Description: Challenge to environmental review for Northwest Area Water Supply Project that would provide water from Lake Sakakawea in the Missouri River Basin to communities in need of water in North Dakota.
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Government of Province of Manitoba v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 05/03/2019 Opinion Download Dismissal of State of Missouri's complaint on standing grounds affirmed. -
Government of Province of Manitoba v. Zinke
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 08/10/2017 Opinion Download Opinion issued granting summary judgment to defendants. Federal Court Said Bureau of Reclamation Considered Climate Change-Induced Turbidity in Review of Water Transfer Project. The federal district court for District of Columbia ruled that the Bureau of Reclamation had “finally done its work” of examining the potential impacts of the Northwest Area Water Supply Project (NAWS), the goal of which was to provide water from Lake Sakakawea in the Missouri River Basin to communities in need of water in North Dakota, which is in the Hudson River Basin. The court rejected an argument by the Province of Manitoba that a supplemental EIS prepared by the Bureau in 2015 did not adequately consider a climate change-induced increase in turbidity in the waters of Lake Sakakawea. The court said this argument arose from a “scientific disagreement as to the nature and impact” of the turbidity in the environment, not from a failure by the Bureau to consider the issue.