Economic justification for the One Lake project will be tough to examine if Corps agency technical reviews and independent peer reviews of the project are not released when the Final Environmental Impact Statement is published later this year. The Rankin Hinds Drainage District has jealously guarded access to these reviews so far.
A recently released document from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service goes into detail about why a lake dredging alternative for flood control on the Pearl River in Jackson Mississippi is the most environmentally damaging alternative the project sponsor could choose. Yet it is pushing this plan forward for approval by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The last of three Floodplain Resilience presentations was given in Madisonville, La. to engage citizens and decision makers about the 2014-2018 wetland loss trends in the Parishes in the Lake Pontchartrain drainage basin.
A blog article on USM’s “Sturgeon in the Watershed” curriculum, presented at MDEQ’s Restoration Summit in Biloxi, along with a look at the recently published Biological Opinion on the impacts of the One Lake Project in Jackson, Ms to two protected species living in the Pearl River.
Healthy Gulf Participated in the “Focus on St. Tammany” forum last Friday night and addressed floodplain and wetland issues on a panel of speakers.
The first of two community meetings on wetlands and floodplain resiliency was held in Hammond at the old train depot. Wetland fill permit data from the past 5 years for St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Livingston, East Baton Rouge, St. John and St. James Parishes was presented in a series of maps showing where impacts have been most intense. We also looked at available mitigation banks to offset those fill permits. Possible restoration of sand and gravel mines was also presented as a way to stabilize river floodplains and restore riverine wetlands above population centers along the Interstate 12 Corridor along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
At the Sun Herald newspaper’s recent Community Forum on the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway and its effects on coastal Mississippi, the discussion moved from the advertised topic to Louisiana’s Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion, as yet unbuilt, but part of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s coastal master plan. Unfortunately, the sponsoring Louisiana agency, CPRA, was not represented on the Sun Herald’s speaker panel to take part in the discussion.
Damage to Mississippi and Louisiana fisheries from the 2019 River Flooding, Nutrient levels in the River, Climate Change, the Yazoo Backwater Pumps, and the operation of the Morganza and Bonnet Carre Floodways were some of the topics the Mississippi River Commissioners heard when they docked their towboat in Vicksburg and invited the public to go aboard and address them.
This article updates a blog post from 2014 on the oilfield waste deep injection well on land next to Marlan and Deidra Baucum’s home in Laurel, Mississippi. The Jones County Circuit Court decided that it will hear Mrs. Baucum’s claims for damage to her health. She is able to avoid presenting these claims to the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board. This agency process can be a quagmire of delay and frustration for a person making a damage claim due to the actions of a company that the Board regulates.
The Louisiana Council on Watershed Management met and voted on boundaries for the 8 watershed regions of the state and announced the availability of Capacity Building Grants for Parishes.