(CP)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

WINNIPEG—Manitoba has lost its latest court challenge to stop an outlet in North Dakota from draining lake water which flows into the province.
The Winnipeg Free Press said in a report from Ottawa that the North Dakota Supreme Court told the Manitoba government yesterday that it misinterpreted a previous ruling on how long the outlet could operate.

The state’s highest court had ruled in February that the state acted improperly in loosening some of the environmental standards used to operate the outlet, which drains lake water that eventually flows into Manitoba.
Part of that ruling prohibited the outlet from operating before May 1—or so Manitoba thought.
However, Manitoba Water Stewardship spokesman Dwight Williamson said there was an error in the original judgment that had the wrong number of judges siding with Manitoba.
The 22-km-long outlet—a series of pipes and drains—was built in 2005 to stop rising waters and chronic flooding on Devils Lake. It drains water into the Sheyenne River, which runs into the Red River and ends in Lake Winnipeg.
Williamson said Manitoba now will focus on trying to alter the new operating permit for the outlet, which expires in June.
Manitoba and three other three U.S. organizations, including the National Wildlife Federation, had filed an application in North Dakota district court on Friday arguing the state was violating the provisions of its operating permit.
The action was the latest in a string of court challenges Manitoba and its allies have taken to try to get the outlet stopped—fearing it could let foreign fish, plants, and parasites into the province.