08.11.21

Hoeven Working to Secure Engineering & Design Funding for Fourth Phase of Souris River Valley Flood Protection

Senator Urges Army Corps Chief to Conduct PED in a Timely Fashion

MINOT, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today urged Lieutenant General Scott Spellmon, Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to prioritize Pre-construction Engineering and Design (PED) for the fourth phase of the Souris River Valley’s flood protection project in the Corps’ annual work plan. The senator made the request during Spellmon’s visit to the Minot region, which Hoeven attended via video conference due to the Senate schedule. 

Hoeven stressed the need to move forward with the fourth phase in a timely fashion, as it will tie the previous three phases together and provide protection to 60 percent of the region’s residents, and outlined his efforts as a member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee to:

  • Ensure the Corps has the funding it needs to conduct the project’s PED.
    • This follows the senator’s successful efforts to authorize the project in the year-end legislation passed by Congress in December.
  • Pursue Corps construction funding for Minot in the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation.
    • The bill included $2.5 billion for the Corps to construct flood mitigation projects, and Hoeven highlighted that the Minot project will be eligible for this funding.
  • Hoeven is also working to advance the City of Minot’s applications to two Department of Defense (DoD) programs that could help fund future phases beyond the Corps of Engineers project.

“General Spellmon’s visit is very timely, as the Minot region’s flood protection project has reached a key juncture,” said Hoeven. “It is imperative that the project’s pre-construction engineering and design be funded in Fiscal Year 2022 to help keep the fourth phase moving forward. We’re urging General Spellmon to do just that, while at the same time, we are looking ahead toward securing construction funding for this phase and beyond. The bipartisan infrastructure bill provides a good opportunity to fund these phases, as are programs we’ve been looking into at the DoD and elsewhere.”

Securing Funding for Future Phases

Hoeven has been making the case to the DoD and other federal agencies that the 2011 flood posed a significant national security risk, as it inundated and damaged roadways that the 91st Missile Wing uses to access its fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Accordingly, the senator has been working with federal officials, the Minot Air Force Base and local leaders to identify and secure funding sources, like the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and grant programs at the DoD, to help address these issues.

These efforts build on meetings Hoeven organized in 2018 and 2019 with a wide range of federal, state and local officials to ensure Minot can access federal support when constructing the upcoming phases of the flood protection project, which include: 

  • Phase 5 – a levee tieback system in northeast Minot.
  • Phase 6 – the downtown floodwall, South Roosevelt Park floodwall and levee and South Valker Road levee. 
  • Phases 7 and 8 – the North Roosevelt levee, North Valker Road levee, 27th Street diversion and Keller levee.

-###-