May 15th, 2013 - 4:30 pm,  is an important deadline occuring this week with the Minnesota DNR.

Citizens concerned about the negative impacts caused by the proposed Fargo Moorhead Dam and FM Diversion project may submit comments to be included in the Scoping Decision Document.

This is an opportunity to have “equal access” and your voice heard by the MN DNR without suppression of your concerns by the Fargo Diversion Authority.  You may include alternatives to the current USACE proposal and any additional environmental and economic impacts that may occur as a result of the proposed project that you feel have been overlooked or ignored.

The scoping documents include a Scoping Environmental Assessment Worksheet and a Draft Scoping Decision Document which may be viewed via this link: MN DNR Scoping Documents

Comments on the scoping documents will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. May 15, 2013.

The DNR will respond to comments when it issues a Final Scoping Decision Document. That document determines what will be included in the State EIS. The most helpful comments are those that directly address the content of the scoping documents and offer specific suggestions for inclusion in the scope of the State EIS. The DNR will then prepare a Draft EIS that will be made available for public comment and another public information meeting will be held during that comment period.

Written comments can be submitted by mail to:

Stuart Arkley, DNR Ecological and Water Resources Division
500 Lafayette Road,
St. Paul, MN 55155-4025

faxed to:  651-296-1811

or emailed to: environmentalrev.dnr@state.mn.us

Email comments should include “Fargo Moorhead” in the subject line and a name and mailing address so future notices and documents can be provided.

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In 1919, Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr handed down an opinion in the United States Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States.

The most notable point is that it is not legal to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater, and you may be arrested, because it induces panic.

If you talk about a bomb, imply there may be a bomb or yell “BOMB” on an airline, the latter being the most obvious, is not legal and under Title 49 of the U.S Legal Code (#46504) will land you in jail.

North Dakota Century Code 12.1-17-04 defines “Terrorizing” as:

So how is it legal for Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker, Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney, Diversion Authority Chairman Darell Vanyo or Cass County Administrator Keith Berndt to run amok, inducing panic, with over-hyped flood projections and still fall under the protections of the offices they keep?

Every time Dennis Walaker or any of the dam and diversion ilk gets on camera or radio feigning the role of the beleaguered flood fighter “…we’re tired…”, “…if we had a diversion…”…, “…the big one is coming…”, it just increases resolve to illuminate their unscrupulous behavior.

The “Fargo Flood of 2013″ was never really going to threaten the other flood crests. Why? Because the flood forecast had been padded with a “…significant rainfall event…” and an additional lack of accurate snow water equivalence data. According to the USACE, fly-over data reflected 2 inches greater water content than core sampling done with boots on the ground.

Erring on the side of caution isn’t bad. However, creating a false or inflated sense of urgency is.

Therein lies the rub! Known augmentation of conditions was suppressed to maintain a state of high alert at the expense of taxpayers in an attempt to justify a proposed project for conditions that exist as a direct result of irresponsible flood plain development.

Fargo turned into a media whore compelling sympathy for sandbaggers all the way from the Twin Cities. Local Associated Press writers fed story after story on the AP wire about the gloom and doom of Fargo’s Flood of 2013 which has resulted in newspapers and national media outlets to buy into the “BIG SHOW”.

Winston Churchill
1874-1965

“Never let a good crisis go to waste” ― Winston Churchill

Precisely what Fargo leaders did. They trotted their fear-mongering message far and wide to ensure that North Dakota lawmakers were duped into sympathy for Fargo demands of state tax dollars to protect the financial interests of Fargo developers and business owners.

Make absolutely no mistake. Any alleged peak crest that Fargo “claims”…,  is in “direct” relation to the amount of water “displaced” from the natural flood plain. The final crest of 2013 would have been 10 to 18 inches lower had Fargo not irresponsibly displaced the water, with development south of I-94, which would naturally populate the flood plains into the Red River.

The relationship between displacement of water and increased river crests are the most obvious fingerprints in Fargo North Dakotas crime of the century.

Fargo has the audacity to blame farmers for drainage but accepts no responsibility for relocating entire natural flood plains?

