9:48 a.m. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Manitoba Premier Gary Doer is appealing to Bush administration officials for an international review of North Dakota's Devils Lake outlet.

Canada and Minnesota officials want the nearly completed floodwater diversion project taken to the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canadian organization that resolves boundary water disputes. They fear environmental harm from the outlet, which eventually would drain Devils Lake water into the Red River, which forms much of the Minnesota-North Dakota border and flows north into Canada.

Doer and others met on Wednesday with Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega.

"I'm encouraged," Doer said. "But we're two points down with 10 seconds left."

Construction on the $28 million outlet is expected to be completed in a few months. The lake has more than doubled in size after a decade of wet weather, and is expected to hit a record peak this summer. The flooding has caused millions of dollars in damage.

Ramsey County Commissioner Joe Belford told a Winnipeg radio station that "The thing that's most troublesome to me about the group that was in D.C. today (is) only one of them, the premier, has been in Devils Lake to see what's going on.

"The rest of them are shooting from the hip," he said.

Gov. John Hoeven has said North Dakota and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offered years ago to refer the outlet to the IJC, but Canada refused in May 2002. The North Dakota Water Commission says the outlet is scientifically sound and poses no threats downstream.

Reg Alcock, Manitoba's federal minister, said he plans to meet with North Dakota's two senators, Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, and the state's representative, Earl Pomeroy.

David Ramsay, Ontario's natural resources minister, said going ahead with the project would be viewed as an "aggressive" move.

Canada and the United States have a 96-year-old treaty on boundary waters. Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair said the treaty could be "seriously compromised" by the outlet.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth planned a press conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Thursday to announce the formation of an emergency task force to stop the outlet.

The group said if a review from the International Joint Commission isn't completed within 60 days, Canada must force the United States to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Don Canton, spokesman for Hoeven, said he wanted to wait until after the group's press conference before commenting.