Associated Press

Federal and provincial government officials in Canada are increasing pressure to stop Devils Lake outlet operations, saying a more sophisticated filter is needed for the floodwater diversion project.

A spokesman for Gov. John Hoeven said Friday that the position of North Dakota officials has not changed: don't send us the bill.

"We don't object to the (advanced) filter with two provisions," spokesman Don Canton said. "That North Dakota doesn't incur an expense, and second, that it doesn't impede the operation of the outlet."

North Dakota officials began running the outlet this week, when the level of sulfates in the Sheyenne River met requirements in a state Health Department permit under which the outlet operates.

Canadian officials fear that the outlet, which pumps Devils Lake floodwaters into the Sheyenne and ultimately the north-flowing Red River, will contaminate their waters. They have taken the case to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Mandan attorney William Delmore, who is representing Manitoba in that case, filed a demand with the state Health Department this week to shut down the outlet. Photographs taken by outlet opponents downstream show minnows that allegedly slipped through the outlet's rock-and-gravel filter.

"The intake must be fitted with a screen system of sufficient mesh and size to preclude the uptake or transfer of adult fish species," Delmore wrote in his demand. "If, in fact, adult minnows are being transferred downstream, the outlet is not in compliance with its permit conditions."

The environmental group Friends of the Earth Canada also has called for outlet operations to cease until a more sophisticated filter is in place. That group calls the current filter a "dump truck full of gravel."

North Dakota officials say the rock-and-gravel filter blocks fish, eggs and plants and is adequate protection.

"Frankly, we don't think (a new filter) is necessary based on the science," Canton said.

He said it was "highly unlikely" that any minnows made it through the filter.

Canada's House of Commons on Thursday night discussed the outlet and passed a motion calling on the government "to continue to employ every means possible to have the flow of water from Devils Lake into the Canadian water system stopped immediately."

"Two years after Canada and the United States reached an agreement to install an advanced filter to prevent invasive species and pollutants from entering our waterways, we are still waiting for the installation to be done," said Ray Simard, a Parliament member.

Canada Environment Minister John Baird said he had raised Manitoba's concerns with the U.S. government.

"We take this issue of Devils Lake incredibly seriously," Baird said.

Kristen Hellmer, spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working with a contractor and with Canadian technical experts on a feasibility study for a more advanced outlet filter that would include screens and ultraviolet irradiation.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer also is protesting the startup of the outlet without a new filter. He sent a letter to Hoeven this week saying he was no longer willing to work with the state on flooding issues in Pembina County, which borders Canada. "Manitoba is formally withdrawing its offer," he wrote.

Hoeven, in a letter to Doer on Friday, said he had no choice but to decline the premier's offer anyway because it was contingent on outlet operations being delayed.