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American Review of Canadian Studies Volume 37, 2007 - Issue 1
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ESSAYS

From Trail Smelter to Devils Lake: The Need for Effective Federal Involvement in Canadian-American Environmental Disputes

Allen L. Springer
Pages 77-102 | Published online: 11 Nov 2009

Notes

  • U.S. State Department, “Joint Press Statement on Devils Lake Flooding and Ecological Protection by the United States and Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba, Aug. 5, 2005. Online: http://ottawa.usembassy.gov/content/content.asp?section=can_usa&document=environment_devilslake_080605.
  • See Debora L. VanNijnatten, “Analyzing the Canada-U.S. Environmental Relationship: A Multi-Faceted Approach,” American Review of Canadian Studies (Spring 2003): 93–120, for a discussion of the impact of states and provinces on the development of the Ozone Annex to the Air Quality Agreement. On the role of states and provinces on the climate change issue, see Henrik Selin and Stacy D. Vandeveer, “Canadian-U.S. Environmental Cooperation: Climate Changes Networks and Regional Action,” American Review of Canadian Studies (Summer 2005): 353–378.
  • Allen L. Springer,” Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? The Gulf of Maine Revisited,” International Environmental Affairs 6 (1994): 223–244.
  • Allen L. Springer, “The Pacific Salmon Controversy: Law, Diplomacy, Equity and Fish,” American Review of Canadian Studies 27 (1997): 385–409.
  • Allen L. Springer, “North American Transjurisdictional Cooperation: The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, Canadian-American Public Policy, Occasional Papers Series, no. 50 Apr. 2002).
  • Barry G. Rabe, “The Politics of Ecosystem Management in the Great Lakes Basin, American Review of Canadian Studies 27 (1997): 411 436.
  • Donald K. Alper, “Transboundary Environmental Relations in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest,” American Review of Canadian Studies 27 (1997): 359–383.
  • VanNijnatten, “Analyzing the Canada-U.S. Environmental Relationship,” note 2.
  • Annette Baker Fox, “Environmental Issues: Canada and the United States,” in Willis C. Armstrong, Louis S. Armstrong, and Francis O. Wilcox, eds., Canada and the United States: Dependence and Divergence (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Co., 1982), p. 200.
  • On the value of a more local approach in depoliticizing Canada-U.S. environmental relations, see VanNijnatten, “Analyzing the Canada-U.S. Environmental Relationship,” note 2, pp. 657–658.
  • See, for example, comments by Myres McDougal in “Settling Our Canadian-United States Differences: Comments,” Canada-United States Law Journal 1 (1978): 32.
  • Fox, “Environmental Issues, note 9, p. 195.
  • Alan Nymark, “Canada-U.S. Environmental Cooperation,” Canada United States Law Journal 28 (2002): 27–36. See also Fox, “Environmental Issues,” note 9, p. 195.
  • Alper, “Transboundary Environmental Relations,” note 7, p. 380.
  • Debora L. VanNijnatten, “Canadian-American Environmental Relations: Interoperability and Politics,” American Review of Canadian Studies (Winter 2004): 649–664.
  • Rabe, “Politics of Ecosystem Management,” note 6, p. 413.
  • Concern for what is often viewed as the decreased priority given to environmental values in the United States under the current Bush administration has made this a particular concern in the United States. Alper, “Transboundary Environmental Relations,” note 7, p. 379.
  • Debora L. VanNijnatten, “Towards Cross-Border Environmental Policy Spaces in North America: Province-State Linkages on the Canada-U.S. Border,” Ameriquests 3, no. 1 (2006): 1–19, p. 18.
  • See Springer, “North American Transjurisdictional Cooperation,” note 5, pp. 21–24.
  • Ibid., pp. 27–29.
  • See, for example, Rabe's discussion of the regulatory roles of the two federal governments in responding to problems in the Great Lakes, in “Politics of Ecosystem Management,” note 6, p. 418–423.
  • Canada and the United States, “Treaty Relating to Boundary Waters and Questions Arising Along the Boundary Between Canada and the United States” (hereafter cited as “Boundary Waters Treaty”), 11 Jan. 1909, in Charles Bevans, Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States, 13 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968–1979), vol. 12, p. 322.
