Red River basin group seeks $350,000 annually to implement 1998 flood mediation agreement

Senate File 1569, a funding request to continue implementation of the Red River Basin 1998 flood mediation agreement, was presented to the Senate Environment Committee and laid over for further consideration.

Senator Kupak introduced the bill and said it would fund the work group that helps watershed districts plan and permit multipurpose flood mitigation and water storage projects across the Red River Basin. The requested appropriation is $350,000 per year for two years.

Robert Sipp, executive director of the Red River Watershed Management Board, and Dan Money, administrator of the Two Rivers Watershed District and co-chair of the Flood Damage Reduction Work Group, testified in support. Money described the Red River Basin as flat, repetitive in flooding and subject to flows that can last for months and spread widely. He said the mediation agreement resolved contentious permitting disputes in the 1990s by creating a mediation framework involving state agencies and local partners.

Money told the committee that funds requested would primarily support early-stage feasibility work, engineering studies, and permit coordination — the preliminary steps that allow a watershed district to develop a project and then pursue construction funding and permits under 103D watershed law. He said the program leverages local match and can seed federal grants, citing a recent $1 million grant for floodplain mapping.

Senator Green raised questions about the Roseau River project and whether funds would be withheld if local disputes were unresolved; Money said the mediation funding pays for feasibility and early-stage work and that later phases and construction are handled by the local watershed district.

The committee laid Senate File 1569 over for possible inclusion; no final appropriation was made in committee.