There’s a little progress on the flood protection front to report — Hooray! The Corps of Engineers and the Souris River Joint Board will be holding two public forums and informational meetings coming up in April. The official news release follows below, but here are the dates and times:
- April 8, Burlington High School Gym. 6 p.m. Open House, Public Comments from 7-9 p.m
- April 9, Minot Auditorium, Room 201, 6 p.m. Open House, Public Comments from 7-9 p.m.
— Official News Release, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers —
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, and the Souris River Joint Water Resources Board, or SRJB, will hold two public meetings to review preliminary plans for and solicit public input on a project which would provide increased flood protection along the Mouse River near Minot, North Dakota.
The first meeting will be held April 8 at the school gymnasium at the Burlington High School, 400 McCanna Parkway, Burlington. The second meeting will be held on April 9 in room 201 at the Minot Auditorium, 420 3rd Ave. Southwest, Minot. Both meetings will have formal presentation and public comments from 7-9 p.m. The public is also invited to attend an open house that will begin at 6 p.m.
The SRJB is proposing to construct a portion of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection project in the corridor that would include building around 17.5 miles of levees and 3 miles of floodwall. The project would also include, among other things, the building of 25 transportation closure structures, 24 storm water pump stations and associated ponding areas and two new bridges. The project would allow flows up to 27,400 cubic feet per second. These construction activities are proposed to take place between Burlington to the downstream end of Minot.
The Mouse River basin has a number of federally authorized flood damage reduction projects, which include flood storage at Lake Darling Dam. The SRJB has submitted a request to the Corps of Engineers to alter Minot levee and channel Improvements project along with the six subdivisions between Burlington and Minot.
Title 33 USC 408 authorizes the Secretary of the Army to permit others to alter an existing Corps project in certain circumstances. The provisions of Section 408 apply to works that were built by the Corps and are locally maintained, such as local flood control projects, or operated and maintained by the Corps. Proposals submitted for Section 408 review and permission undergo a rigorous engineering, policy and environmental review by the Corps and, if required, independent external peer review. The SRJB submitted a formal request in December to have the Corps complete a Section 408 review.
Public input provided at these meetings will be used to assist in preparing the environmental documentation in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Input will be used to determine the impacts of the project.
Comments concerning project can also be submitted to Derek Ingvalson, Corps biologist, at (651) 290-5252 or derek.s.ingvalson@usace.army.mil. Please address all correspondence on this project to the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention: Regional Planning and Environment Division North, 180 Fifth St. E., Suite 700, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1678.
The nearly 650 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2014 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, seewww.mvp.usace.army.mil.
