February 22, 2008
Manitoba Welcomes Supreme Court Ruling On Devils Lake: Melnick
– – –Court Deems Weakening of Devils Lake Permit `Arbitrary, Capricious and Unreasonable'
Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick today welcomed a North Dakota Supreme Court ruling issued yesterday that overturned key changes made in 2006 by the state that weakened environmental standards in the operating permit for the Devils Lake outlet.
“The North Dakota Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment, which requires tighter restrictions on the operation of the Devils Lake outlet that would result in greater protection for Manitoba’s waters,” said Melnick.
Manitoba launched this court action with People to Save the Sheyenne River, the Peterson Coulee Outlet Association and the National Wildlife Federation.
The court ruled that changes made to the discharge standard for total suspended solids and to the operating period which allowed pumping to begin before May and to continue after November were “. . . arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable . . . not the product of a rational mental process.” The court sent the permit back to the North Dakota Department of Health and ruled these changes were unlawful and had to be reversed.
In an attempt to allow the outlet to be operated more frequently, North Dakota relaxed a number of environmental requirements in its operating permit related to sulphate, total suspended solids and restrictions that prevented pumping before May or after November.
Total suspended solids are comprised of silt and sediment particles scoured from the outlet channel as well as other materials such as algae from Devils Lake. Four types of harmful, blue-green algae have been found in Devils Lake that are not known to occur in Lake Winnipeg.
The outlet was operated for parts of 11 days in 2005 and 38 days 2007, and lowered water levels in Devils Lake by 0.027 of an inch or about the thickness of a few sheets of paper stacked together.
In August 2005, governments agreed to put in place an advanced treatment system on the outlet. Despite this agreement, the treatment system is not yet in place, thus prompting Manitoba and its allies in the United States to launch court actions to challenge operation of the outlet.
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