Act Now to protect the Clean Water Act and wetlands along the Mississippi River
Great Egret on the Sunflower River | Photo by Stephen Kirkpatrick
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced an unprecedented move to resurrect the wasteful, environmentally devastating Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project in Mississippi's South Delta, a plan that is so harmful it was vetoed by the George W. Bush administration. The costly, outdated project—originally authorized by Congress in 1941—would drain and destroy 200,000 acres of Mississippi River wetlands that support more than 450 species of birds and wildlife.
Despite the veto, issued under the Clean Water Act, the Trump Administration’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to move forward with the project!
The Yazoo Pumps is being billed as the panacea for flood problems in the Southern Mississippi Delta. But the Corps' own analysis has found that most of the area would continue to flood even with the Pumps in place. Indeed, Pump proponents and Corps documents state explicitly that the Yazoo Pumps would do little more than drain marginal land to increase agricultural development.
South Delta residents deserve better.
There are more effective, less expensive flood risk reduction measures that can be deployed NOW to reduce flood losses in the region without draining and damaging 200,000 acres of wetlands that are a critical part of the Mississippi River ecosystem and flyway.
Protect the Clean Water Act! Tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that you oppose the Yazoo Pumps and that you want to advance immediate, affordable flood risk solutions that will protect local communities and birds that depend on the Mississippi Flyway. The deadline to comment is June 15.
Note: Your letter will be sent directly to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a public comment period, and will become part of the public record.