North Dakota Governor Asks Legislature to Approve Disaster Help

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North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has unveiled a $569 million plan to provide disaster aid to flood-stricken areas and to help western North Dakota towns struggling to cope with oil development.

Speaking to a joint session of the North Dakota House and Senate at the start of a special legislative session on Nov. 7, Dalrymple called flood relief “the most important, significant task before you.”

In many of North Dakota’s larger cities, small towns, counties and townships, “flooding has created incredible hardships,” Dalrymple said. “This much-needed assistance cannot be postponed.”

The Legislature’s two appropriations committees began digging into the measure’s details Monday night. Sen. Raymon Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, chairman of the Senate committee, said the two panels would need a few days to work on the measure.

State funds do not provide a large chunk of the bill’s spending authority. It counts on $235 million in federal flood-relief grants that Congress has not yet approved.

The measure includes $152.9 million in new state general fund spending, taps $30 million in profits from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota and uses $50 million in added spending from the state’s “resources trust fund,” which is financed by a share of state oil tax collections.

The Bank of North Dakota money will provide loans of up to $30,000, at 1 percent interest for up to 20 years, for residents of nine flood-stricken counties who are rebuilding their homes or buying new ones.

Principal and interest payments on each loan may be deferred for up to a year. Up to half of the loan’s principal may be forgiven if the homeowner lives in the dwelling for five years.

The program would apply in Barnes, Benson, Burleigh, McHenry, Morton, Ramsey, Renville, Richland and Ward counties, which have been judged to be especially hard-hit by flooding.

Among North Dakota’s largest cities, Minot suffered the most damage, with more than 4,000 homes being evacuated as the flooding Souris River swamped portions of the city. Hundreds of homes in rural Bismarck and Mandan were swamped.

The legislation provides another $30 million in grants to local governments to rebuild water and sewer lines and other public works in flood-ravaged counties. The money would be used for expenses that federal aid did not cover, officials said.

The money may be used to buy out homes that need to be demolished as part of a flood-control project, as well as to buy property needed for new levees or flood-protection work.

Dalrymple said the legislation also includes $5 million in grants to rural townships, many of which he said have been overwhelmed by flood expenses.

“After several consecutive years of having to repair flooded roads, some townships are carrying a debt load that would take decades to retire,” Dalrymple said. “We must make sure that townships which have become financially strapped because of chronic overland flooding can continue to rebuild their vital roadways.”

While it is known as the “disaster bill,” the legislation goes beyond offering aid to North Dakotans who were stricken by widespread spring flooding along the Missouri and Souris rivers and elsewhere.

It includes money to hire four new highway patrolmen for western North Dakota, where the region’s booming oil industry has resulted in an exponential increase in truck traffic.

It has $30 million in grants for “oil impact” spending on public works in western North Dakota, where there is great demand for aid from local governments to help cope with the effects of oil development.

During its regular session earlier this year, the Legislature provided $100 million for impact grants, but local officials say that will not come close to meeting the need.

The disaster legislation also includes $1 million for a potential state lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency, should it decide to regulate hydraulic fracturing, an oil production technique that is crucial to western North Dakota’s oil boom. At present, state agencies regulate the practice, which is known as “fracking.”