I have to hand it to Fargo’s media lemmings that are nothing more than impotent faux journalists hanging on every word from the Citadel of Fargo as though it were gospel. Dare they question the money trail, motives or actions of Imperial Fargo – Imperial Cass, lest they be cast out and forever banished from reciting the PR message they are handed.

ND Sen Heidi Heitkamp: Friend or Foe?

Letter:
Heitkamp passes the buck on diversion
Submitted By: Trana Rogne

KINDRED, N.D. — After 100 days in office, we know now the position of Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., on the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion project.

The statement from her local office was, “We will continue to press for federal funding for flood protection, and let the local authorities determine how to best use those funds.”

We are very disappointed with her statement. After all, she knows that North Dakota under her leadership passed the most protective eminent domain law in the nation, one that prohibits the government from taking private property for economic development.

She also understands the overriding purpose of the project. It is spelled out as a plan which would provide for future growth, remove flood insurance from the largest possible area and increase the density of the proposed development.

She must recognize the fundamental injustice of taking away upstream property owners’ development rights and giving those rights to Fargo.

And I’m sure she understands as well the basinwide positive results from the completion of new basinwide flood-risk reduction projects using distributed retention. Plus, Heitkamp also knows that more is possible through the Farm Bill she is working for.

The most disturbing implication of the statement “let the local authorities determine how to best use the funds” is the fact that by saying this, Heitkamp is giving up of her power as a U.S. senator to oversee the use of federal funds.

The plan was designed under the direct control of the “local non-federal sponsor,” as the Diversion Authority is called in the documents, and is for benefit of the Fargo metro area only.

None of this is really new — except for the abdication of the duties and responsibilities of a U.S. senator.

POLL

Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority
Original Publication Date:
April 18, 2013
Wahpeton Daily News

Republished with permission from:
Trana Rogne, Board Member of the MnDak Upstream Coalition.

“Diversion Schedule Unchanged” in the opinion section of the Fargo Forum Friday April 12th, brought to mind the old adage of whistling in the dark while walking past the graveyard. There are approximately ** 1000 authorized feasibility studies and 60 billion dollars’ worth of unfunded projects lying in the graveyard of “approved” Army Corps projects.

There is no specific authorization of the FM project in the proposed Water Resource Development Act (WRDA). Rather the WRDA Bill would add this project to the back log of all the current projects for which there is a record of decision. There is no money for any similar “on river projects” in the nation.

For those people who believe the US House of Representatives will increase spending, look at the other projects which also have not received federal funding. The FM Diversion is just one more un-achievable, un-fund-able development plan. The omission of any funding in the President’s budget last week only supports this belief. The FM Diversion Project is just another unfunded government mandate or subsidy that is simply not feasible. The achievable is 42.5 foot protection at a realistic cost of 250 million.

In the meantime, the images of well-meaning volunteers feeding the sand bagging machines will re-occur until Fargo builds the 42.5 in town levees and this project runs out of steam.

This is one more chapter in the ongoing saga of failed attempts by Fargo to convert taxpayer dollars into developer dollars.

** Cited Source: March 22nd, 2013 CRS Report R41243

Bakke, Hickson, Oxbow Ring Dike
Could Cause Flooding like Chicago 2013
Photo by: Antonio Perez|Chicago Tribune

Recent heavy rains in Chicago paint a rather stark reminder in the nonsense of the Diversion Authorities proposal of ring diking Bakke, Hickson and Oxbow, ND.

Aside from the inability for Diversion Authority or Cass County officials to hear a resounding “NO”, “NOT INTERESTED”…, repeated attempts have been made to re-survey property owners in an attempt to align more support for a negligent proposal devoid of common sense.

Rather than the Diversion Authority encouraging Fargo or the USACE to downsize the staging area, remove the dam or move the alignment north of the Red River and Wild Rice confluence, the proposal of a ring-dike that brings promises of a new golf course club house to Oxbow along with a new pool and relocation of several holes…, the ring-dike presents a clear and perpetual danger to residents that will be FORCED to live in the shadow of the earthen wall structure boasting a height of 926 ft.

