Pursuant to the requirements of Minn. Stat. § 103G.245, subd. 1 and Minn. R. Ch. 6115 the Cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota together with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) and the Flood Diversion Board Authority (“Diversion Authority”) (collectively referred to as “Permit Applicants”) applied for a Minnesota public waters work permit and a Minnesota dam safety permit (collectively referred to as the “Permit Application” or “2018 Application”) to construct a flood risk reduction project on the Red River of the North (“Red River”) to reduce flood risk associated with the long history of frequent flooding of the Red River and its associated tributaries in the Fargo-Moorhead (F-M) metropolitan area, to qualify portions of the F-M metropolitan area for a 1-percent chance flood protection accreditation under the National Flood Insurance Program and to reduce flood risk for floods exceeding the 100-year (1-percent chance) flood or greater in light of the importance of the F-M metropolitan are to the region.