 The Manitoba government is considering launching a legal challenge against the project to divert water from Devils Lake, North Dakota to Manitoba.
The lake has risen several metres over the past decade, swallowing nearby land and houses. To ease the flooding, the state has proposed digging an outlet to drain the lake into the Sheyenne River, which joins the Red River and flows north into Manitoba.
The Manitoba government is opposed to the plan, saying the outlet would pollute Manitoba waterways with biologically foreign fish, plants and other organisms from Devils Lake. Conservation Minister Steve Ashton believes the state's project violates the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the USA.
"We're also in close contact with the state of Minnesota and the state of Missouri, which also oppose the project," he says. "We're working with environmental groups in the U.S., because there's also the possibility of legal action. We're looking at our own options right now, but the bottom line is, we will do whatever it takes to fight this project."
Manitoba has also called on Ottawa to issue a joint reference of the project to the International Joint Commission, an agency that oversees cross-border water issues. Ashton says the outlet would set a dangerous precedent of violating foreign waterways.
Source: CBC.ca |
