FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Backers of a planned $2 billion Red River diversion channel say a judge’s decision to halt construction on a related ring levee project south of Fargo could cost taxpayers millions of dollars, according to federal court documents filed Thursday.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim last week put levee construction on hold when he ruled that the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority should wait for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to complete an environmental study on the diversion channel. The levee would protect structures where floodwaters would be staged when the diversion channel is needed.
Levee project manager Bruce Spiller said in court documents that the loss of the 2015 construction season would result in nearly $1.2 million in additional costs, including $250,000 in change orders relating to the reconfiguration of Oxbow Country Club. Spiller says the delay would cost at least another $1 million if it stretches into 2016.
“Finally, as my prior declarations describe, there are numerous significant but unquantifiable risks and harms associated with the loss of construction for a flood control project of this type,” Spiller wrote. “Those remain in full effect.”
The diversion authority is appealing Tunheim’s order, which said the temporary injunction is appropriate because the diversion authority ignored the law by starting the project before the DNR study. The diversion authority had argued the ring dike was separate from the overall project, which Tunheim rejected.
Nathan Berseth, spokesman for the MnDak Upstream Coalition, which filed a lawsuit against the diversion and made the motion to stop construction of the levee, said the diversion authority overstepped its bounds.
“The diversion authority leaders were warned not to proceed with a component of the diversion, but yet moved forward risking $75-plus million and now claim to be concerned over $1.2 million,” he said. “If Fargo were truly concerned about protecting its city, the leaders would be spending the taxpayer dollars toward in-town flood protection, not a new golf course and country club.”
The ring levee includes houses in the Oxbow, Hickson and Bakke areas. Oxbow Mayor Jim Nyhoff said the project has rescued his town, which saw no home sales for three years because of the flood threat.
Nyhoff said Thursday he doesn’t feel the court will ultimately stop the project and views the injunction as a hiccup.
“If it’s any more than that I’m going to Bismarck and jump up and down in the Capitol until somebody hears me,” he said. “We need the flood protection. It’s a big deal.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.