Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about the next U.S.-Canada friction point.

Discussing friction points in U.S.-Canadian relations is certainly a unique turn of events for foreign policy.

Okay, so what's going on now?

For more than half a century, the Columbia River Treaty has governed water sharing of,

you guessed it, the Columbia River.

The river originates in British Columbia, Canada, and ends at the Oregon-Washington border in the

United States.

It's about 1,200 miles and produces about

40% of the hydroelectricity in the United States, a bunch in Canada too. The Columbia River

Treaty is a pretty broad treaty, covering everything from flood control to water supply and energy

generation. Because of a really bad flood in

1948 that hit Vamport, Oregon, one of the key aspects is that Canada has to control

the flow of the river through a series of dams they have on their side of the border to make sure

our hydroelectric plants get enough water while

also controlling flooding.

For that, we kick a couple hundred million up to Canada and give them access to some of

the hydroelectric produced on this side of the border.

Because of the close relationship between the US and Canada, it wasn't really an issue.

In fact, unless you're directly involved in water management or an environmentalist, you've

probably never heard of it.

The treaty is up for renewal.

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