Senate File 1569, presented April 1, seeks $350,000 per year for two years to continue implementation of the 1998 flood mediation agreement in the Red River Basin. The funding supports the Flood Damage Reduction Work Group and local watershed districts to develop multipurpose flood mitigation and water‑storage projects.

Senator Kupak introduced the request and Robert Sipp, executive director of the Red River Watershed Management Board, and Dan Money, co‑chair of the flood damage reduction work group and administrator of Two Rivers Watershed District, described the basin’s history of severe, repetitive flooding and the mediation process that produced the 1998 agreement.

Money told the committee the mediation framework aimed to permit large basin‑scale impoundments while addressing cumulative environmental effects through a coordinated, multi‑agency approach. He said the work group’s funding has helped the region produce feasibility studies, streamline permitting and leverage federal grants. Recent examples, he said, include work that attracted a $1 million federal grant for floodplain mapping; local matches on projects often exceeded required minimums.

Committee members asked about contentious projects in the basin, such as the Roseau River project; witnesses said the mediation funding supports early feasibility and permitting work but that larger construction disputes or local legal matters would be resolved at the watershed district level. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion and follow‑up on specific project questions.