State Court Gives Go Ahead On Devil's Lake Plan

Rising water levels in recent years have submerged about 300 homes around the North Dakota lake, as well as roads and more than 28,000 hectares of farmland. The ruling is bad news for the provincial and federal governments, which have both long insisted the lake is polluted and contains foreign plants and other life forms that could harm the Red River and Lake Winnipeg. North Dakota officials insist the water is safe. They say the court ruling reaffirms that. "I'm very pleased they upheld the decision by the district judge and the permit that was issued by the North Dakota health department, because I felt it was a very good, clean document and there was protection in there for everyone," said county commissioner Joe Belford. - Court didn't consider big issues: Doer - Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said he wasn't surprised by the decision, but said North Dakota's Supreme Court didn't consider the larger issues at play. "Obviously, if you don't look at the impact on the international border, if you only look at things inside North Dakota, we didn't get the result we were hoping for," he said. Also from the article: "If this doesn't go to the commission, there are going to be states and provinces doing whatever they want on water projects on a unilateral basis because there will be no respect for an international treaty," said Doer. "This is bigger than North Dakota-Manitoba." The province has spent more than $250,000 on Washington-based lawyers to represent it in court so far. © the CBC, 2005 Read the whole article: http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/world_home&articleID=1944642

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