Wild Rice Alternative

Project Failure: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fails to explore options and alternative that DO NOT promote encroachment and urban sprawl into the last natural flood plain south of Fargo, ND in direct and indirect violation of Executive Order 11988 (EO11988). More to the point, the limited alternatives explored are concentric to the “exploitation for urban sprawl” into the last natural flood plain south of Fargo, ND.

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Fargo’s Diversion Immoral, A Better Path Forward

The present plan is unreasonable, immoral and will ultimately be found to be unlawful. Fargo’s present leaders seek Fargo’s own future interests and future growth without regard for, and at the expense of, the rights and property of its neighbors. Fargo leaders fail and will be remembered, not for having brought permanent flood protection to Fargo, but by their arrogance and unreasonableness, for having failed at a staggering cost.

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Does the Fargo Moorhead Diversion and Dam violate Executive Order 11988?

The USACE and Fargo have not exercised due care in performing their duties pursuant to Executive Order 11988. Viable alternatives exist, however, have been procedure-ally disregarded. The current LPP calls for willful destructive development of the natural flood plains both south and north of Fargo for future economic development.

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Why was the current alignment selected?

The current alignment was selected by the non-federal project sponsor to protect Fargo’s future development interests. The design intent was to benefit as much existing development as possible, without respect to Executive Order 11988. Land developers south of Fargo, to be named later, will realize exponential financial benefit as a result of their lobbying efforts of County, City and Corps officials.

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Joyce Hendrickson Comments to the USACE re: Fargo Moorhead Dam and Diversion

I oppose the above mentioned proposal for many reasons. Obviously, upstream communities were not asked to participate in the decision making process. I know alternatives do exist that address flooding basin wide. These have not been studied or addressed by the Corp nor have areas affected by the issue been included in the planning stages. Although the Corp acknowledges that there will be impacts outside the 33,390 acre staging area, these issues have not been assessed and these costs are not included in the project.

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Rachel Roen Morgan Comments to the USACE re: Fargo Moorhead Dam and Diversion

Residents and farmers south of Fargo Moorhead should not have to be punished for the mistakes of those who chose to build in a flood plain in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Consider options of widening, straightening, dredging the river, erecting permanent flood walls, or erecting a ring dike around the city. We have a small family cemetery high on the riverbank of our property from my great-grandfather’s days. With the diversion, this would be flooded. And if the Eagle Valley cemetery is affected, the adjacent newly built Eagle Valley Evangelical Free Church along the Red River two miles east of Christine, ND would also be affected by the diversion.

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Fred Schumacher Comments to the USACE re: Fargo Moorhead Dam and Diversion

A small group of Fargo/Cass County individuals has been operating in a feedback loop with the St. Paul District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop the Fargo Diversion. “… the ND alignment is a locally preferred alignment… to accommodate the city of Fargo’s current future plans of development…” This statement is a smoking gun that proves the Fargo Diversion, the Locally Preferred Plan, is all about development of the floodplain on the far south side of Fargo, which recently built a new south side high school in it in anticipation of future development. Although public hearings have been held, these have been strictly pro-forma, with no comments recorded. The general public has been blocked out of the decision making process.

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David Ness Comments to the USACE re: Fargo Moorhead Dam and Diversion

There are a few THOUSAND people who live on farms and small communities south of Fargo Moorhead who are going to lose their homes and livelihoods or have them become unusable/inaccessible. The Fargo dam project as put forth by the Corp of Engineers has a moral problem in both environmental and human terms which will leave behind a legacy of acrimony. The DNR is not in favor of this project. A great, albeit unappreciated, resource will be destroyed.

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