Fact checking the latest statements from Garrison Diversion
(KXNET) — The Red River Valley water supply project has questions that need to be answered.
The debate has moved from our rural communities to the Capitol.
At the Senate Bill 2364 hearing, officials were confused and upset, and Garrison Diversion General Manager Duane DeKrey testified twice and his testimonies raised many questions.
“We contacted her attorney nine months ago and have yet to receive a response. I mean, if their attorney doesn’t talk to us, how are we supposed to deal with them,” DeKrey said.
But landowners provided KX News with a call log that showed the opposite.
Due to attorney-client confidentiality, all names and conversations have been removed, and dates of correspondence between DeKrey and landowners date from January 2022 to the last month.
On June 6, 2022, a letter was sent to the landowners’ attorneys informing them that a major domain lawsuit would begin on July 8, 2022.
In the summer of 2022, we spoke to Duane DeKrey, who said he shared that negotiations had taken place.
“We were able to change some routes. We were able to negotiate weed control, crop damage policy and things that will affect them during construction,” DeKrey said.
During the Senate Bill 2364 hearing, he said, “We haven’t received a counteroffer from any of them, and as soon as they legally formulated it, we heard through the rumor mill that they won $6,000 an acre.”
What about future pipeline productivity?
“At some point you have to set a point in time when you go into a significant domain. The pipeline is being shut down in the state. The state funds us, and we have to be two years ahead of the pipeline’s location because we have to have that relief when the pipeline gets there,” DeKrey said.
But Dennis Walen, a landowner, said he was served on January 24, 2023 and his land is 19 miles from the end of the pipeline.
The project currently averages less than 1.5 miles per year.
At this rate it would take them over 12 years to reach Dennis’ land.
“We have to be two years ahead of the pipes arriving, and we’re obviously going to be doing well over a mile a year,” DeKrey said.
Rep Jeff Magrum asked, “But you haven’t been able to, what’s causing the slow production?”
“They had a lot of groundwater problems this year. They started straight away with a swing and it set them back quite a bit. We also had supply chain issues,” DeKrey replied.
KX News reached out to Garrison Diversion leaders for comment on the allegations.
DeKrey said Garrison Diversion has been negotiating easements for the Red River Valley water supply project since 2009 and has acquired rights to over 150 lots.
He says Garrison Diversion leaders would welcome additional input and communications with landowners and their representatives.
According to DeKrey, the Eminent Domain for this project will begin March 1 in Wells County.