The Diversion Authority has somehow convinced themselves that ring diking a community so that you can place three times the natural water volume of Bald Hill dam around it…, somehow passes as “sane” decision making. The sheer hydraulic pressure created by 271.4 million tons of water in the staging and storage reservoir which could crush foundations, create water geysers in basement or destabilize the ring dike itself…, yet the Diversion Authority has yet to address these issues.

At present there have not been core samples disseminated to the public that offer sufficient proof that the massive structures can be adequately supported on the viscous clay. Sandford health new facility in south Fargo had to be re-designed and down sized because the viscous nature of the soil.

Aside from the ignorance of the Diversion Authority ignoring property owner concerns over safety, the indifference towards safety concerns and the well being of residents has been simply disregarded. Cass County does not have the authority to force potential physical or financial harm upon myself or any other resident.

Even more ignorant is the statement that Bakke, Hickson and Oxbow will have the only 500 year flood protection in the Red River Valley. However, the ever present threat of heavy rain inundation or excessive snow pack seems to be of no-consequence to people that don’t need to live with the proposed inherent threats.

Currently, the communities of Bakke, Hickson and Oxbow can experience heavy rains, however, those heavy rains fill ditches and backyards, like any other community…., but it runs off quickly without reaching elevations that threaten to inundate homes.

However, building a 7-17 foot ring dike around these upstream communities without a clear solution of how heavy rains will be addressed and assurances that compensation to property owners will be readily available when design flaws become evident, reaches the intolerable.

I find it hard to believe that the Diversion Authority will make good on its suggestion of building the ring dike and not stick the residents with the build cost or maintenance…, potentially $384,000 in special assessments per property.

The mere fact that the Diversion Authority is pressuring property owners into a “decision” for a ring-dike without providing any genuine study or answers to a variety of valid concerns leaves one to question the incompetence of the Diversion Authority members that have been hand selected to rubber stamp unanimous support for the decision of the day.

When the 3 a.m. summer storm comes knocking on Bakke, Hickson and Oxbow’s door with 10-20 inches of rain filling the ring-dike, who will come with the body bags to float the dead away?

Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority
Original Publication Date:
April 12, 2013
Wahpeton Daily News

Republished with permission from:
Cash Aaland, Richland County resident and board member of the Mndak Upstream Coalition

The Mayor of Fargo recently made his celebrated annual trip south into Richland County and South Dakota to assess the snowpack and make his traditional flood prediction. He likely drove by the golf community of Oxbow, for which Dennis Walaker has promised to pay for six new designer holes to the private golf course, a new club house, pool and $65 million from state tax dollars for a ring dike with expansion room for the 100-home community already protected well above the regulatory flood level.

He would have driven by the century farms, churches, two school districts, cemeteries, residences and through 50,000 acres of prime farmland that he plans to sacrifice for Fargo’s growth.

Eight miles into Richland County he would have driven by the residence of Mark Gauslow. Gauslow was informed by letter last week from Diversion Authority Chairman Vanyo that he may need either a ring dike or buy-out as the reservoir will spread that far south. Darrell Vanyo’s statements in his impact letters flatly contradict Fargo’s repeated statements that Fargo’s dam and reservoir will only impact 1,000 acres and two residences in Richland County.

As he moved south to survey the snowpack and coming water, I wonder if Mayor Walaker reflected upon his team’s repeated assertions that the temporary detention of that very same water won’t help Fargo. He ignores the engineers of the Red River Basin Authority who say such retention would lower the peak flood in Fargo by two feet. If holding back this water won’t help Fargo’s flooding, why did he drive for hours to view it?

On his return he likely drove through the low lying flood plain immediately south of Fargo, the one that protects Fargo from Wild Rice River flood waters – the same area Fargo has chosen to drain for development. Although the mayor claims it’s not about development – the dam/diversion plan would subsidize building in this area to the tune of $30,000/acre, according to the U.S. Army Corps materials.

The Fargo mayor clearly sees no problem with the Army Corps’ position that the closer the retention is – the more effect it has. So long as the retention area is moved four miles further away from Fargo, contrary to what was proposed by the U.S. Army Corps, but vetoed by Fargo.
Does it occur to the Fargo mayor that the coming flood, promoted so diligently by his loyal media friends, is a non-event in Moorhead? Moorhead’s competent leaders completed their affordable permanent protection and now have nothing to fear from the coming flood “Armageddon.”
Does Fargo’s mayor feel responsible for risking his city by neglecting its dikes and levees just so the $2 billion diversion can be made to appear more necessary?

