Kent Conrad: “first of all, I thank our colleague from Arizona for taking the time to listen to our concerns, because this is a…”

“first of all, I thank our colleague from Arizona for taking the time to listen to our concerns, because this is a disaster of staggering proportion in our State. Let me just say it is the unanimous view of every elected official in the State of North Dakota, every single one, Republican and Democrat, that we must deal with this unfolding crisis. Here is what has happened to this lake. This lake, by the way, is three times the size of the District of Columbia. This is a massive lake. It has risen dramatically, some 26 vertical feet, since 1992. It started rising then and, as you can see, it has been straight up since then. This is a flood unlike any other in our Nation's history. The reason for that is that there are only two closed basins in the entire United States. The drainage basin for this lake is the size of the State of Massachusetts. This lake, if it continues uncontrolled, will reach the size of the State of Rhode Island. That is not just conjecture. That has happened two times in history. Those two times were at times when North Dakota and Minnesota were unpopulated. Already the cost to the Federal Government already of this lake rising has been over $350 million. Threatened structures have been moved. Highways have been raised. A massive dike protecting the town of Devils Lake has been increased twice already. The Federal Government is poised to raise it again. So the hard reality is that unless more is done, we face a catastrophic event.”