01-18-2018
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24 <br /> <br />• Resilience and Robustness of Design: Increasing to 37-feet of flow, along with changes <br />to the southern embankment only add to the length and complexity of the embankment and <br />reduce the project’s resiliency and robustness. <br />Several Task Force principles were not resolved. <br />1. I encourage future operational plan discussions to include both upstream and downstream <br />involvement once a final alignment is known. <br />2. Compensation program for the inundated lands should remain a top priority to be finalized <br />in the near future. <br />A reoccurring challenge was the moving target in what the MDNR deemed would be a permitable <br />project. Given the goal was to obtain a Dam Safety Permit, it is frustrating that every option <br />considered increased the cost while decreasing the safety of the dam. No alternative was presented <br />that actually made the dam safer. I was also frustrated in the downplaying of the permanent impacts <br />due to construction. Over 7,900 acres of permanent impacts under the diversion channel and <br />embankment are in ND and 433 acres in MN. These permanent impacts should be treated with a <br />greater weight than a temporary impact. For comparison, there are 6,900 acres of newly impacted <br />acres in MN, but these temporary impacts were a primary point of discussion. Also, these <br />temporary impacts would have only occurred less than 30 days over the last 115 years and allowing <br />the land to be farmed every year. However, the 7,900 acres in ND will never be farmed again and <br />forever changed. These permanent impacts are likely the reason Gov. Dayton declared the <br />Minnesota alignment was not possible and so they should be thoroughly addressed by the MDNR in <br />its analysis. <br />It is critical the permitting requirements are clear. The discussion of a conditional permitting process <br />is encouraging. In hopes of continuing the successful communications of the Task Force, I want to <br />request that the DNR attend our Diversion Authority meetings and provide routine updates. <br />In the end, our efforts all serve the same taxpayers. With this in mind, it is essential that we move <br />quickly to address the soon to expire contract between the Corps and Ames Construction for the <br />completion of the inlet control structure. A March 2018 deadline is approaching and failure to <br />address this issue would result in costing tax payers millions of dollars. <br />As Gov. Dayton expressed at the Task Force Meeting, acquiring the lands necessary needs to be a <br />top priority and should start up again as soon as possible. Given past communications which led to <br />halting these activities, the MDNR needs to expressly respond to, and support this position. <br />Fargo and Moorhead, along with Cass and Clay Counties formed the Diversion Authority to work <br />jointly across two great states to provide permanent flood protection. With the additional leadership <br />displayed by the leaders of Minnesota and North Dakota, I believe we reviewed the more than one <br />hundred alternatives previously studied and identified the substantial changes needed to obtain a <br />Minnesota permit. These changes will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of additional <br />taxpayer dollars, including nearly $100 million from Minnesota alone. These changes will not be easy <br />to implement, or easy to explain to the owners of the additional homes and farmsteads impacted. It
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