Fate of on-again, off-again Yazoo Pumps expected by December despite no price tag

ROLLING FORK — For years, the fate of a project known as the Yazoo Pumps has bounced back and forth in a game of political ping pong. Now, with a retooled pumps proposal, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is inching closer to a new flood control plan for the South Delta.

Partnering agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, which vetoed the Yazoo Pumps in 2008 under President George W. Bush, are still studying the draft environmental impact statement that the Corps released in June. The EPA vetoed the project in part because of its impact on the area’s ecologically significant wetlands, a point that conservationists around the country have continued to argue amid attempts to resurrect the pumps project.

The June draft EIS, which the Corps says it collaborated on with the EPA, proposes slightly less aggressive pumping than in the 2008 version in addition to buyouts for property owners in the floodplain. The proposal also limits the pumps’ operation to a certain stretch of the year, aiming to balance the needs of the wetlands with those of local farmers.

The agency held its first in-person public meetings for the report on Monday in Rolling Fork. The public has until Aug. 12 to submit comments (click here for the report and instructions for submitting comments). The Corps’ timeline suggests it will have a final EIS by November, and then a final decision in December from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor.

Most of those who came to give their thoughts on Monday supported what the Corps laid out despite the added restrictions on the pumps’ operation.

“You’ve heard a lot of people say turn the pumps on at a lower elevation, turn them on earlier,” said Peter Nimrod, chief engineer for the Mississippi Levee Board and a supporter of the Yazoo Pumps for years. “We completely agree, but if this is all we’ve got, we’ll take it. It’s a great project.”

The June study proposes turning the pumps on when the backwater reaches 90 feet of elevation (from sea level), as opposed to the 87-foot starting point the 2008 version had. The new study also suggests two options for when to allow the pumps to run: One is from March 15 until Oct. 15, and the other from March 25 until Oct. 15. Those windows are meant to give the wetlands enough time to absorb rain during the winter while also allowing farmers time to plant their crops.

The report details that about 1,800 structures, about half of which are homes, would see some flooding if there were a repeat of the 2019 events.

In the proposal, the 101 structures, including 55 homes, that are in the 90-foot flood level zone would have mandatory buyouts. The Corps estimates that those buildings flood about every two years. There would also be a voluntary buyout or floodproofing option for 231 more structures, 95 of which are homes, that are between the 90-foot and 93-foot levels, or the five-year floodplain. There are another 1,500 or so structures, including 759 homes, that would have flooded in 2019 and would see some flood risk benefits from the pumps, the report says.

Most of the structures that would be affected, either through buyouts or flood reduction, are between Eagle Bend and Rolling Fork, as seen in the map below:

In addition to the pumps proposal, the June report also lays out a “non-structural” alternative, which wouldn’t include the pumps and extend the option of voluntary buyouts to the roughly 1,500 structures beyond the 93-foot level.

Of the dozen or so people who gave comments on Monday night, just one talked about the merits of that option.

“There are people who lost their homes, there are people who are still living in the flood areas who don’t have the resources to move, so I think (the non-structural) option lends itself to those individuals,” said Anthony White, a teacher in Sharkey County, adding that the job opportunities in agriculture aren’t what they used to be because of growing farm technology.

While the agency is expecting a final decision on the project in December, the June report left out crucial details, namely how much the different proposals would cost. Critics have long said the cost of building the pumps far exceeds that of non-structural, less ecologically-invasive options, such as buying out or floodproofing homes, or paying landowners through conservation easement programs. But the June study is entirely missing a cost-benefit analysis, a common tool the agency uses to evaluate potential projects.

“We’re still working on the benefits and costs,” said Robyn Colosimo, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Project Planning and Review, adding that the final EIS in November will include some of those details.

The 2008 version came with a $220 million price tag, but that number appears to be far below what the project would cost today. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents the South Delta and who has come around on the pumps idea after previously not supporting the idea, has estimated in recent years that the number is around half a billion dollars. American Rivers, an advocacy and conservation group opposing the pumps, estimates the price is actually more than double that.

The South Delta’s flooding issues trace back to the flood control work the Corps has done over the last century along the Mississippi River. In the 1960s and 70s, the agency built the Steele Bayou control structure as well as the Yazoo Backwater levee along the Yazoo River. When the Mississippi River reaches a certain flood stage, the Corps closes the control structure, which is a set of gates, to prevent river water from backing up into the South Delta.

The problem, which was most pronounced in the record-setting flood of 2019, comes when flooding from the river happens at the same time as flooding from rainfall north of the gates. With the gates closed, the rainfall landing in between the levees along the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers has nowhere to go.

After the 2019 flood, Delta residents, farmers, and statewide elected officials have amplified their calls for the federal government to carry the pumps project across the finish line. The astonishing inundation hit over 500,000 acres, and for some areas lasted about half the year. In some parts, the flooding forced locals in some parts to commute via boat just to get from their house to their car. State officials estimated that the catastrophe cost the Mississippi agricultural industry half a billion dollars.

In the years since, the EPA has repeatedly switched its stance on the Yazoo Pumps. During the end of the Trump administration, the EPA decided to exempt the project from the 2008 veto, citing a slightly different project design. The new proposal also introduced data suggesting that the wetlands were more reliant on rainfall during the winter months than the floodwater that the pumps would be used for.

The agency changed courses yet again in 2021 under the Biden administration, restoring the 2008 veto. But last year, after pressure from top Mississippi officials like Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Corps and EPA came together to draft a new pumps proposal, which is what appears in the June report.

Of the two pump options presented (one from March 15 to Oct. 15, and the other from March 25 to Oct. 15), farmers in attendance Monday night preferred the March 15 option because it would allow them to plant crops earlier.

Reid Carter, a farmer in Rolling Fork, explained that even the earlier option could leave farmers struggling during the start of the season.

“March (15th) is early to middle corn planting season,” Carter said. “And with the pumps being turned on on that date, they said it’d take three to six weeks (for the pumps to drain the floodwater), which is still a lot of time.”

While not at Monday night’s event, conservation groups have remained vocal against any pumps project. Earlier this year, American Rivers again listed the Big Sunflower and Yazoo rivers on its “Most Endangered Rivers,” writing that the pumps would result in “an astounding loss of critical habitat that cannot be reasonably mitigated.”

After the news last year that the EPA and Corps were taking another look at the Yazoo Pumps, several groups blasted the decision in a press release.

“We are stunned that the Biden administration would choose to advance a plan that abdicates its conservation, climate, and environmental justice commitments by willfully putting the vetoed Yazoo Pumps back on the table,” Jill Mastrototaro, Mississippi Policy director for Audubon Delta, said in a press release last year.

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