Terry Guttormson: Good Neighbors?

To the Editor:

This is in response to an op-ed piece by Jack Zaleski, an F-M journalist. He used his keyboard to rip downstream folks for trying to protect themselves from the proposed diversion and the wall of water that it will send them.

The author claimed that all downstream residents’  facts and figures were made up, lies. He didn’t seem to realize that they had been issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and printed in his newspaper.

He is correct on one issue. The potential water level downstream has risen about every other week. Again, this information came from the USACE.

I was at the very first meeting, December 2009, to get the lowdown and ask questions about the impending diversion. I asked the USACE representative if there had been a downstream impact study and if so, what it revealed.

Craig Evans of the Corps fielded my question. His response was that no, they had not done a downstream impact study and in their estimation, one was not needed. He went on to explain, “You see, we feel that when the water in the diversion hits the mouth of the diversion, it (the water) will disperse very rapidly, and therefore, cause no downstream effect” They say they tape these meetings. I hope so.

The changes that irked the writer came from the Corps. As weeks passed, with each new look at the downstream impact, the additional water level downstream rose. It was reported on radio and television news several times a day. 

With every report, the rise of the expected downstream effect suggests that the Corps itself doesn’t know what it will be. This is what happens when the Corps is expected to do a study in about a third of the time they usually require. This is, of course, happening because Fargo politicians know they need to get the money before Dorgan leaves. So they rush the project and the most likely outcome is oversight and miscalculation.

And for their downstream neighbors, devastation.

The writer attempted to belittle and degrade downstream communities who don’t want to lose their towns, small businesses, farms, farmland, churches, school district, and a way of life.
The Corps of Engineers said they will not continue with a project that will harm us. Seventeen inches or more will certainly harm us. You see, this will be on top of our own flood fight. The writer and a few other bad neighbors want to use their walking paths and golf courses while they kill downstream communities, dumping all the excess flood water on us.

Fargoans are not the only ones suffering in the excess flood waters. We all are, and the remedy should be one that will help us all.

In the article, a downstream resident asked what Fargo would do if it had an extra 17 inches dumped on it, and the writer called it a dumb question. That’s not a dumb question.

I hope Rep. Collin Peterson is successful in his efforts for retention. If anyone can do it, he can.  But at this point it’s not a reality, only a hope. And even if we get the retention Peterson is trying to achieve, the downstream-of-diversion communities will lose the good they would get from it by the excess water the diversion will send.

I hope we can all work on a solution to flooding that will save the entire basin. Fargo too will benefit with retention, gated storage, and main stem flow reduction. The difference is, with that approach we all survive.

-Terry Guttormson
Hendrum, Minn.