Bowing to fierce criticism, the Ontario government said Thursday that it will cancel its permit allowing a company to export Lake Superior water to Asia.
Detractors in Canada and the United States said Ontario-based Nova Group’s proposed export could set a precedent encouraging other firms to cut even larger deals to export Great Lakes water.
The company said it would abandon the scheme as long as other companies also were blocked from exporting the water.
In addition to rescinding the permit, Ontario Environment Minister Norm Sterling said the province decided to issue a new policy restricting shipments of water.
He said the export issue is primarily a federal responsibility, and he asked Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy to take action.
Axworthy has proposed referring the Lake Superior case to the International Joint Commission, a Canadian-U.S. panel that deals with issues related to the Great Lakes.
Meanwhile, a company in Newfoundland said it was preparing to export fresh water from a lake in that Atlantic province, a plan supported by the provincial government.
The McCurdy Group of Companies has applied for a permit to export about 14 billion gallons of water a year from Gisborne Lake, near the south coast of Newfoundland.
Some of the water would be bottled on site, and some would be shipped in tankers, said Sean Kelly, a spokesman for Newfoundland’s Department of Environment.
Canada has the largest supply of fresh water in the world.
