Approved November 30, 2007

MINUTES

INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION
COMMISSIONERS' CONFERENCE CALL
October 12, 2007
12:00 Noon EDT

The International Joint Commission (IJC) met by conference call on October 12, 2007 chaired by Herb Gray.

1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

   The Commission approved the agenda

2. MINUTES

   Commissioners approved the Minutes of the Commissioners' Conference Call of September 7, 2007 and the Executive Meeting of September 10-11, 2007.

3. APPOINTMENTS

   Commissioners approved the appointments of:

   1. Great Lakes Water Quality Board, Canadian Section
      Dr. David Boermer as a member for three years ending Sept. 30, 2010.

   2. International Rainy River Water Pollution Board, Canadian Section
      Melanie Neilson as member and Co-Chair for two years ending October 16, 2009.

   Commissioners also confirmed appointments approved via polling since their September 2007 Executive Meeting:

   3. Council of Great Lakes Research Managers
      Dr. Steven Colman as a re-appointed member of the U.S. Section for a three-year term effective October 13, 2007 through October 13, 2010

   4. International Upper Great Lakes Study's Public Interest Advisory Group
      David Irish, Dan Thomas, James Weakley and Jeff Vito as members of the US Section for an approximate two-year term ending July 13, 2009.

   
   
4. BRING-FORWARD SYSTEM

   Commissioners noted that there are no unanswered IJC letters to governments and no letters addressed to the IJC not yet responded to.

5. IJC APPLICATIONS AND REFERENCES

   Commissioners approved the table of applications and references for posting to the IJC website, with the inclusion of a column noting whether each docket is "open" or "closed", subject to further comments from Commissioners (anticipated by the October Executive Session next week), further review by legal advisers and confirmation by Secretaries; Commissioners also approved Secretaries scheduling regular review of the table no less frequently than annually.

6. MEETING WITH GOVERNMENTS

   Commissioners reviewed the draft agenda for the meeting with governments on Friday October 19 and agreed that the St. Mary - Milk Rivers item should be discussed in the second half of the meeting.

7. OTHER BUSINESS

   Proposed Development on Namakan River
   Commissioners approved a draft letter to governments alerting them to public concerns about proposed hydro generating station development by Ojibway Power and Energy Group on the Namakan River and agreed to send it to the appropriate staff officers in the U.S. Department of State Department and Foreign Affairs Canada.

8. Energy Consultation (Bismarck, North Dakota)
   Commissioners Olson and Blaney reported on the successful Workshop organized by the International Air Quality Advisory Board.

9. Alien Invasive Species Conference (Netherlands)
   Chair Gray and Jim Houston reported on this conference noting the positive response to Chair Gray's plenary speech calling for ratification of the IMO Convention and that the next conference will be held in the spring of 2009 in Montreal. Commissioners also requested that staff consider a possible meeting with the Dutch when next in Washington, D.C., and that IJC involvement in the 2009 Montreal conference be an agenda item for face-to-face discussion at a future executive meeting.

10. AWRA/CWRA Conference (Seattle)
    Acting Chair Brooks reported on her well-received presentation on the Commission's International Watershed Initiative and the subsequent request to write an article on the subject for inclusion in an AWRA newsletter.

11. Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Study
    Commissioners discussed draft text for a proposed response to various inquiries resulting from the Commission's September 10, 2007 announcement to extend consultations with governments and approved a text subject to the Secretaries' final edits.