12.21.15

Hoeven Announces $1.5 Million DHS Grant to Fund Flood Protection for Fargo Waste Water Treatment Plant

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded $1.5 million to the City of Fargo from its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). As Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Homeland Security, Hoeven oversees the department’s annual budget and has worked to secure funding to protect the region from flooding. Today’s grant will support flood protection for the City of Fargo’s waste water treatment plant.

“Infrastructure priorities like flood protection for North Dakotans’ homes and businesses are matters of public safety,” Hoeven said. “Today’s FEMA grant will support critical improvements to the City of Fargo’s wastewater system to minimize the risk of sewer backup into public and private property during flooding, and is part of our larger effort to create a comprehensive flood protection plan for the entire region.”

As a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to include language in the FY 2016 Energy and Water funding bill to support flood projects in Fargo, Minot and LaMoure. Similar language was also included in the year-end funding bill, which recently passed the Senate. The year-end funding bill also includes nearly $690 million more than the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed budget for construction and authorizes new studies and construction activity that will help to advance flood protection projects in the Fargo-Moorhead and Minot regions.

In August, Hoeven announced that FEMA awarded a $2 million grant to the City of Fargo to fund improvements to its wastewater treatment plant. Today’s funding illustrates a phased approach to mitigating the impacts of flooding to Fargo’s wastewater treatment plant, and is part of a comprehensive flood protection plan for the Red River Valley that Hoeven has worked to advance.

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