Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney says he’s encouraged by the actions of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Flood Diversion Task Force. The group – which included the Governors of North Dakota and Minnesota -- wrapped up a series of meetings aimed at moving the F-M Diversion project forward. Mayor Mahoney says the project is in a much better place than it was 6-weeks ago…
"...I believe they had six or seven parameters that were placed out there today. And we got consensus on all but about two of them. And those two, I think, we can work with the D.N.R. to get solutions."
Governor Doug Burgum says the Task Force meetings were not a permitting process, but were about finding out what it will take to get the needed permits from Minnesota…
"...And as we've seen, some of those are substantial changes. 37-feet of water through town instead of 35. It could come at a cost of $150-Million. Moving the southern embankment further to the north -- another substantial change which will take more work to refine -- also at a very high cost. But these are some of the substantial changes that have been identified. They could achieve permitability but still maintain authorization and achieve flood control. So I'd say there was real heavy lifting done by this task force."
The task force recommendations will be given to the Diversion Authority to consider before they make another application for a Minnesota D.N.R. permit.
