(Very cool! - promoted by LiberalLucy)
This week I've been in Israel, on a trade mission to cultivate water technology economic development in Michigan. As co-chair of the joint Michigan-Israeli working group on water technology, I know there's great opportunity to diversify our economy and create jobs -- while leveraging our most precious natural resource, the Great Lakes.
I want to be clear: I am not proposing to sell Michigan's water. Companies seeking to use our water should locate here in Michigan -- where they can have all the water they need. Instead, through our Green Jobs for Blue Waters initiative, I want to position Michigan as North America's center of excellence for water technology. Right now, water technologies are a $500 billion global market -- but by 2020, that market is expected to grow to nearly $1 trillion. That means great opportunity for Michigan's economy -- and that is why we intend on seizing the opportunity, much as we did to become the Nation's leader in advanced battery technology.
Michigan's unique position in the water technology field proves we are at the forefront of this technology. Michigan's location in the middle of the Great Lakes, which contain about 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water, has primed the state's successes in agriculture, tourism and the auto industry. We need to continue to protect water resources and use it wisely for economic development purposes that include retention of current businesses and the attraction of new ones.
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