In Greek mythology, there were three ambitious god-fellows lacking any scruples and decency named:
Ares – god of war
Hermes – god of trickery
Koalemos – the obscure god of stupidity
Greek mythology was a way of explaining the world and natural environment to a population that was not widely literate. Handing down mythology, in large part, was the foundation of the morality that ancient Greeks were expected to abide by as they lived out their days.
So how do Ares, Hermes and Koalemos relate to the Fargo Dam and FM Diversion (FMDA)?
There is a large portion of the populace that does not understand the FMDA project and project supporters rely on modern day versions of the aforementioned gods to advance their agenda.
Having received a few calls, emails and texts regarding Mike McFeely’s latest Forum rant on the heels of McFeely calling Moorhead and Dilworth residents “idiots” or “morons” if they didn’t support the diversion, during a recent radio show, it seems rather apparent who has exalted himself to a modern day version of Koalemos.
The title “What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disaster”, on its own lack of merits, is nothing more than foolish hyperbole to exaggerate a situation caused by Fargo’s own past and continuing negligence and irresponsible development practices.
It kinda like saying:
Somebody needs to rob the local bank to suggest it needs a Fort Knox security system.
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016:
What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disasterThe Red River in Fargo crested—and we use that term as loosely as it can be used—at just over 15 feet in the middle of March. Runoff from a nearly snowless winter was minimal, there has been no spring rain and the Mighty Red is more like the Meek Red. Those conditions may change with a thunderstorm or two and the river might yet creep out of its banks to cover a bike path or golf hole and become a minor nuisance. But there is virtually no chance the Red will get to 35 feet and start setting off alarm bells about a major flood. Which, if you are a supporter of the Fargo-Moorhead diversion, is unfortunate. |
Why would a blessing be considered unfortunate?
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disaster
The serenity of the Red the past few years, combined with ever-decreasing freshness of the memories of March 2009, has emboldened diversion opponents with talk of pressing the pause button on the project and perhaps scrapping it altogether. And that bunk is coming not from the barstool blowhards in Richland County, but from people like Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn, who should know better. |
Let’s step into Doc Browns time machine to June 14, 2009, to a Forum Article written by Dave Roepke titled “Political obstacles: A Contentious Consensus Possible.” (view article)
The late Fargo mayor Dennis Walaker is cited:
“Agreeing isn’t everything. As Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker has pointed out, there’s a window of opportunity in the wake of a big flood. Speaking at the flood summit in Washington, D.C., he put the length of the goodwill honeymoon at six months.”
Also cited in the same article is Jeff Volk, President & CEO of Moore Engineering:
“If the challenge is we have to convince everyone in that community, it’s impossible. They need to be leaders. They need to be able to stand up and say I believe this project will not harm us, and say it with authority,” Volk said.
Since June 2009, the FMDA cult cornerstone has been to exploit a window of opportunity and keep a flood crisis alive in peoples minds. The entire basis of the EOE (expert opinion elicitation) is junk science, but by encouraging leaders to stand up and profess their belief in a project allows engineering firms to rake in millions upon millions in taxpayer revenue, whether or not the project is ever built because the engineers and lawyers get paid first.
So it is rather convenient that one of the FMDA cult ministers chose to deride Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn for having the moral fortitude, in the face adversity, to question the fiscal responsibility of a project that as of March 31, 2016 was $196.2 million in debt, and has the long term potential of bankrupting the city.
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disasterIt is foolish to believe in-town dikes are a fool-proof solution to protect Fargo from a catastrophic flood that would cost billions in economic impact and recovery costs, as Piepkorn has suggested. |
Typical and pervasive FMDA cult rhetoric.
Merchants of fear, whose agenda is to galvanize weak-minded people, then prey on their fears of the “next big one” or “mandatory flood insurance”.
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disasterEven the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, an agency as skeptical as any, has said a diversion is the only option for permanent flood protection. The DNR’s only question is how far north along the Red the project should start. |
McFeely is playing a little loose with his version of non-facts.
During the October 15, 2015, MN DNR public meeting in Moorhead, the DNR was “expressly clear” that they did not endorse any project feature or plan. Their role is to evaluate proposed and potential alternatives in the EIS and, to that end, the DNR must accept the Diversion Authority’s project purpose for the sake of the evaluation process.
To date, the MN DNR has not made any determination on the project adequacy or whether a permit will be issued for the proposed Class 1 High Hazard Dam.
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disasterReally, there are two options for flood protection for Fargo: The diversion, which will solve the problem forever, or rolling the dice. If diversion opponents are OK gambling that the Red River will never, for the remainder of history, devastate Fargo, then they need to say that is their solution. If they believe $2 billion is too much to pay for an insurance policy that will last hundreds of years, then they need to say they favor a game of roulette instead. |
More FMDA cult fear mongering, placing their faith in the most destructive flood protection plan for the region.
As per usual, McFeely being the bloviating jackass that he is, relies on bare assertion fallacies rather than facts.
“Diversion Opponents” within the Fargo Moorhead and outlying areas routinely question why Fargo has not completed permanent internal flood protection for the city that exists, rather than this insane obsession for future expansion at all costs.
Any gambling being done is on the part of city leaders that have dragged their feet on completing internal flood protection while simultaneously fostering growth into high flood risk areas.
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disasterThe political winds right now, however, favor hammering the diversion. Politics is a game of opportunism and with a city election upcoming the diversion is low-hanging fruit. Part of the reason is that it’s been five long years since we’ve had to eye the Red River with any suspicion. For humans with attention spans of tsetse flies, five years might as well be 500. |
The sheer hypocrisy of a Forum columnist to whine about political winds being against their pet project is absolutely asinine! Especially, given the Fargo Forum’s partisan abandonment of any journalistic integrity and fiscal accountability of elected officials when it comes to the diversion.
