Negotiating Niagara Falls: US-Canada Environmental and Energy Diplomacy

Abstract

Niagara Falls is one of the world’s most iconic natural features. Yet in many ways Niagara Falls is decidedly unnatural, for the United States and Canada physically manipulated this waterfall over the course of the twentieth century so that its waters could be diverted for hydropower production while still ostensibly retaining the cataract’s aesthetic beauty for tourism. While this appears contradictory, since the latter depends on ample amounts of water flowing over the Falls while the former requires water going around the Falls, experts believed that they could engineer a compromise and essentially fool the public. Following the 1950 Niagara River Diversion Treaty, the two North American nations constructed hydroelectric stations and remedial works (various engineering interventions including excavations, fills, reclamations, weirs, and dams) at Niagara Falls that allowed for the majority of the water volume to be diverted for power production. Moreover, the largest of the Niagara cataracts,...