FARGO, N.D. — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is asking a federal judge to allow it to join a lawsuit seeking to delay action on Red River flood diversion project.

The proposed project would redirect floodwaters around the Fargo-Moorhead area via a dam and diversion channel but would aggravate flooding upstream.

The DNR seeks to join a lawsuit against the project filed by the Richland-Wilkin Joint Powers Authority in 2013.

Although the DNR declined to issue the necessary permits for the project in October, the Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a contract for some construction work on the North Dakota side of the river, and asked for proposals for building the diversion channel.

Minnesota will be asking the court to prohibit construction because it hasn’t issued the necessary permits.