Blogging for a Healthy Gulf

Jackson, Miss. – On June 20, 2018, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) study for a dam on the Pearl River in Jackson was released by the sponsoring Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District and the non-profit Pearl River Vision Foundation. This public-private partnership has used the Foundation to lobby Congress and the Mississippi Legislature for the lake and to raise funds for the writing and review of the draft EIS. While a similar proposal was rejected by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) several years ago, the sponsors voted in 2013 to select the proposed “One Lake” as the locally preferred plan well before environmental studies were started. While this plan purports to be a response to flooding in the Jackson area, it is questionable as to its effectiveness and environmental impact. Other alternatives to flood control exist that don’t require a new 1500...

A Community Engagement Meeting on the flood control project for the Pearl River (One Lake and its sister alternatives) happened this past Tuesday night, April 24th in Jackson. The One River-No Lake Coalition held the meeting at the attractive Atrium room of the Smith Robertson Museum downtown two blocks west of the State Capitol. I was the presenter of a powerpoint talk on the issues and questions that the Coalition wanted to highlight.

The final slide contained this question: Why should Congress fund a project to add a dam and new lake to the Pearl River when flood control options exist that don’t further fragment the river, don’t remove as many acres of protected habitat and are less objectionable to downstream interests?

The issues and questions I raised in the presentation were not new. I have been writing blogs and one-pagers about them and using them as talking...

The Mississippi Water Resources Conference happened in Jackson on April 3-4 and provided many presentations on an array of ground and surface water issues in the state. Rodney Knight from the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center in Nashville moderated a great session. Usually at this reliably well-run conference, there are one or two presentations that focus on things in Mississippi that are on-point with my and GRN’s work. Rodney’s presentation was one of those. He presented about how the USGS and other research organizations are assessing streamflow to support bay and estuary restoration along the Gulf of Mexico.

Rodney told us first about a Phase I Gulf-wide project to assess where streamflows have been altered the most and the least, and to identify gaps in flow information. The USGS installs and monitors a vast network of stream gauges that transmit real-time information about river stage,...

The Florida Legislature has been on an anti-environment tack for most of the past 15 years, even as Floridians become increasingly concerned about issues such as growth, water shortages, and the health of the State’s waterways where so many of us fish and swim. Unfortunately, this year’s just-completed legislative session brought more of the same—with at least one glimmer of hope.

Florida’s natural landscape and waterways are so unique compared to those of the rest of the nation, that they are a defining element of life in the Sunshine State. As these places degrade, so too does the very quality of Florida that makes people want to live, visit, and do business here.

Despite the fact that Florida has lost more wetlands than any other state, legislators passed a bill--HB 7043—that allows the State’s Department of Environmental Protection to...