  • On the work of the IJC generally, see John E. Carroll, Environmental Diplomacy: An Examination and a Prospective of Canadian-U.S. Transboundary Environmental Relations (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1983), pp. 39–58. For more recent analyses of the ICJ role in dealing with Great Lakes and other issues, see Herb Gray, “Canada and U.S. Approaches to the Great Lakes: Environmental and Economic Aspects,” Canada United States Law Journal 31 (2005): 289–305; and L. H. Legault, “The Management and Resolution of Cross Border Disputes as Canada/U.S. Enter the 21st Century: The Roles of Law and Diplomacy in Dispute Resolution: The IJC as a Possible Model,” Canada-United States Law Journal 26 (2000): 47–55.
  • Herb Gray, “Canada and U.S. Approaches,” note 23, p. 307.
  • John Kirton, “The Commission for Environmental Cooperation and Canada-U.S. Environmental Governance in the NAFTA Era,” American Review of Canadian Studies 27 (1997): 459—486; see also Leslie R. Alm and Ross E. Burkhart, “Canada, the United States and Environmental Policy-Making,” Ameriquests 3, no. 1 (2006): 1–14.
  • Fox, “Environmental Issues,” note 9, pp. 214—215.
  • Bob Hage, comments, in response to John Knox, “Environment: Garrison Dam, Columbia River, the IJC, NGOs,” Canada–United States Law Journal 30 (2004): 129–139.
  • See Allen L. Springer, The International Law of Pollution: Protecting the Global Environment in a World of Sovereign States (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983), pp. 130–141.
  • “Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act,” R.S.C. 1970, 1st Supp., c. 2 in International Legal Materials 9 (1970): 544. See also Alan Beesley, “The Canadian Approach to International Environmental Law,” Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 11 (1973): 3–7.
  • See Springer, The International Law of Pollution, note 28, pp. 31–32.
  • “Boundary Waters Treaty, note 22, p. 322.
  • Allen L. Springer, The International Law of Pollution, note 28, pp. 63–88.
  • Davis R. Robinson, “The Management and Resolution of Cross Border Disputes as Canada/U.S. Enter the 21st Century: The Convergence of Law and Diplomacy in United States–Canada Relations: The Precedent of the Gulf of Maine Case,” Canada–United States Law Journal 26 (2000): 37–45.
  • U.S. Senate, Committee of Foreign Relations, “Maritime Boundary Settlement Treaty with Canada: Hearings,” 97th Congress, 1st session (1981), p. 7.
  • Robinson, “The Management and Resolution of Cross Border Disputes,” note 33, p. 40.
  • Legault, “The Management and Resolution of Cross Border Disputes,” note 23, p. 49.
  • See, for example, Don Munton, “Dependence and Interdependence in Transboundary Environmental Relations,” International Journal 36 (1980–81): 141–144; Richard Baxter, “Settling Our Canadian–United States Differences: An American Perspective,” Canada–United States Law Journal 1 (1978): 5; and generally Marcel Cadieux, “Settling Our Canadian–United States Differences: Comments,” Canada–United Slates Law Journal 1 (1978): 19–35.
  • Richard Bilder, “Settlement of Disputes in the Field of International Law of the Environment,” Recueil de Cours 1 (1975): 225.
  • American Bar Association–Canadian Bar Association, “Draft Treaty on Third-Party Settlement of Disputes,” Settlement of Disputes Between Canada and the United Slates (1979), p. xxi. On the proposal, see Erik B. Wang, “Adjudication of Canada–United States Disputes,” Canadian Yearbook of International Law 19 (1981): 210–217.
  • Ibid., pp. 79–84, 132 141.
  • See, for example, Peter H. Sand, Lessons Learned in Environmental Governance (New York: World Resources Institute, 1990), pp. 5–18.
  • See Rabe, “Politics of Ecosystem Management,” note 6, pp. 416–417.
  • Canada–United States, “Trail Smelter Arbitration” (1938, 1941), United Nations Report. of International Arbitral Awards, 3 (1949): 1918. On the political and legal implications of the Trail Smelter case, see John E. Read., “The Trail Smelter Dispute,” Canadian Yearbook of International Law 2 (1963): 213–229; and Alfred R Rubin, “Pollution by Analogy: The Trail Smelter Arbitration,” Oregon Law Review 50 (1979): 259–282.
  • On recent developments relating to the transboundary water pollution issues later raised by the smelter, the source of continuing controversy, see Austen L. Parrish, [Trail Smelter Déjà Vu: Extraterritoriality, International Environmental Law, and the Search for Solutions to Canadian-U.S. Transboundary Water Pollution Disputes, Boston University Law Review 85 (Apr. 2005): 363–429.
