Alliance for the Great Lakes

Alliance for the Great Lakes
Abbreviation	AGL
Formation	1970
Type	Non-governmental organization
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Region served	USA
Chairman	Jack Bails
Website	www.greatlakes.org

The Alliance for the Great Lakes was originally founded in 1970 by Lee Botts as the Lake Michigan Federation, which Botts had established a year earlier as a project of The Openlands Project in Chicago. The purpose of the Lake Michigan Federation was to promote awareness and policy to protect and preserve the Lake Michigan. In 2005, the Alliance for the Great Lakes was formed, while maintaining the LMF as an internal project still dedicated to Lake Michigan.

Accomplishments

In 1971, succesfful lobbying of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley resulted in Chicago becoming the first city to ban phosphates in detergents and established their first offices in Washington, D.C. to begin lobbying for the Clean Water Act. Successfully challenges in federal court the license of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, resulting in the plant not being built. In 1974, they led efforts that resulted in the PCB ban placed in the Toxic Substances Contract Act of 1976. In 1978, the worked with the Great Lakes states and Canada to update the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. In 1990, they successfully challenged the state of Illinois' giveaway of lakebottom land in the lawsuit Alliance for the Great Lakes v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1999, they successfully lobbied Chicago to reduce South Lake Shore Drive runoff by 98%. In 2002, they authored the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which resulted in $270 million in federal funding for environmental cleanup.