Environmental groups on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border are asking a North American Free Trade Agreement commission to investigate the Devils Lake outlet.

A spokeswoman for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in Montreal said the process is lengthy and does not include the possibility of sanctions.

"What it does is attract attention to an issue from the moment a submission is filed," said Katia Opalka, a legal officer for the commission. "Some people have called it a 'spotlight remedy.'"

The complaint says the Canadian and U.S. governments have failed to uphold international environmental law by allowing the diversion of floodwaters from Devils Lake.

It is being submitted by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund on behalf of Friends of the Earth groups in both countries and People to Save the Sheyenne, a group of North Dakota residents who oppose the outlet that drains Devils Lake floodwaters.

The water flows into the Sheyenne River and ultimately the Red River, which flows north into Canada. Downstream residents on the Sheyenne worry about flooding and erosion. Canadian officials are worried about what they say is the potential for foreign water species to enter their waters - a concern North Dakota officials say is unfounded.

"Canada and the U.S. are violating the international laws designed to protect our shared lakes and rivers from pollution," Robert Wright, an attorney for the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement Monday.

North Dakota officials say the outlet does not present an environmental threat.

"They're focused on the politics," Gov. John Hoeven said of outlet opponents. "All along we've been focused on the science."

Norman Dean, executive director of Friends of the Earth United States, said the outlet is "another example of the Bush administration's flouting of international law."

Last week, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said he had secured a promise from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to raise the outlet issue during a meeting with Bush this week.

The outlet began operating last fall, after North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba and the U.S. and Canadian federal governments reached an accord on guidelines. Canadian officials have continued to push for a more sophisticated water filter, which Hoeven has said he would agree to if the state does not have to pay for it. State officials say the current rock filter is adequate.

The outlet is scheduled to resume operating on May 1.

Opalka said Monday that the outlet complaint had not yet been formally filed and her office, which is staffed by people from the three NAFTA countries, could not comment on its specifics.

She said the "citizen submission" process enables anyone in Canada, the United States or Mexico to bring forward an allegation that one of the countries is failing to enforce an environmental law.

If the complaint is deemed credible, the country in question is asked to provide a response. If the commission is not satisfied with the response, it can recommend to its council that an investigation be done. The council is composed of the top environmental official from each of the three countries.

A commission investigation produces a report that does not make any recommendations and might not even be made public.

"We have received 50 submissions since 1994 and published 11 of these fact-finding reports," Opalka said.