Minnesota Asks Judge to Halt Red River Diversion

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has asked a federal judge to block construction of a $2.1 billion flood control project in the Fargo-Moorhead area until it issues permits for the project.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday in Horace, North Dakota, at the site of a planned inlet structure that's considered the first phase of the cross-border project. Full-scale construction is slated for later this year.

But Minnesota calls the project a risk to the environment. On Friday, it asked U.S. District Judge John Tunheim to issue a preliminary injunction against construction until the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grants a dam safety permit for the Minnesota side of the project, something the DNR denied last October.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to proceed with work on the North Dakota side anyway.