Clay County Last to Support ND Diversion

MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota's Clay County has joined North

Dakota's Cass County and the cities of Fargo and Moorhead in voting

to make a North Dakota diversion the locally preferred plan for

permanent flood protection in the area.

A task force on both sides of the North Dakota-Minnesota border

earlier settled on the Red River diversion channel as the preferred

solution. The 36-mile-long channel would take 8 1/2 years to build

and would cost $1.3 billion.

The local governments have until the end of the year to give a

final plan to the Army Corps of Engineers. The corps has said it

favors a smaller Minnesota diversion.

The federal government would cover $565 million of the cost of

the North Dakota diversion. The rest would fall to local and state

governments.

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