Governor John Hoeven, using Emergency Rules, voided the original permit and approved an increase in the sulfate limit.

Really to be to add reverse osmosis to whatever they do and they've estimated roughly that could cost $45 million so we'd work with them to do that.

ARRA is the economic stimulus?

The State's objective with the west-end outlet is to minimize or avoid the effects of a discharge from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne that would create problems downstream from either a flooding or water quality standpoint.

I am not interested in transferring the problems from one region of our State to another.

not interested in transferring the problem from one region of our state to another.

Let's assume that lake is at 1,455, which spreads dramatically from its current level and consumes far more acreage and so on.

That would cost you $45 million?

But when the outlet was built, there were projections I know from the Water Commission and the Health Department in terms of how it would operate and then it didn't operate for some significant amount of time.

Senator Dorgan, thank you for holding this hearing and allowing me to speak.

It seems to me if you've got a bathtub that's full and you're working on the drain to let some water out you need to work on the faucet to stop some coming in.

Again, I want to underscore our commitment to protect the interests not only of Devils Lake, but of Valley City, Lisbon, Fargo, west Fargo, and all of our communities along the Sheyenne and Red Rivers.

more work needs to be done to retain water in the upper Devils Lake basin.

upper basin storage be included as a key tool to help solve the growing crisis caused by the ongoing flooding at Devils Lake.

The issue of this hearing was the State's plan for this outlet. In my judgment the outlet will run.

If Senator Dorgan is correct that the flooding at the Canadian border constitutes a violation of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, then the violation is the result of North Dakota's failure to comply with the Treaty and with its own…

Thank you Senator Dorgan and your colleagues on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee for the opportunity to provide my testimony.

We've spent a boatload of money, a lot of money, and have been involved all of the years...