FARGO, N.D. (AP) An appeals court has sided with a federal judge who ordered the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority to halt construction on a ring levee south of Fargo until an environmental review is completed.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in an opinion issued June 20 sided with U.S. District Judge John Tunheim's May 2015 decision that the law requires all federal and state environmental reviews be completed before construction.
Opponents of the planned $2 billion Red River diversion filed a lawsuit against the dike project, which is meant to protect structures in the Oxbow, Hickson and Bakke areas that would be flooded by a staging area in times of high water.
The diversion authority had argued the ring dike was separate from the overall project. An attorney for the authority didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
