superior. 
  2.5      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.6   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.7   memorial and transmit them to the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  2.8   United States House of Representatives, the President and the 
  2.9   Secretary of the United States Senate, and Minnesota's senators 
  2.10  and representatives in Congress.