Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Premier calls for bilateral talks on border irritants
IT'S time for a high-level, face-to-face meeting over Manitoba's cross-border water woes, Premier Greg Selinger said.
Echoing similar calls by retiring North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, Selinger called on the Canadian and American governments, as well as North Dakota and Minnesota, to meet as soon as possible to hash out nagging issues such as the Devils Lake outlet.
DEVILS LAKE
The big thorn in Manitoba's side. Devils Lake, just west of Grand Forks, is overflowing. To stop that, an outlet pumps 250 cubic feet of water per second every hour into the Sheyenne River, which flows into the Red River. Manitoba believes the water carries all sorts of nasties foreign to Manitoba's eco-system and has lobbied and sued for proper precautions. Chiefly, there's no filter on the outlet, which North Dakota agreed to install five years ago. Lately, some N.D. politicians have talked about adding more outlets, because the existing one is doing virtually nothing to lower lake levels.
THE MANITOBA BORDER DIKE
This is North Dakota's beef, a 50-kilometre rural road that acts as a dike just north of the Canada-U.S. border. North Dakota politicians say the dike routinely floods Pembina, N.D., while protecting Manitoba property owners. North Dakota wants it removed.
Selinger's demand comes on the same day North Dakota politicians travelled to Washington for meetings about a critical federal task force report on Devils Lake that's slated to be released before the end of the month. It appears Canada and Manitoba were left out of the loop.
That report makes the need for a tête-à-tête more urgent, Selinger said in a statement.
"We are looking for long-term solutions that can look at the needs of everyone involved," said Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick. "It's time to see some real resolution here."
Melnick said Selinger has been in touch with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, American Ambassador David Jacobson and Gary Doer, Canada's ambassador to the United States.
Manitoba has already gone to court over the Devils Lake outlet and might do so again, though Melnick said negotiations are always preferable.
She said Manitoba sympathizes with North Dakotans frustrated with the rising lake, but the outlet, meant to reduce flooding, threatens to contaminate the Red River and Lake Winnipeg with new kinds of blue-green algae and fish parasites.
Last month, Dorgan called for a multi-government meeting to take place at the end of September. He said that's preferable to court challenges.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 4, 2010 A4
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