  • Canada-United States, “Gut Dam Arbitration” (1968), reprinted in International Legal Materials 8(1969): 118.
  • On the value of the proceedings, see T. Bradbrooke Smith, “The Management and Resolution of Cross Border Disputes as Canada/U.S. Enter the 21st Century: Looking Ahead: Common Institutions or Muddling Through,” Canada–United States Law Journal 26 (2000): 339.
  • Allen L. Springer, “Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? The Gulf of Maine Revisited,” International Environmental Affairs 6 (1994): 238–239.
  • See Monroe Leigh, comments, in Cadieux, “Settling Our Canadian–United States Differences,” note 37, pp. 24–25. This was actually one of the prime arguments in support of the ABA-CBA compulsory arbitration proposal.
  • See Springer, “The Pacific Salmon Controversy,” note 4, p. 403. On this general point, see Louis Henkin, How Nations Behave: Law and Foreign Policy 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), pp. 44 46.
  • For a more detailed look at the Eastport controversy, see Springer, The International Law of Pollution, note 28, pp. 185–200.
  • “U.S. Will Be Told to Keep Tankers off Canadian Waters: MP,” CBC News, 13 Apr. 2006. Online: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/04/13/lng-passamaquoddy060413.html.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Devils Lake North Dakota: Integrated Planning Report and Environmental Impact Statement (Apr. 2003) (hereafter “Army Corps, 2003 EIA”). Online: http://www.health.state.nd.us/WQ/DeevilsLake/2003/DevilsLakeEIS/, pp. S-1–S-4.
  • “Devils Lake Outlet Getting Ready to Pump Water,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 21 July 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • “Army Corps, 2003 EIA,” note 52, p. S-11.
  • Friends of the Earth Canada, et al., “Submission to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Pursuant to Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation,” 24 Mar. 2006 (hereafter, “CEC Submission”). Online: http://www.cec.org/files/pdf/sem/06–2–sub_en.pdf, pp. 3–4.
  • “Devils Lake: Agreement Looks Like Surrender,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11 Aug. 2005, p. 16A. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • International Joint Commission, Transboundary Implications of the Garrison Diversion (1977). Online: http://www.ijc.org/php/puhlications/biblio_library.php?langage=English, p. 121.
  • For a closer analysis of the Garrison Diversion dispute and its broader implications, see Carroll, Environmental Diplomacy, note 23, pp. 174 182; John E. Carroll and Roderick M. Logan, The Garrison Diversion Unit (Montreal: C. D. Howe Research Institute, 1980); and Kim R. Nossal, “The Unmaking of Garrison: United States Politics and the Management of Canadian-American Boundary Waters,” Behind the Headlines 27, no. 1 (1978); Sheryl A. Rosenberg, “A Canadian Perspective on the Devils Lake Outlet: Towards an Environmental Assessment Model for the Management of Trans-boundary Disputes,” North Dakota Law Review 76 (2000): 822–832.
  • “Boundary Waters Treaty,” note 22.
  • See generally, Rosenberg, “A Canadian Perspective,” note 58, pp. 946–947.
  • Ibid., p. 834.
  • Ibid. pp. 827–835.
  • Knox, “Environment,” note 27, pp. 132–133.
  • Letter from Colin Powell, U.S. secretary of state, to General Flowers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 20 Jan. 2004, quoted in Blake Nicholson, “Powell: Outlet Would Not Violate Boundary Waters Treaty,” Bismarck Tribune, 23 Jan. 2004, p. 1B. Online: http://ww.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • David Conrad, quote in “Powell: Outlet Would Not Violate,” note 64.
  • Ibid.
  • Id.
  • Knox, “Environment,” note 63, pp. 134–135. See also “State Department Wants Consultation on Devils Lake Outlet,” Bismarck Tribune, 12 Mar. 2004, p. 1B. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • International Joint Commission, Status Report on the Activities of the International Red River Board (Apr. 2004). Online: http://www.ijc.org/php/publications/biblio_library.php?language=English, p. 6.
  • Rosenberg, “A Canadian Perspective,” note 58, p. 840.
  • See generally Nicole Shalla, “People to Save the Sheyenne River, Inc. v. North Dakota Department of Health: Setting a Permit Precedent, While Allowing Pollution to Transcend International Borders,” Great Plains Natural Resources Journal 10 (2006): 73–84.
