Delta Council E-News
EPA Deals Delta Devastating Blow
EPA Confirms Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project is Still Subject to 2008 Veto
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transmitted a letter to the Army for Civil Works on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, confirming the 2008 veto of the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project. In the letter, EPA explains that the 2020 Proposed Plan for the Yazoo Pumps Project is prohibited by EPA’s 2008 Clean Water Act Section 404(c) Final Determination.
This action supersedes a portion of a November 30, 2020, letter from EPA to the Army Corps of Engineers asserting that the 2020 Proposed Plan was not subject to the 2008 Clean Water Act 404(c) action.
“For decades we have watched our South Delta communities endure record-breaking man-made flooding that has devastated wildlife, nature, our homes, our jobs, our main economic base of agriculture, and even take lives of our neighbors,” said Paul Hollis, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Delta Council, MS Levee Board Commissioner, and Rolling Fork resident. “It is unfathomable that we find ourselves here again fighting for what is rightfully and legally ours and is the only long term and feasible solution to backwater flooding - the pumps. It's past time for the EPA to put people before politics and stop subjecting South Deltans to this environmental injustice.”
“This is an absolutely terrible day for the people who live in the Mississippi Delta and an even sadder day for the country when an agency like the EPA refuses to do the right thing for the people,” said Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. “I will continue to work for the people of the Delta to try to salvage this project, which should have been built decades ago. I do know we absolutely do not need empty platitudes from the EPA on a ‘path forward’ and environmental justice.”
Hyde-Smith has made the Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps project a priority since becoming a U.S. Senator in 2018.
The Senator was instrumental in securing funding for pre-construction planning and other activities on the New Proposal for the Yazoo Area Pump Project.
“I am deeply frustrated the EPA has chosen to reverse its guidance on the Yazoo Backwater Pumps and leave the people of the South Mississippi Delta in harm’s way. The federal government authorized the pumps 80 years ago, but the project has been held up by bureaucrats and red tape ever since,” said Senator Roger Wicker. “Roads will continue to be impassable, deer and other wildlife and plant life will die, hypoxia will kill fish, small businesses will shut down, and residents will continue to be forced to leave their houses. In fact, 94% of the homes that this project would save from the 100-year floodplain are minority-occupied. It amounts to an environmental injustice. I intend to continue fighting to achieve approval of this much-needed flood control project.”
The Mississippi Levee Board, local sponsor of the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project, also released a statement regarding the reinstatement of the 2008 veto. “Despite the Biden Administration and the EPA Administrator’s repeated insistence that environment justice is a priority, including during a meeting this past Sunday where Administrator Regan had the opportunity to hear directly from those still suffering from the 2019 flood, today, they chose to ignore the concerns of our community and determined that no pumps can be built in the Yazoo Backwater Area.”
“There is no project that better meets the goals of environmental justice as prioritized by the Biden Administration and Administrator Regan, and without pumps, there is no relief from annual devastating flooding. The Levee Board will consider all options, including potential legal action, to advance this essential project.”