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September 29, 1998
RELEASE ON RECEIPT
Environment Canada Head to Discuss Great Lakes Ecosystem at Oberlin College Forum
Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
Forum:
Wednesday,
October 7
7 p.m.
Wilder Hall, Room 101
135 W. Lorain St.
Victor Shantora, one of the leading directors of Environment Canada and six other members of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board Commission will take part in a student forum at Oberlin College next month.
The Great Lakes basin ecosystem is the focus of the discussion, which is free and open to the public.
The event is co-sponsored by Oberlin College's environmental studies program; Seventh Generation, a Lorain County-based environmental grass roots organization; and the Black River Remedial Action Plan (RAP), a committee comprised of local public agencies, businesses and citizen groups dedicated to restoring the Black River.
"Environmental Canada is the counterpart of this country's Environmental Protection Agency," points out Forum Coordinator Sadhu Johnson '98. "The Oct. 7 gathering will offer students and members of the public a unique opportunity to speak directly with Shantora and those involved in managing and protecting the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system. Containing one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water, the system is an important part of the geography, economy and the life styles of residents in eight states and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec."
Appearing at the Oberlin forum with Shantora--who is director general of toxic pollution pre-vention for the Directorate of Environment Canada--will be six members of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board Commission, who are senior program managers from U.S. and Canadian state, provincial and federal regulatory and resource management agencies.
They include forum moderator John Hartig, secretariat to the Great Lakes Water Quality Board; Doug Dodge, manager of the fish and wildlife branch of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Peter Wise, associate director of the Illinois Protection Agency; Craig Mather, chief administration officer for the Metro Toronto and Regional Conservation Authority; Mike Goffin, director of the Great Lakes and Corp. Affair Ontario Region of Environment Canada; and Percy McGee of the Natural Resources Conservation Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The day after the Oberlin forum, Shantora and all 20 members of the Water Quality Board Commission will join Ohio EPA officials, local government dignitaries and David Orr, professor and chair of Oberlin's environmental studies program, at an action-oriented watershed management meeting in Lorain. Orr will be keynote speaker for the symposium.
Titled "Protecting What's Been Gained in the Black River," the Lorain meeting is sponsored by the Black River RAP and the International Joint Commission, which was created by Canada and the United States as an independent international organization. It is charged with preventing and resolving disputes over the use of waters shared by the United States and Canada, including the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system, and provides advice on matters affecting the shared environment.
