05.02.17

Hoeven Secures Provision in Funding Agreement to Allow Drayton to Permanently Keep Levee

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Homeland Security, today announced that he secured a provision in the Fiscal Year 2017 funding agreement that allows Drayton to permanently keep its earthen levee as part of the city’s flood protection. The levee was built on land acquired through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), and over the past year, Hoeven secured two extensions to delay the removal of the structure as required by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) policy. 

“Drayton needs the certainty that their flood protection will remain in place,” said Hoeven. “This levee is vital to the community’s flood control efforts. That’s why I worked to secure this provision, allowing the city to maintain the levee permanently and providing peace of mind for local residents.” 

Specifically, Hoeven’s provision authorizes FEMA to allow Drayton and other cities to retain levees on HMGP land permanently as long as the “construction constitutes part of a flood control project, is constructed of naturally-occurring materials and conforms to other criteria as established by FEMA policy.”

The properties in question were acquired through HMGP as part of the 1997 flood disaster that affected the Grand Forks region. The provision is included in the funding legislation being considered by the House and Senate this week.

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