A massive pumping project to relieve chronic flooding in the South Delta is as close to reality as it has been in 35 years.
During the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency dropped its opposition and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers produced a study showing that the main argument that stopped the project in the past — the projected decimation of vital wetlands — didn’t hold water.
So near to victory after decades of work, proponents of the project, however, now have to worry whether the EPA under the new Democratic administration might reverse course again and kill the Yazoo Backwater pumps.
Peter Nimrod, chief engineer of the Mississippi Levee Board, doesn’t believe the pump project is currently on Joe Biden’s radar. The president has a lot of other pressing concerns on his plate, most notably the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the economic devastation it has spawned.
Nevertheless, Nimrod expects that it’s just a matter of time before the national environmental groups that have stubbornly opposed the project — no matter how much Mississippi flood-control leaders have tried to appease them — will be trying to bend the ear of Biden or his underlings.
The Greenville-based levee board, the Delta Council regional development group and the state’s congressional delegation, among other supporters, believe they have the evidence and scientific data to prove their case and debunk that of the environmentalists.
“If we are given the opportunity to explain this project to everyone, this is a great project not just for the economics, but it is a great project for the environment,” Nimrod said.
For starters, what’s on the drawing board is not the same plan that was stopped in 1986 by a change in funding rules, then again in 2008 by an adverse decision from the EPA.
The proposed location of the massive pumping station has been moved 8 miles northeast, from Steele Bayou in Issaquena County to Deer Creek in Warren County. The new location will make the pumps more efficient, Nimrod contends. The plan has also added several features to actually improve conditions for fish, birds and other wildlife that thrive in the wetlands. Chief among them is the proposed installing of 34 groundwater wells in the northwest part of the Delta. These would pump water into the tributaries that feed into the Yazoo Backwater area when there are seasonal drops in water levels.
“Adding this water in the fall time is a huge deal,” Nimrod said.
Following his inauguration this past week, Biden quickly signaled that the agencies he oversees might not be as accommodating to business interests as was Trump. One of Biden’s first executive orders was to revoke the permit, granted by the previous administration, for the Keystone XL pipeline, the 1,700-mile pipeline that was to carry oil from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. The president sided with environmentalists who claimed the pipeline would further contribute to global warming by encouraging greater use of fossil fuels.
Where Biden will stand on the Yazoo Backwater pumps is a matter of speculation, but other obstacles are already taking shape. Four environmental groups sued earlier this month challenging the EPA’s reversal on the project. A lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers is likely, too.
Then there’s the matter of convincing Congress to provide the funding. So far, $6.2 million has been allocated for engineering design, but that’s just a small start toward the anticipated $400 million or more it will take to bring construction to completion.
Documented misery in the South Delta, plus the growing influence of Mississippi’s congressional delegation, which is unified in support of the project, may persuade Congress to open the purse strings.
In 2019, the Yazoo Backwater region between Vicksburg and Yazoo City was under water for six months. Almost 550,000 acres of land and nearly 700 homes were flooded. Farmers weren’t the only ones suffering. The environment didn’t fare too well either, as a large number of deer, fish and trees died.
That historic flood got people’s attention to the unfairness of letting one mostly poor, thinly populated part of the country pay the price for keeping others along the Mississippi River and its tributaries drier, including those who live and farm here in Greenwood.
Although 2019 had an unprecedented amount of rainfall, severe flooding in the South Delta is not just a once-in-a-while occasion. It happens nearly every year now. This past year was considered a mild flood year, and it still put 500,000 acres in that region under water.
In 1941, the South Delta was promised a pumping station not to eliminate flooding in the region but to keep it to a livable level. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have reneged on that promise in the past.
Joe Biden may not agree with Donald Trump on much. But if the new president is fair-minded and listens to the facts, he’ll agree it’s time to make good on that promise.
• Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
