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MO A-G files complaint in water diversion case

Missouri’s Attorney General is taking another step to try and block a diversion of Missouri River water. Chris Koster filed a supplemental complaint late last week in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging the US Bureau of Reclamation violated federal law and an earlier court order by failing to do a study of the effects of the proposed water diversion to downstream states like Missouri. Koster says that diversion would harm navigation on the Missouri River and potentially impact drinking water and power generation in Missouri. The complaint supplements Koster’s lawsuit filed earlier to block the diversion.

The Northwest Area Water Supply Project would remove nearly five-million gallons of Missouri River water a year and pipe it to northwestern North Dakota where it would then flow into the Hudson Bay of Canada.

Koster’s office says the government of Manitoba, Canada has also filed a complaint saying the diverted water would increase the risk of invasive species into Canadian waters.