In a recent article by Anthony Warren, covering Levee Board attorney Keith Turner’s One Lake presentation to the Metro Lions Club, there were some statements that need examination. The Vicksburg Corps of Engineers was said to have signed-off on the findings of the first phase of review. This may lull people into believing that the project has been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. It has not. Final approval comes from the Army Secretary for Civil Works in D.C., Mr. R.D. James. Until project studies are published for public review and comment, Corps of Engineers approval is still a long way off.
The lake alternative was said to have been chosen by the Levee Board to “quell environmental concerns” - as if digging up 25 million yards of river banks and existing river channel is an environmentally sound idea. It is not. Using the Levee District’s last published map, at least 1,000 acres of wetlands will be filled – turned into elevated terraces ready for development – along both sides of the river. How is this much wetland filling the least destructive option when floodplain buyouts are one of the project’s stated alternatives?
The statement that opposition comes from “some environmentalists who are worried about the impact on certain species and flow” doesn’t adequately describe the resistance. Adequate flow during the dry months is a big question from downstream stakeholders that depend on the Pearl’s water for effluent dilution and healthy coastal salinity ranges. Ten resolutions have been passed in opposition to this project: three Mississippi counties, two Louisiana parishes, three towns downriver, The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources and the Louisiana Legislature. These aren’t just “some environmentalists.”
The wisdom of adding a dam and lake to an already dammed and impaired river is being questioned by environmentalists, but also by industry, towns, state governments and fiscal conservatives.
Andrew Whitehurst,
Jayne Buttross
One River No Lake Coalition
Madison, MS
