Posted on July 19, 2016
The mayors of Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., signed off last week on a public-private partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a $2.1 billion flood-control project along the Red River.
But even as the signing ceremony was taking place, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was still debating whether it would permit the project to go forward. DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr fired off a letter to Corps officials warning them that the DNR’s recent completion of an environmental study “should not, by any means, be interpreted as a project approval or as indication that the state permits are likely to be forthcoming.”
The Red River Diversion would protect Fargo from floods by channeling some water around the city, while blocking the rest with a dam across the Red that would back water onto thousands of acres in Minnesota and North Dakota.
The DNR raised concerns about the effect the project would have on Minnesota’s environment and residents, and has not yet issued a permit to allow a dam across the Red.
Source: StarTribune
