05.07.13

Hoeven: Full Senate Agrees to Take Up WRDA Bill

Measure Includes Authorization for Permanent Flood Protection

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Senate has reached agreement to bring the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to the Senate floor today. This is important, Hoeven said, because it includes authorization for permanent flood protection for the Red River Valley.

“I think we’re in good shape,” Hoeven said. “We’ve worked with leadership on both sides of the aisle. It will depend a little bit on what amendments get offered, but we hope to work on the legislation this week and have it passed by next week. That would be a big step forward.”

Fargo had to mount a costly flood fight again this year, spending $2 million and filling a million sandbags to avert yet another disaster. Had the city and region seen the worst-case scenario, the cost could well have been in the billions of dollars to recover. The federal cost of the diversion needs to be weighed against the cost in human and financial terms of an almost annual flood fight.

“This is a partnership that will protect and benefit hundreds of thousands of people in both North Dakota and Minnesota,” Hoeven said. “It’s a federal-state-local partnership for both states, and we need to move it ahead. We need to put the cost and hardship of annual flood fights behind us.”