Sustainable Rust Belt Manufacturing: An Exploration of Emission Rates during the Enforcement Era of the Great Lakes Water Agreement Act (GLWQA)

Abstract

The Great Lakes as a key global resource provides an abundance of freshwater as well as power for the entire region, but environmental degradation due to industrial discharge into the water supply has depleted the Great Lakes ecosystem. The Great Lakes Water Agreement Act (GLWQA) is a framework to protect and restore this ecosystem. It has changed in scope since its inception, and while the regulatory duties of the GLWQA have been noble, less input from Rust Belt industry and more power from the steering committee of the GLWQA have resulted in power struggles among its various stakeholders as deindustrialization has spread across the region. This study will analyze different eras’ amendments to ascertain changes in water pollution as they relate to production output rates over the past generation in order to analyze the effects of the various rounds of water pollution enforcement versus Rust Belt industrial output compared to other states in the country.