Political opportunism…? Oh, y’mean where the “powers that be” ensured that upstream and downstream interests never has a seat at the table…, all while the Fool’em remained silent…?
The FMDA cult from the outset has invented crisis and opportunism to advance city expansion under the guise of flood control.
Fargo lawmakers routinely use their political influence in Bismarck to strong-arm the rest of North Dakota into providing wealthy welfare for the whims of Fargo’s elite and is precisely why Imperial Fargo / Imperial Cass is regarded as such.
As to the attention span of tsetse flies…, that’s a two way street and a picture or two are worth a thousand words.
Did the powers that be forget that this area flooded in 1997? Or did they turn a willful blind eye for the elite powering Fargo’s development machine.
Photo: Vern Whitten – www.vernwhittenphotography.com
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disaster |
The river crested at nearly 39 feet in 2011, which followed a 37-foot crest in 2010 and the record of almost 41 feet in 2009. Those were panicked, frantic years during which the need for a diversion was viewed almost unanimously in Fargo-Moorhead. The opposition was coming from rural areas (first north, then south as the diversion plans changed), as was to be expected.
But as each year passed without the threat of a catastrophic flood—the highest subsequent peak was a tame 33 feet in 2013—the urgency of building a diversion waned. This has coincided with the rising cost of the project, which was always anticipated, to give the loudest barking dogs an opportunity to bark even louder and longer.
Rising costs are a legitimate concern because U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ projects routinely come in over budget.
| Project Name | Original Estimate |
Over Budget Est. |
CostFinal | Status |
| Breckenridge, MN Diversion |
$23 m | + 93.9 % | $44.5 m | Essentially Complete |
| Wahpeton, ND Flood Control |
$10 m | + 161 % | $26.1 m | Essentially Complete |
| Roseau, MN Diversion |
$24.3 m | + 83.6 % | $44.6 m | Essentially Complete |
| Olmsted Dam, Ohio | $775 m | + 300 % | $3.1 BILLION | INCOMPLETE |
Rising costs are staggering. The FMDA cult knows this and uses every possible opportunity to manipulate fears in pursuit of support for their development agenda under the guise of flood control.
It is rather convenient that McFeely left out the fact that every example he offered came with a higher than actual flood forecast. Even more conspicuous is the 2013 flood forecast, which at the time was touted to exceed the 1997 flood, which missed its mark by nearly 9 feet.
Of course, that would never stop the FMDA cult from putting on the “big show”, grabbing some headlines when North Dakota lawmakers were in session, to parade sandbags around the city by police escort.
Mike McFeely “Throwing Down the Gaunlet” on the Fargo Dam and FM Diversion
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disaster |
What we need now is a good old-fashioned humdinger of a winter followed by a moist spring. It’s too late for 2016, but perhaps for 2017?
Oh…boohoo…, McFeely laments good fortune in want of misfortune to help sell the FMDA cult agenda…, really!?
| Mike McFeely – Apr 17, 2016: What we need is a good old-fashioned near-disaster |
We’re not asking for a disaster, of course, but a solid crest in the 38- or 39-foot range would remind everybody of the amount of water that flows through Fargo-Moorhead when we have tremendous runoff and some spring rain. A near-disaster. It could work as a wake-up call that snow-filled winters in the southern Red River Valley put the region’s most important economic hub on the edge of disaster.Will the snow melt rapidly?
Will we get a couple of inches of rain at just the wrong time? Will there be enough volunteers to make sandbags? Will the levees hold? Which way will Mother Nature tilt?
All the questions that had the region stressed-out in 2009 would be raised again.
It might not be a bad thing. Some of our local leaders seem to have forgotten the lessons we learned back then, and why talk about building a diversion arose in the first place.
A bulging Red River might force them to engage their brains and not their mouths, to find solutions instead of playing politics. A 15-foot crest allows them to escape such responsibility.
Blah…Blah…Blah…
Always endeavoring to rile up fears of the unknown, absent any rational thought.
Isn’t it interesting that every FMDA cult follower seems to avoid the strides taken towards internal flood protection since 1997, 2009 and every flood in between?
It is almost as if these talking heads are trying to sell the idea that (as of March 31, 2016), despite having committed over $196 million on internal flood protection and another $176.8 million thus far on the diversion project, that Fargo is no more protected today than 2009.
So how exactly did adding another $64 million for Oxbow, ND’s new private clubhouse, golf course and pool with home relocations and amenities (estimated to top the $126 million mark) benefit the Fargo taxpayer in any rational way?
Good lord, if a person didn’t know better, it sounds like McFeely would welcome another World Trade Center attack to ensure that the masses stay polarized and patriotic. This ilk reviles any sensible opposition to mission creep and governmental over-reach.
Regardless! There is no sound scientific method to predicting long term future weather patterns and flooding in Fargo, ND or any other reach of planet Earth. The theoretical assumption that the entire project is based upon is little more than junk science.
If we are to take the alleged experts at their word, there is a 99 to 99.98 percent chance that Fargo, ND will not experience another flood event greater than 2009.
However, continued development encroachment into the wide open expanses of the last natural flood plain upstream of the metro area only serves to place the metro area itself at risk for the benefit of Fargo’s development machine on the backs of hard working taxpayers.
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I noticed that some of the bull shit spewing from McFeely’s mouth lodges along his gums and in his teeth. No sense in brushing and flossing, because more crap just keeps coming out.