Mississippi residents flooded for four months say the EPA could save them but will not do it

Ecologists say that the deciduous wetlands of the Delta's shallows create one of the country's most important ecosystems. Twenty percent of the country's ducks, 450 different species, including 257 bird species, depend on the natural resources of these wetlands.

According to the EPA veto, they could be devastated by the pumps, claiming that 67,000 acres of wetlands could be drained if the pumps were installed. The agency also commissioned a report prepared by Shabman during his tenure at Virginia Tech, concluding that even though the pumps could guarantee that the area would never be flooded again, the amount of savings saved was "well below what would be required. to … justify such a situation. project."

Now, after the veto, it would probably take a congressional act to authorize pumps that will cost more than $ 300 million. This possibility, or the unlikely prospect of overturning an EPA veto, has never been achieved before and would likely lead to a long legal battle with environmentalists.

Given these requirements, many are following the evolution of the case for a long time and say that pumps are a dream.

"There are many reasons why this is a bad project," said Melissa Samet, senior advisor at the National Wildlife Federation, who has been following the project for decades, "but the worst is that it is It really gives people false hope. who suffer from floods. "

Unexplored alternatives

Jack Branning, 87, owns 2,500 acres of land next to the Delta National Forest since 1996. He stated that there were now 5 to 10 feet of water on some parts of his property, but the floods were a persistent problem since he had started farming. in the zone.

Flood waters have reached exceptionally high levels over the past 11 years, he noted.

Because of the rising waters, Branning entered his property in 1999 as part of the Wetlands Preserve program, which provides him with compensation for the land he can not cultivate if he can reforest it.

"We did it because the program added value, in my opinion, to the land because the land had been cleared and exploited unsuccessfully for many years," he said. "It can work for two years, then in two years, the tide goes up and it did not go very well. We cultivated it for three years, that's right, and it did not work very well. "

Branning said he was happy to help the environment and that he had noticed that wild animals had returned, which was good for him as a hunter. Nevertheless, although Branning thinks he is better off than his neighbors, he still supports the pumps.

"I'm trying to see everyone's point of view," he said. "It depends, I guess, on your worldview. In the case of the eddy, I think the pumps should have been done. "

Surrenders, reforestation of wetlands and raised homes and roadways are ideas proposed by Shabman in another report that he produced for the EPA on potential alternatives. Environmental advocates, however, claim that local leaders have never been curious to explore such ideas as they have not signed expensive construction contracts that have benefited a small number of people in Mississippi .

Due to environmental and financial costs, Grumbles said the EPA had vetoed in 2008 to allow federal agencies to explore new solutions.

"Alternative non-structural flood control measures and measures not involving large pumps (which would drain as many wetlands) have never had much success, the only solution at the time So was using the veto pen and committing to working with the Corps, the lifting board and the communities ahead on a more acceptable project, "said Grumbles in his statement.

Yet nothing constructive happened in the decade following the veto. And because of project expenses, added Shabman, it is unlikely that the pumps have anyway already received funding.

"The veto has just ended the thing. No one has chosen an alternative. Nobody said, "What else can we do?

Shabman also thinks the Trump administration has little hope of finding an answer.