09.22.11

Hoeven, Fargo Leaders Strategize for Permanent Flood Protection

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today met with Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker and Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney to prepare a unified approach for securing permanent flood protection in Fargo-Moorhead ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Review Board. The Senator and local officials will attend tomorrow’s Corps meeting to press for the locally preferred Fargo-Moorhead permanent flood protection plan.

“Nearly annual flooding in the Red River Valley over the past few years has taught us in the most explicit way that a permanent flood protection plan in a flood-prone community is the only reliable way to ward off disaster,” Hoeven said. “We need to do all we can to make sure those defenses are both comprehensive and permanent.”

On Wednesday, the Senator met with Col. Michael Price, Commander of the St. Paul District of the Army Corps of Engineers, for a briefing on flood recovery and permanent flood protection efforts across North Dakota. Price will present the Corps’ plans for Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion to the review board, which must approve the plan before the Chief of the Corps can formally endorse it. 

The Senator is working with his Senate colleagues to secure funding for the project once it’s been approved. On Wednesday, he and the delegations of North Dakota and Minnesota wrote to President Obama asking him to support the Fargo–Moorhead region’s efforts and to include $30 million in his Fiscal Year 2013 budget to advance the Fargo-Moorhead permanent flood protection project.

“Fargo and Cass County are a growing, dynamic community, with enormous potential,” Hoeven said. “We need to do all we can to ensure there is a comprehensive, permanent flood protection plan in place to reduce the risk of flooding and protect their future.”