FARGO, N.D. — Opponents and proponents of a planned Red River diversion project around Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota say they’re happy to have a chance to lay out their positions in front of a judge.

The $2 billion channel is designed to move water around the flood-prone Fargo metropolitan area, but would need a staging area south of the city to store water in times of serious flooding. A group representing about 20 upstream cities and townships in North Dakota and Minnesota filed a federal lawsuit in August 2013 asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a cheaper project that doesn’t flood farmland.

A hearing is scheduled Monday in Minneapolis to discuss whether the corps followed proper protocol when it designed the 36-mile channel. Tim Fox, the Wilkin County, Minnesota, state’s attorney who has been involved in litigation against the diversion, said it’s a significant event because the issue has been bounced around between state and federal courts without much oral argument.