I wonder if Mayor Walaker thinks about the devastation his plan will cause to the people south of Fargo, or the massive burden to the state’s taxpayers. Or does he dream of all the recognition he might receive if he can just deliver this pork-barrel boondoggle?

Cost Effective Flood Protection in Moorhead, MN

Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority
Original Publication Date:
April 4, 2013
Wahpeton Daily News

Republished with permission from:
Trana Rogne, Board Member of the MnDak Upstream Coalition.

If Fargo doesn’t get its diversion, will the Red River Valley stop functioning?

What if the North Dakota Legislature says we don’t want to put the taxpayers of the state on the hook for a gargantuan project without a realistic budget?

Will Fargo face a wall of water running down its streets if the gavel falls against them?

The answer is no. The city may in fact get protection from floods sooner, rather than later. There are alternatives that other cities have used that allow people and water to coexist in a safe and beneficial environment. Fargo has begun the most important step – building dikes and levees to protect up to 42.5 feet, nearly two feet above the highest flood in recorded history. The legislature should tell them to use $100 million of state money for that protection.

Moorhead has essentially completed their protection. Little mention was made of the announcement by Moorhead, Fargo’s sister city, that a flood this spring would be a non-event because they had built their dikes to 44 feet.

But Fargo leaders cry that dikes are not enough. How can they protect their future development area south of town if they can’t get a diversion? The obvious alternative is to stop building in the natural flood plain. Their diversion solution was to push the flood plain on those south of town with a dam and reservoir, so Fargo could make their city bigger.

It’s time to take basinwide retention seriously as a way to manage water in the natural floodplain. It’s a long-term commitment. It may take 50 years to reduce the river levels by two feet. But it can be done. We have been addressing flooding with outdated piecemeal solutions, city by city. Some retention projects have been completed, such as the North Ottawa Project in the Bois de Sioux Watershed in Minnesota. The Red River Basin Commission and the Red River Retention Authority are working with various state and local agencies to plan new projects. Flood risk reduction for the whole Red River Basin is in progress.

This progress, however, has been placed in jeopardy by parochial interests who, by their own admission, want to protect themselves and not others. There is no affordable or reasonable “silver bullet” for flood protection in a floodplain. There are pieces of solutions that need to be organized into a mosaic of benefit for the entire region. It’s time to take the name tags off and work together for the common good.

Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority
Original Publication Date:
March 28, 2013
Wahpeton Daily News

Republished with permission from:
Trana Rogne, Richland County Resident and Board Member of the MnDak Upstream Coalition.

The front page of the Fargo Forum of March 15, 2013, was a reminder of a disturbing aspect of flooding in Fargo. The owners of the buyout homes put up for auction at fire sale prices have our sympathy. They did not expect to be bought out due to flooding. Even though they received 110% of assessed value, theirs is a loss that can’t always be made up by dollars.

The city of Fargo has received the building permit fees, the building contractors and engineers have been paid, and the banks and title companies have made their profits.

We cannot fault the contractors who make a living off of hard work and sweat, but we can blame Fargo and Cass County for the negligent permitting of development in high risk areas. Presently the official FEMA 100 year floodplain elevation is 38.5 at the Fargo gage. This is due to be increased to 39.5 in 2014. Despite Fargo’s stated position that the 100 year flood plain should be 42.5, the city continues to issue permits for construction to the level of 39.5. There have been thirteen flood plain stages since 1944, so it’s hard to believe zoning officials didn’t know the risk. Instead, they keep issuing building permits, and are now buying out some of those very homes.

Fargo officials have admitted they could have done a better job of permitting. They blame the developers and offer the excuse that the developers have put the city in jeopardy with threats of legal action. At the same time, they admit the new homes the city is permitting may likely be bought out in the future. Why the Corps of Engineers is eagerly promoting a diversion plan which induces growth in the flood plain is another issue.

