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ID

FLOOD

dNP

DIVERSION

A

U

T H

O

R T Y

211

9thStreet South, P. O.

Box 2806, Fargo,

ND 58108-2806

Phone

701-

241-

5600 Fax 701-241-

5728

September 8,

2014

The

Honorable

Mark

Dayton

Governor Mark Dayton

116 Veterans Service Building

20

West 12th

St.

St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Governor

Dayton,

T h ank you for visiting our

community,

an d

for

the

opportunity to discuss the

Fargo-

Moorhead Flood

Control

Project.

Your

presence here, and

the

sometimes spirited debate that ensued, provided a

constructive step in

the

process

of

resolving some of the issues

that have

created concerns. While

reasonable

minds

can agree to disagree about some of the issues, we were heartened to

hear you

re

your statement on Point of View that it

is

near ly unan imous that some

form of

long

term

diversion

proect

is

needed

W e

ca n probably

a lso a gree

that no matter what the final design of that permanent

protection

may

turn

out to be some

people

are likely going to be

unhappy, and

as much as

wish

could

promise we

ca n

make

everyone

happy, suspect we

never

will be able to do that.

But we also heard loud

and

clear, your concern that we had not adequately respected Mnnesota

s

process. expaned

a

our

meeting

that

this

was

certainly

no

our intention.

am also

reaching

out to

yo u

to

se e if we

can

improve on

that,

starting

with

a number of commitments

that am prepared to

advocaethat

the

Diversion

Authority

adop. We hope that

you

will agree that

these commitments

demonstrate our good faith. While we are optimistic that

Congress

sees the enormous

value

ofwhat

is

literally

a once-

in-

a - lifetime opportunity

to obtain

permanent

flood protection, we

hope

you

agree that

any continued disagreement at the loca l leve l sends the wrong signal.

Limiting

Work onthe OHB levees to100

year

proectionuntil the

EIS

is compee

The

Diversion

Authority,

in

consultation with

Oxbow would

agree

to limit

levee

construction

to

those features

that

provide 100

year

protection from natural floods until the Minnesota EIS is

finished.

Although

there

does

not appear to be

an y

engineering dispute that full construction of the OHB

levee

would not have

an y

impact on Mnnesota, this would allow continued progress

on

an

existing need, while

addressing the

concerns

abou levee

work

getting

aheadofMinnesota'

s processes.

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The

Honorable Mark Dayton

September

8, 2014

Page 2

Delaying

Construction

of

the

Diversion

Channel until

the EIS

is

compee

T he

Diversion

Authority

would

agree

to not commence

actual

construction of any portion of the

channel assigned

to it for work-

in-

kind contribution until the MD N R finishes its

review

with the unders tand ing

that

the M DN R will

agree to use its best efforts to have a final E IS completed b y J uly 1 ,

2015.

W e think it is fair to note that

even that

date is

over 7 months after the

M D NR

is legally obligated to have completed its review.

dding

Broader Geograph ic

epresentation

to the Diversion

Authority

Board.

T he

Diversion Authority

would

agree

to

ad d

representation from a

broader

geographic area including upstream Mnnesota

interests.

M innesota actua lly

has

greater

representation

on th e current Diversion Authority

Board than

would be expected b ased on

funding

contributions, but am prepared to propose

adjustments

that

woud

provdea

sea

a the

table

for

areas no

currently

represented

This

would

be

with

the

understanding

that any additional member(s ) would recuse

themselves

from closed session discussions

of any litigation in which they have an interest such as the

pending

litigation

commenced

by

the

Richland/

Wilkin

JPA..

S h ou ld a ny relevant

litigation

end

this

condition

would also

end.

In addition to

Board

representation, will advocate that the

B oard m ake

additional

visits to outlying

affected

areas.

There

wa s

extensive outreach during the federal

environmental

review

and d esig n

process,

and

will

advocate

additional

measures

through

completion

of the

Minnesota process.

Expediting

the

Resolution of

the

Pending

Litigation.

The

Diversion

Authority

agrees

to us e its

best

efforts to seek

a

prompt resolution

of

the litigation commenced against it by the JPA starting

with a

letter

to

the

court

requesting

an

immediate

status conference

to

discuss

how best

to

do

that.

am

making these commitments with the clear understanding that we

have not

been given assurance

that you will not pursue your ongoing

efforts

to block funding for the

project,

but will ask yo u to

consider that step. A s noted earlier, we might not be able to

agree on

everything even after we take al l

of

the

steps

have outlined

above,

but

hope we can agree that

we

are

all better

served if

we can obtain

permanent

flood control

for our communities as soon as possible.

S i n c e J

Th

Darrell Vanyo

Fargo-Moorhead Diversion

Authority

Chairman

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The Honorable Mark Dayton

September 8, 2014

Page

3

cc:

Assistant Secretary

Jo-

Ellen

Darcy

Senator

John

Hoeven

Senator Heidi

Heitkamp

Senator Amy

Klobuchar

Senator Al Franken

Congressman

Kevin Cramer

Congressman Collin Peterson

Congresswoman

Betty McCollum

Congressman

John Kline

Congressman Tim

Walz

Congresswoman

Michele

Bachmann

Congressman Keith Ellison

Congressman

Erik Paulsen

Congressman Rick Nolan

Governor Jack Dalrymple

Senator

Kent Eken

Senator Torrey Westrom

Representative

Ben

Lien

Representative Paul Marquart

Representative Jay McNamar

DNR CommissionerTom

Landwehr

Lt.

General Thomas Bostick,

Chief

of

Engineers,

U S Army

Corps

of

Engineers

Mr.

Shaun

Donovan, Director,

Office

of

Management Budget,

the

White

House