Action Alert:
Devils Lake Outlet – Friends of the Earth Campaign
The State of North Dakota thinks that dumping $50,000 worth of
gravel in the Devils Lake outlet will quiet Manitobans (and Canadians,
and Americans) (http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_devils-lake-20050803).
The gravel will stop adult fish, fish eggs, and some plants.
But pollutants, pathogens and other foreign species from Devils
Lake willstill get through the gravel bed into the Red River.
There are no plans to delay the testing of the pumps (today
or tomorrow), or opening of the outlet by next week.
Canadian, and Minnesotan scientists have recently been allowed
to take water samples from Devils Lake for testing. But North
Dakota is not going to wait for the results of these tests before
opening the outlet.
Despite vehement opposition from citizens, non-profit groups,
commercial fishers,
and governments across both Canada and the U.S., North Dakota
plans to proceed with the Devils Lake outlet without review under
the Boundary Waters Treaty by the International Joint Commission.
The Devils Lake water diversion project is an environmental issue,
but it is also an enormous economic issue for Manitoba, as well
as a question of international relations if North Dakota proceeds
unilaterally in harming a shared water resource between Canada
and the U.S.
Show North Dakota that the legitimate concerns of Manitobans
cannot be so easily brushed aside!
Take action! There is very little time left, but both politicians
and the media are paying close attention to this issue at the
moment.
Every effort will count at this late date!
Tell your MLA, your MP, the Premier and the Prime Minister that
you do not want North Dakota to test or open the Devils Lake outlet
while negociations are ongoing!
Support Friends of the Earth in their campaign against the Devils
Lake outlet - sign the petition and/or donate to the legal fund!
Boycott North Dakota!
LEADERS
Call or e-mail the Prime Minister!
(613) 992-4211, Martin.P@parl.gc.ca, or pm@pm.gc.ca
Prime Minister Paul Martin has been working long
and hard on this issue, but it's time he heard from individual
Canadians. It is time for Canada to put its foot down and stop
being so "Canadian". Diplomacy has not been successful.
It's time for the PM to see how many people are counting on him
to stand up for Canadians at this critical time http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp
Urge the PM to meet with Friends of the Earth
to receive the petition, bearing the signatures of Canadians who
are calling on the Canadian government to take legal action against
North Dakota to ensure proper review of the Devils Lake project
before the water starts to flow.
Encourage both the PM and Premier of Manitoba to commit funds
to support Manitobans in legal action against North Dakota!
Call or e-mail the Premier of Manitoba!
(204) 945-3714 and -3715, premier@leg.gov.mb.ca
Premier Gary Doer has also been working on this issue for many
years. Let him know that, as a citizen of Manitoba, you support
his every effort at this "eleventh hour" of the debate.
This is not the way Manitobans intend to be treated by our Southern
trading partners!
http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/members/cabinet.html
Last minute discussions are ongoing about the possibility of
installing a sand filter (much more elaborate than the gravel
bed currently being added), but no final decision has yet been
reached. It has also not been determined whether Manitoba would
be stuck paying the $18 million bill for the filter, or whether
the filter would actually succeed in protecting Manitoba waterways,
and commercial fisheries from the potential pollutants, pathogens,
and foreign species in Devils Lake.
Tell the Premier that a sand filter (with micron sized passage)
is the least Manitoba will accept in this dispute. But even this
filter would not prevent all pathogens and foreign species from
entering the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, and does nothing to
stop dissolved pollutants from contaminating Manitoban waterways.
Urge the Premier to continue to pursue a reference to the International
Joint Commission (IJC) for the Devils Lake project. The IJC has
a long history of resolution of trans-boundary water disputes.
Its mandate would require full scientific review of the project,
and negotiations would seek a solution acceptable to all parties.
Contact the Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., Frank McKenna!
(202) 682-1740, canada@canadianembassy.org http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/washington/services/stafflist-en.asp
Ambassador McKenna has been working very hard on this issue,
and negotitated the addition of the gravel filter currently being
constructed for the outlet.
Check out Canada's statement to the IJC, and letters of support
for Canada's concerns in the Devils Lake dispute at http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/washington/shared_env/devilslake-en.asp
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Contact your MP! Visit the Government of Canada website:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?Language=E (click on the
Members of Parliament for contact info, or find your MP using
your postal code).
Phone numbers for your MPs local constituency office can also
be found in the back of the White Pages. (And if you put your
MPs name into a search engine, you may also find their constituency
website.) (202) 682-1740, canada@canadianembassy.org http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/washington/services/stafflist-en.asp
Ambassador McKenna has been working very hard
on this issue, and negotitated the addition of the gravel filter
currently being constructed for the outlet.
Check out Canada's statement to the IJC, and letters of support
for Canada's concerns in the Devils Lake dispute at http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/washington/shared_env/devilslake-en.asp
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Contact your MP! Visit the Government of Canada
website:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?Language=E (click on the
Members of Parliament for contact info, or find your MP using
your postal code).
Phone numbers for your MPs local constituency office can also
be found in the back of the White Pages. (And if you put your
MPs name into a search engine, you may also find their constituency
website.)
Contact Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board, and Minister
responsible for Manitoba
(204) 984-6787, wpgoffice@reg-alcock.ca
(613) 995-7517, alcocr@parl.gc.ca, or Alcock.R@parl.gc.ca http://www.reg-alcock.ca/index/contacts
Contact your MLA http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/members/alphabetical.html
and
Contact Manitoba's Minister of Water Stewardship, Mr. Steve Ashton!
945-1133, minwst@leg.gov.mb.ca
Express your support for the Provincial government's efforts to
date, and encourage the province to commit funds to the legal
defence of Manitoban priorities!
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
Download and sign the Friend of the Earth Petition More than 1500
signatures have been collected in only two weeks - and there are
many more people who want to make their voices heard!
Petitions must be submitted bearing original signatures to be
eligible for presentation to Parliament. Contact devilslake05@yahoo.ca
to arrange to submit your signed petition, or drop it off at the
Manitoba Eco-Network (3-303 Portage Ave, 3rd floor of the MEC
building, M-F 9am-5pm), or keep an eye out for FOE volunteers
canvassing in public places around the city!
At the FOE website you can also make a donation to the legal/education
fund online (http://www.foecanada.org/)
Municipalities, First Nations groups, environmental
organizations, and many neighbouring provinces and states have
declared that the Devils Lake water diversion project needs to
be reviewed under the Boundary Waters Treaty by the International
Joint Commission. However, neither the State of North Dakota nor
the U.S. Federal government has agreed to this review, which would
include a thorough scientific assessment. The Provincial and Federal
governments have been negociating for years over this issue. Friends
of the Earth recently retained Canada's leading environmental
lawyer to advise Manitoban First Nations and Municipalities on
their legal options in this dispute.
Although many leaders of these groups expressed an interest in
taking legal action, funds are tight around the province after
repairing the extensive flood damage this year, and the necessary
funds have not yet been found to pursue North Dakota in court.
NORTH DAKOTA
Express your concern to the man with his political
hand on the Devils Lake tap, North Dakota Governor John Hoeven:
http://www.governor.state.nd.us/contact.html
Boycott North Dakota - Spend your tourist money
in a State that respects our shared environment and long-standing
international treaties - like Minnesota!
And let North Dakota know! E-mail the Greater North Dakota Chamber
of Commerce
(http://www.ndchamber.com/contact/default.asp)
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