08.14.15

Hoeven: FEMA Awards Nearly $6 Million to City of Minot Flood Water Treatment Plant for Flood Protection

MINOT, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded nearly $6 million to the City of Minot through its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). Hoeven serves as the chairman for the Senate Appropriations Committee on Homeland Security, where he oversees the department’s annual budget.

The funds will be used to build two road closures – log structures which, in the event of a flood, close the gap in a levee which is created by a road running through the levee and more than 1,700 feet of concrete floodwall with tie-back levees on each end – tying the project into high ground, thus protecting the water plant and high service pump station. The grant will also go towards modifying storm sewer drains and building a large storm sewer pump station and water transmission pipeline.

“We are working to secure funding through FEMA and other sources to meet the needs of the Minot community following the historic flood of 2011,” Hoeven said. “This grant will play a critical role in supporting Minot’s ongoing efforts to recover, and I will continue working on the federal level for disaster aid that will help the city fully rebuild and also to secure protective infrastructure so that we can mitigate the impact of flooding in the future.”

Today’s HMGP grant is the second installment of more than $19.8 million federal share for the project’s second phase. In May, Hoeven announced the first installment of phase two funding from FEMA, which directed $6 million to the City of Minot to help build a floodwall and other infrastructure for Minot’s Water Treatment Plant to protect the plant and keep it functioning during a flood.

In 2013, Hoeven announced a $2 million FEMA grant to the City of Minot for the first phase of the HMGP treatment plant flood protection project. The first phase was completed in September 2014 and focused on engineering, permitting and designing the project.

Through his role on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Hoeven has worked extensively to ensure the grant funding for the City of Minot was authorized and appropriated.   

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