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Take Action Against the Destructive Yazoo Pumps Project


The Trump Administration is again pushing the destructive Yazoo Pumps in Mississippi. Please help fight this disastrous project by signing on to WPN member Mississippi River Network (MRN)'s group letter by Friday, June 12, 2020 at 5:00pm CT.

On April 16, the Corps of Engineers published a notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Yazoo Pumps. This SEIS will look at the same project that was vetoed under Clean Water Act Section 404(c) in 2008 by the George W. Bush Administration to protect 200,000 acres of ecologically significant wetlands. This is a project that many WPN members have fought against for years. The SEIS will not examine any alternatives to the vetoed project, in direct violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Please join MRN's group sign-on letter, and consider taking further action by submitting comments from your organization, encouraging public comments through an action alert, or other actions suggested in this toolkit from MRN. Scoping comments must be submitted by June 15, 2020.
 

Resources to engage in the fight against Yazoo Pumps:

  • Submit comments directly to the Corps of Engineers by the Monday, June 15, 2020 comment deadline:
    • By email: YazooBackwater@usace.army.mil
    • By mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, ATTN: CEMVK-PPMD, 4155 East Clay Street, Room 248, Vicksburg, MS 39183
    • By phone: Mr. Kenneth Parrish at 601-631-5006
  • Messaging and communications toolkit: To support organizations engaging in the fight against the destructive Yazoo Pumps, MRN has launched this communications and messaging toolkit. The toolkit provides guidance for top line messaging, talking points, submitting unique comment letters, social media, action alerts, and more.
  • Group sign on letter: Click here to read and join MRN's organizational sign-on letter by Friday, June 12, 2020 4:00pm ET/5:00pm CT. Organizations can sign on to the group letter and also submit their own comment letters. If you have any questions about the toolkit or sign-on letter, please email Maisah at mkhan@1mississippi.org.
  • Read the Federal Register notice: Notice of Intent To Prepare Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Yazoo Area Pump Project. Click here for a PDF of the notice.
  • Read the January 2018 group letter from Water Protection Network members and partners against Yazoo Pumps.
  • The Yazoo Pumps would threaten the nationally significant wetlands of Mississippi's Big Sunflower River. Learn more here about why the Big Sunflower River was listed as #3 on WPN member American Rivers' Most Endangered Rivers of 2020 report, and take action here.

Water Resources Development Act Update


Congress continues its work on the next Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), the bill that authorizes projects and policy changes for the Corps of Engineers. In early May, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works unanimously passed this amended version of the bill. Click here for a recording of the Committee's Business Meeting about the bill. The House of Representatives is expected to provide a draft of its WRDA bill around the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on Representatives' proposals for WRDA in late February.

Click here for the Corps of Engineers' 7001 Report notice for non-federal sponsors to submit project proposals for inclusion in WRDA.

Lawsuit Filed Challenging the Corps' Management Plan for the Middle Mississippi River


Five WPN members - the National Wildlife Federation, American Rivers, Prairie Rivers Network, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and Great Rivers Habitat Alliance - have filed a lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers, arguing the agency did not properly evaluate the impacts of its plan for managing a 195-mile section of the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, challenges the Corps’ Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Regulating Works Project, which guides the Corps’ management of this section of the Mississippi River. The plaintiffs argue that the Corps failed to properly evaluate the risk of increased flooding from building additional river training structures; did not adequately consider the impacts on fish, birds, and other wildlife; and ignored mitigation requirements.

Read more from St. Louis Public Radio: Environmental Groups Sue Corps Of Engineers, Claim River Barriers Worsen Flooding, or in these press releases from a few of the plaintiffs: National Wildlife Federation, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and Prairie Rivers Network.

Selected News & Resources

 

Reports from the Government Accountability Office

Rollbacks to Environmental and Public Health Protections

Flooding

Other News & Resources

Click here to see the pandemic resources for people and nonprofits that were shared in a previous WPN Update. If you would like to share news, resources, or something else in future WPN Updates, please email rubini@nwf.org.

Recent Public Notices


This is a non-comprehensive list of Corps of Engineers public notices from the Federal Register and Corps district websites, and select notices from other federal agencies. Please visit FederalRegister.gov, Corps division and district websites, and other federal agencies' websites for additional public notices. Click here for examples of comments and letters submitted to the Corps by WPN members.
 

Corps of Engineers Notices

Other Agency Notices
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