  • Paul Samyn, “Devils Lake Battle Heats Up: Pressure on for Martin to Raise Issue with Bush,” Winnipeg Free Press 26 Apr. 2004. Online: http://savethesheyennc.org/hattleheatsup.04.26.2004. htm.
  • Canadian Embassy, Washington, “Devils Lake—Threat to Boundary Waters Treaty, Support for an IJC Reference.” Online: http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/washington/shared_env/devilslake-en.asp#support.
  • Canadian Ambassador Frank McKenna, “Hell from High Water,” New York Times, 12 May 2005, p. A-27. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Ibid.
  • “Bush Tells PM He's Watching File on Devils Lake Water Diversion Project,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 1 June 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-ncxis.com/universe.
  • “Canada Lawmakers Pass Resolution on Devils Lake Outlet,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 24 June 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • “Conrad Meets with Canadian Ambassador on Outlet,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 11 Apr. 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Mary Clare Jalonick, “Senators Reject Review of Devils Lake Project,” Associated Press Slate and Local Wire, 26 Apr. 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Pat Martin, quoted in “Manitoba Official Suggests Trade Sanctions to Stop Outlet,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 15 June 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Dale Wetzel, “Hoover: Canadian Access to Outlet Water Testing Possible, Associated Press State and Local Wire, 17 June 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • “Politicians Say Compromise Would Have Averted Outlet Dispute,” Associated Prus State and Local Wire, 4 June 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • “Lawyer Believes Canadian Court Can Stop Outlet,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 15 July 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Wetzel, “Hoover,” note 81.
  • Mary Clare Jalonick, “Little-known White House Office Negotiates Devils Lake Dispute,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 5 Sept. 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • U.S. Department of State, “Joint Press Statement on Devils Lake Flooding and Ecological Protection by the United States and Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba,” 5 Aug. 2005. Online: http://ottawa.usembassy.gov/content/content.asp?section=can_usa&subsectionl=environment&document=environrnent_dcvilslake_080605.
  • Mike Brue, “Devils Lake Deal Reached Between North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba,” Grand Forks Herald, 6 Aug. 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexiis.com/universe.
  • State Department, “Joint Press Statement,” note 86.
  • Brue, “Devils Lake Deal,” note 87.
  • Steve Lambert, “U.S. Water Project Opens Amid Concerns It Will Pollute Canadian Waters,” Canadian Press News Wire, 15 Aug. 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Friends of the Earth Canada, et al., “Submission,” note 35, p. 1.
  • Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Determination in Accordance with Article 14(1) of the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation, 8 June 2006)(A14/SEM/06–002/04/14(1)). Online: http://www.cec.org/news/details/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=2723.
  • Lambert, “U.S. Water Project Opens,” note 90.
  • Dale Wetzel, “Health Department Approves Devils Lake Outlet Changes,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 18 Aug, 2006. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Rosenberg, “A Canadian Perspective,” note 58, p. 848.
  • Knox, “Environment,” 27, p. 133.
  • See, for example, “Canadian Fishermen Protest Devils Lake Outlet,” Associated Press and State Wire, 1 July 2005. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • Knox, “Environment,” note 27, p. 133.
  • “U.S. Vows to Build Filter, Montreal Gazette, 26 Apr. 2006, p. A-12. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • U.S. Embassy, Ottawa, “Canadian and U.S. Scientists Find No Invasive Species in Devils Lake.” Online: http://ottawa.usembassy.gov/content/content.asp?section=can_usa&subsection1=environment&document=environment_devilslake_111805. See also Crystal Hudson and Kenneth Peters, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Center, Survey of Specific Fish Pathogens in Free-Ranging Fish from Devils Lake, North Dakota (Sept. 2005). Online: http://usembassycanada.gov/content/can_usa/env_Devils%20LakeFPS05%/20FinalComplete.pdf.
  • Dave Kolpack, “Environmental Groups Protest Water Project,” Associated Press State and Local Wire, 12 Feb. 2006. Online: http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.
  • ABA-CBA, Settlement of Disputes, note 39, pp. 40–56.
  • See, for example, John E. Carroll and Newall B. Mack, “On Living Together in North America: Canada, the United States and International Environmental Relations,” Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 12 (1982): 35–50.
  • Rosenberg, A Canadian Perspective,” note 58, pp. 852–859.
  • See comments by Delvecchio in response to Knox, “Environment,” note 27, p. 141.

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