JACKSON, Miss. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not objecting to a revised proposal for a huge flood-control project to pump water from parts of the Mississippi Delta, says Atlanta-based Regional Administrator Mary S. Walker. It’s a significant change of pace because EPA vetoed the Yazoo Backwater Project in 2008. In mid-October, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a draft of a new environmental impact statement (EIS) supporting the project, reversing its own report that had said the project would hurt wetlands. Walker says the Corps' new proposal "provides information and analysis regarding a similar but different” Yazoo Pumps Project than previously analyzed. The current version, which calls for pumps at Deer Creek north of Vicksburg, is not subject to the EPA's 2008 veto. The vetoed plan proposed pumps in other locations. Environmental groups - American Rivers, Audubon Mississippi, Healthy Gulf and Mississippi Sierra Club - remain opposed to the Yazoo Backwater Project. They've said for decades that it would be an expensive boondoggle that would hurt wetlands to help agribusiness. The Corps held an online public hearing about the project Nov. 10, and gathered public comments through Dec. 7. The area has experienced significant flooding during nine of the past 10 years. (The AP 12/07/20) EPA says flood control project not subject to previous veto - The Dispatch (cdispatch.com)
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