By its nature, development is developer driven growth, and the city’s job is to look out for the best interests of the citizens. What we see on the front page of the Forum are examples of prior neglect of duty on the part of city and county officials injuring the very citizens they are supposed to protect.

Who is the loser in all this? Certainly not those who profit from development. Financially, the homeowner is not the loser, but a pawn in this sad game. The real loser is the state and local taxpayer who unwittingly pays to buy out homes that never should have been built. Yet the city continues to neglect permanent flood protection to construct dams and a diversion to encourage/induce further growth in the flood plain.

POLL

However, the Fargo Fool’em article dated March 22, 2013 titled “Cass County to Start Filling Sandbags Next Week” paints a very different picture.
 

So the tax dollars that are being pumped into the flood tax are being raised for what…?

It seems a bit garish to coerce residents of subdivisions to “serve” the benefit of totalitarians that have contrived a way to re-tax residents either financially or physically.

Perhaps it is time to remind Cass County that “had” the county commission taken the initiative and required Fargo to build to 42.5′ before receiving access to additional county tax coffers, that the county would not be facing an “over-hyped” multi-front flood forecast due to Fargo’s negligent development plans.

Fargo doesn’t need multiple high hazard dams and an irresponsible diversion alignment.

Fargo needs permanent dikes and levees built to 42.5′ before considering any further natural flood plain destruction.

All anyone has to do is watch how closely Cass County falls all over themselves to serve Fargo’s wishes while placing the rest of Cass County taxpayers in the acceptable loss column – to identify where the commissions true loyalties are aligned.

…and the newly elected Cass County commissioner Mary Scherling has made contact with “whom” in Pleasant Township – regarding upcoming flood preparations and coordination?

{ cue: “Jeopardy” theme music }

Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority
Original Publication Date:
March 21, 2013
Wahpeton Daily News

Republished with permission from: E. John Carlson, resident of Oxbow and Cass County, ND

The North Dakota Senate Appropriations committee is considering HB 1020. That bill passed the State House by a vote of 90-4. HB 1020 gives Fargo an unprecedented $102 million to raise their internal dikes to 100-year-flood levels, but prohibits any of it being spent on their diversion. Fargo wants to strip the restrictions, but keep all the money.

The Fargo Diversion is a $2 billion boondoggle in the making. The federal government has filibustered, sequestered and borrowed their way into unimaginable debt. They have committed no money to this project. Minnesota has clearly stated they want no part of the diversion. The Minnesota DNR has not even started their review and they have the ability to deny a permit for damming the Red River. Yet Fargo says they want to start construction on the north end this summer, with or without the fed’s or Minnesota’s support. Fargo is trying to convince North Dakota Legislators that they should get on the hook for half the project’s cost.

Do the math. If, and that’s a big if, the Feds kick in their $844 million share, the taxpayers of North Dakota will pay almost $600 million to help Fargo flood their neighbors and 50,000 acres south of town. These numbers are conservative. The project cost estimates are made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They estimated the cost of the three-mile Breckenridge, Minn., diversion to be $21 million. That project is almost done and the current cost is $39 million. The Roseau diversion is 4.5 miles long and was projected to cost $24 million. That project is half completed and waiting for Congressional re-authorization and more funding to finish. They are estimating total costs in Roseau to reach $38 million. But that one is only half done, so the final cost is still up in the air.

Can we even guess what the final cost of the Fargo Diversion will be? The four concrete structures that will carry the Sheyenne, Maple, and Upper and Lower Rush rivers through the half mile wide diversion have never before been attempted in the United States. The Corps says check with Europe for the blueprints. The taxpayers of North Dakota and Fargo will have to cover the entire cost of underestimating these project components, as well as the dams on the Wild Rice and Red rivers.

The House members who voted 90-4 to approve HB 1020 got it right. They stated unequivocally that Fargo should take $102 million, in addition to the $75 million given them in previous sessions, and build up their dikes before they start digging what could be a ditch to nowhere. North Dakota taxpayers should not pay for a dam and reservoir that displaces fellow residents, when Fargo can achieve 100-year protection with a more modest plan. Now is the time to contact your state senators and ask them to support HB 1020 as it stands. No changes. No dam.