FARGO - Sen. Byron Dorgan will hold an official Senate hearing in Fargo Wednesday to take testimony on the need for permanent flood protection in the Red River watershed.
The Senate Appropriations Committee's Energy and Water subcommittee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Room 201 at the Fargodome, Dorgan's office announced today.
Testimony will be taken from local, state and Corps of Engineers officials, said Brendan Timpe, a spokesman for the North Dakota Democrat.
Dorgan has been active throughout this spring's flood fight in bringing national and corps leaders to Fargo and other flood-challenged areas of the state.
He also was a key player in a historic meeting May 5 in Washington that was meant to kick-start the process of getting permanent flood protection for the region.
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The meeting included members of the North Dakota and Minnesota congressional delegations, state and local leaders from both sides of the Red River, and others.
The corps is working on potential flood control measures for the basin. The agency held public hearings in Fargo and Moorhead Tuesday and Wednesday to get input on their plans.
One suggested fix is a 30-mile, $909 million diversion channel through Minnesota, that would take water from the confluence of the Red and Wild Rice rivers and run it north around the metro area to an area north of Kragness, Minn.
Another possibility is $625 million in levees through the Fargo-Moorhead area that would include Fargo's $161 million Southside Flood Control Project.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
