Court Opinion

ID: 9513967
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:42:52.217589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:07.025405
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
[¶ 36] I agree with all of the majority opinion other than that part of section IV B concerning the period of operation. The current permit authorizes operation of the outlet from May to No*760vember. The Water Commission contends its purpose was and continues to be to allow discharge during the open-water season and that its request to amend the permit to allow operation during the ice-free portion of the year is simply reflective of that fact. Manitoba and the majority refer to the change as an “extension of the period of operation.” Given the vagaries of North Dakota weather it is not clear to me that the ice-free period of the year will be greater than the May to November period of the year. The proposed change requires the application of common sense rather than the sophisticated and technical principles of “technical mistake” or “new information.” I would therefore also affirm that portion of the district court judgment affirming the decision of the Department to modify the permit.
[¶ 37] DALE V. SANDSTROM and MARY MUEHLEN MARING, JJ., concur.