S. HRG. 105±410 FLOOD CONTROL AT DEVILS LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON A PROPOSED FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT AT DEVILS LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA OCTOBER 23, 1997 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 47±221 CC WASHINGTON : 1998 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS JOHN H. CHAFEE, Rhode Island, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia MAX BAUCUS, Montana ROBERT SMITH, New Hampshire DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, New York DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Idaho FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma HARRY REID, Nevada CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming BOB GRAHAM, Florida CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas BARBARA BOXER, California WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado RON WYDEN, Oregon JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama JIMMIE POWELL, Staff Director J. THOMAS SLITER, Minority Staff Director (II) (II) CONTENTS Page OCTOBER 23, 1997 OPENING STATEMENTS Chafee, Hon. John H., U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island ................. 1 Reid, Hon. Harry, U.S. Senator from the State of Nevada .................................. 3 WITNESSES Armstrong, Michael J., Associate Director for Mitigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency ............................................................................................ 18 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 68 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee .......................................................................................... 69 Senator Reid .............................................................................................. 72 Belford, Joe, Ramsey County Commissioner, North Dakota ............................... 25 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 160 Conrad, Hon. Kent, U.S. Senator from the State of North Dakota ..................... 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 Dorgan, Hon. Byron L., U.S. Senator from the State of North Dakota .............. 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 Pearson, Gary L., vice president, Dakota Prairie Chapter, National Audubon Society, Jamestown, ND ...................................................................................... 23 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 114 Responses to additional questions from Senator Chafee ............................... 122 Pomeroy, Hon. Earl, U.S. Representative from the State of North Dakota ....... 10 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 Report, Devils Lake Emergency Outlet .......................................................... 43 Sprynczynatyk, Dave, North Dakota State Engineer, Bismarck, ND, on behalf of Governor of North Dakota Ed Schafer ........................................................... 20 Article, Devils Lake Could Rise Another 20 Feet .......................................... 110 Fact sheet .......................................................................................................... 105 Letter, followup to hearing on Devils Lake, November 21, 1997 ................. 106 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 104 Responses to additional questions from Senator Chafee ............................... 122 Zirschky, John H., Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Department of the Army ........................................................................................................... 16 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 58 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee .......................................................................................... 64 Senator Reid .............................................................................................. 67 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Letters: Ambassador Raymond Chretien, of Canada ................................................... 164 Corps of Engineers, April 15, 1997 ................................................................. 48 Corps of Engineers, April 22, 1997 ................................................................. 51 Federal Emergency Management Agency ...................................................... 103 Fish and Wildlife Service, October 3, 1997 .................................................... 134 Governor Arne Carleson, of Minnesota ........................................................... 111 Governor Edward Schafer, of North Dakota .................................................. 52 Henrik Voldal .................................................................................................... 163 North Dakota legislators, to Governor Schafer .............................................. 53 (iii) iv Page LettersÐContinued North Dakota Wildlife Society ......................................................................... 165 Office of Management and Budget, April 22, 1997 ........................................ 52 Memorandum, Continuous Flooding Claims, FEMA ............................................ 102 Reports: Closed Basin Lake Flooding: Case Studies and Mitigation Opportunities .. 78 Devils Lake Emergency Outlet ........................................................................ 43 Devils Lake Flood: An Overview ..................................................................... 54 Feasibility Study for Lake Stabilization: Devils Lake ................................... 136 Floodplain Management in the United States: An Assessment Report ....... 74 Statements: Grams, Hon. Rod, U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota ...................... 41 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ................................................ 111 Missouri Department of Natural Resources ................................................... 162 FLOOD CONTROL AT DEVILS LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1997 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9 a.m. in room 406, Senate Dirksen Building, Hon. John H. Chafee (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Chafee, Reid, and Wyden. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN H. CHAFEE, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND Senator CHAFEE. I want to bid a welcome to everyone here this morning. This is a meeting to receive testimony on proposed solutions to the flooding at Devils Lake in North Dakota. The overall Devils Lake Basin, which encompasses some 3,800 square miles in the northeastern part of the State, is a closed sub-basin of the Red River-Hudson Bay drainage system. As a result of the 5-year wet cycle in the region, Devils Lake has risen some 16 feet since 1993 to its present level of 1,438 feet above mean sea level. During this period, Devils Lake has doubled in size and tripled in volume. By tripled in volume, I mean by that the content of water within the lake. The situation in Devils Lake is most unusual. The lake is found in one of only two closed basins in North America, Utah's Great Salt Lake Basin being the other. Carved into the prairie by glaciers during the Ice Age, the low-lying land has no natural outlet for the water that floods into it from the north. Indeed, according to the 1995 report of the Devils Lake Basin Interagency Task Force, no water has left the Devils Lake Basin in recorded history since the 1830's. Indeed, the Basin's surface runoff flows southward through many small streams and lakes and is collected by Devils Lake and the smaller nearby Stump Lake. There it remains until it evaporates or enters the groundwater table. Geological evidence shows that the water level in Devils Lake has fluctuated dramatically from completely dry, about 1,400 feet, to overflowing into the Sheyenne River at about 1,457 feet. All of this over the last 10,000 years. Records from the first European settlement of the area indicate that the lake level in the 1830's was about 1,440 feet. That level (1) 2 dropped over time to reach a level of 1,402 feet in 1940, rose again to 1,429 feet in 1987, dropped back to 1,423 feet in 1991. As I stat- ed a moment ago, the lake level now stands at 1,438 feet. As we will learn today, the people who settled this area have long struggled with the problems presented by the unpredictable changes in the level of Devils Lake. In the current cycle, rising lake waters have caused some $100 million in damage to development and crop lands that had existed on dry lands during decades of low water. To help stem the further flood damage and prevent the lake from overtopping, the U.S. Corps of Engineers has embarked upon a plan with State and local agencies that includes the construction of a lake outlet. The proposed outlet would periodically drain ex- cess water from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne and Red Rivers. The Devils Lake outlet and associated Federal water projects will be our focus today. In March of this year, the