Jackson’s levees do not look like the ones in Dallas, Texas. We drove across them on the way to the Cotton Bowl and I called my friend Jimmy Heidel’s attention to them. Much of the half-mile span between Dallas’s levees had been leveled and mowed with bush hogs. But in Jackson, thick tree growth has been allowed to flourish between our levees and, in 1979, this growth caused an extra three feet of flooding in North Jackson. Much of the flood damage that occurred in that Easter flood would not have occurred had the required maintenance been done. And most of the flood damage that occurred in 1983 would have been avoided.

After these floods, the levee board attempted to perform this necessary clearing only to be shut down by environmental agents in the same Corps of Engineers that should have been supervising this clearing maintenance in the first place. Incredibly the corps now places protection of wetland habitat above the danger of flooding in people’s homes and businesses. Today the levee board is only able to perform a small part of the necessary maintenance and at an extra cost in order to mitigate for the value the corps places on wildlife habitat areas that it wants preserved.

Today, growth remaining between the levees continues to back up water; so much so that floodwater endangers the present levees. Growth between the levees could cause them to be overtopped in a major flood. For years, the Two Lakes organization has been urging our officials to confront environmentalists in our agencies and clear this land.

Recently, we sent a proposal to the levee board showing how clearing, leveling and mowing 850 acres between the levees will quickly provide more than three feet levee freeboard. More than enough to qualify the levees for certification. In addition, this clearing will lower flooding everywhere in the event a repeat of the 1979 flood and eliminate most of the flooding in another 1983 flood north of Lakeland Drive and in downtown Jackson. The Two Lakes plan could be built later.

State and federal environmental agencies, in collaboration with our levee board, are considering installing concrete “I” walls on top of Jackson’s levees (in the manor done in New Orleans). The plan does nothing to alleviate flooding above the levees in North Jackson or Flowood. This plan leaves the trees to continue flooding homes and businesses north of Lakeland Drive and downtown. By avoiding cutting trees and disturbing the land the levee board, along with state and federal agencies hope to satisfy environmentalists.

Jackson’s flooding is the direct result of ignoring proven engineering in favor of the preferences of environmentalists. As a result the engineering studies that they do to accommodate environmental conceptions turn out to be undoable. But our officials have no claim to being victims in this process.

Tens of millions in earmarked money passes through them even though nothing gets built. The Airport Parkway was scrapped when (to accommodate regulatory agencies) all of the bridge and approaches were elevated to save 13 acres of wetlands. The cost (an extra $140 million) killed the plan.

Since 2003 the corps and levee board engineers have been paid to study our Two Lakes proposal. This was supposed to be a two-year study and after seven years the corps released a draft which elevated the cost of our 300 million dollar project to 1.4 billion dollars, an example being engineering costs alone, which they estimated to be 275 million dollars. Clearly this was an amount contrived to disable the plan with unrealistic costs.

Some local officials have collaborated with the corps and other government agencies in spreading misinformation about the Two Lakes. This enables them to claim unanimity with the agencies, which we think they believe necessary to secure earmarked money from our senators in Washington to pay for even more studies. At their last meeting, after voting for levees only, the mayors’ next order of business in the same meeting was to arrange a trip to Washington with the same engineers. The purpose of the trip was to get money to begin studies on yet another flood control concept. Presumably, a study that, unlike the Two Lake plan, will not offend environmental agencies. Metro area citizens should not expect much from any new studies so long as ideologues within these agencies control what our mayors do. The quality of the mayors’ accomplishments can be no better than the quality and legitimacy of the people they rely upon to guide them.

John McGowan is a Northsider.