# Draft Great Lakes Strategy of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
**AGENCY:**
Environmental Protection Agency.
**ACTION:**
Notice of availability, public meetings and the opportunity to comment.
**SUMMARY:**
Pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972, as amended in 1987, federal, state and tribal partners have drafted a new Great Lakes Strategy (The Strategy). The Strategy is a concise, high-level statement of basin wide priorities and activities, reflecting the current state of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem and key environmental goals for the future, so that a unified approach to implementation can be carried out by a diverse set of federal, state, and tribal agencies.
The Strategy presents Great Lakes basin issues under four broad categories: (1) Chemical Integrity: Reducing and Eliminating the Threat of Toxic Pollution and Excess Nutrients, (2) Physical Integrity: Improving Land Use, Water Quantity Management, and Habitat Protection, (3) Biological Integrity: Protecting Human Health and the Ecosystem's Species, and (4) Working Together: Effectively Coordinating Programs and Resources to Ensure The Great Lakes are Protected and Restored.
**DATES:**
A draft of the Strategy will be made available to the public by June 1, 2001.
Comment Period: Comments on the Strategy must be submitted no later than July 31, 2001.
*Public Meetings:* Public Meetings on the Strategy will be held on the dates and at the locations listed below:
**Monday, June 25, 2001**
*Location:* Duluth, MN, MPCA Duluth Office, 525 Lake Avenue South, Suite 400, Duluth, MN 55802
Time: 3 p.m.-8 p.m.
**Wednesday, June 27, 2001**
*Location:* Detroit, MI,
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, 535 Griswold Street, Suite 300, Detroit, MI 48226
*Time:* 3 p.m.-8 p.m.
**Thursday, June 28, 2001 Niagara University, Niagara Falls, NY 14109, Dunleavy Hall, Rm 127.**
*Time:* 3 p.m.-8 p.m.
**Monday, July 2, 2001**
*Location:* Chicago, IL, USEPA, Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd (Lake Michigan Conference Room), Chicago, IL 60604
*Time:* 12 p.m.-5.p.m.
**ADDRESSES:**
The Strategy can be found on the internet at the following address: *http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/* . Commenters may transmit their comments electronically by following the directions provided on the web site, or may send written comments to Ted Smith at the following address: U.S. EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office, 77 W. Jackson Boulevard, G-17J, Chicago, Illinois, 60604. Comments may also be sent to Mr. Smith via facsimile at (312) 353-2018, or by e-mail *[email protected]* .
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Ted Smith, EPA-GLNPO, G-17J, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604 (312-353-6571/[email protected])
Dated: May 23, 2001.
Gary Gulezian,
Great Lakes National Program Director.