The energy development in this part of the State, particularly with the oil boom associated with the development of the Bakken Formation, is crucial not only to our economy, but is important to the national effort to reduce our dependence…

I take them seriously.

The eyes of the Nation were on North Dakota and Minnesota at those moments, and the people of this country were impressed.

Yes, well, that is exactly the issue. And I think, in the interest of everybody having kind of the full information before them, this is going to be a key question for all of us going forward.

Thanks again, Mr. Chairman. And I didn't have a chance to thank specifically my colleague Senator Klobuchar for being here and for her leadership.

We can do better, and we must.

We cannot rest until temporary flood protection is a thing of the past.

Fargo needs room to grow. Fargo's natural path, one of the significant paths is south.

Unless we are able to form a local consensus, there is virtually no chance that we will secure Federal funding.

Without that consensus, there is simply very little chance of Federal funding.

We just could not be more fortunate, and we thank you for your leadership, Senator Dorgan.

And Congressman Peterson, I will tell you, you could not have a better partner in a fight than Collin Peterson.

Can I add just one other point? And that is that we also have the issue of floodplain.

I have high regard for Colonel Christensen. His professionalism and the absolute dedication he brought to this, I think all of us respect.

I just want to make clear, from my perspective, that this is what occurred after 1997.

If we are going to debate this in the forum--and we are not going to do that, right, Collin, because that accomplishes nothing.

Let me just say that that issue exists all across the country on flood control projects, and the key, from the Corps' standpoint, and it makes perfect sense, of course, is that when you develop a cost-benefit ratio, you are talking about…

Let me just observe that the delay on funding for the Breckenridge project no longer exists, since I became chairman of the subcommittee.