Recent actions by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the results of the November Miss. Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting are both relevant to the Pearl River and the threat posed to it by the One Lake project in Jackson, Ms.
A September algae bloom on Eubanks Creek in Jackson, sparked by a sewage spill, shows what is happening on the Pearl River’s urban tributaries. The implications for the Rankin Hinds Drainage District’s One Lake plan are that nutrients from the urban creeks are easily captured in a wide, slow flowing lake section made by dredging and further damming the Pearl River. If Jackson’s sewage issues are not addressed, the lake can grow the same kind of harmful algae blooms as Eubanks Creek.
Part 2 of the Pearl River Update blog looks at what to anticipate in the next version of the Rankin Hinds Drainage District’s Pearl River One Lake DEIS. The non-federal sponsor is expected to send its final edited version to the Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works in September.
One Lake Update Summer 2021 Blog Part 1:After three years of waiting, a completed draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) should be returned to the Army Secretary at the Pentagon in September for his review and a decison. The non-federal sponsors of the One Lake project have been quiet about the draft’s progress and have rebuffed Freedom of Information Act requests.
On April 20th the Louisiana Senate President signed SCR20, a resolution in support of the state’s commerce relationship with Taiwan. The resolution explicitly named the Taiwanese corporation Formosa and its planned facility in St James parish, lauding the development as an investment in the state that would represent “quality jobs” for the region. Formosa’s St …
The Louisiana Senate buddies up with Taiwan in Bid for Plastics Mega Complex with SCR20 Read More »
This summary of news relevant to the Pearl River so far in 2020 includes notes on Jackson’s “One Lake” project, recent letters to the Secretary of the Army from Louisiana and Mississippi, Jackson Mississippi’s continuing sewage spills, the Pearl River Map Turtle’s status under the Endangered Species Act, and the Pearl River Clean Sweep – river clean up days in September.
A recent federal court suit by Healthy Gulf and the Center for Biological Diversity resulted in a settlement that requiries the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop delaying the listing determination under the Endangered Species Act for two map turtles. These turtles are endemics in the Pearl and Pascagoula River systems, and have been surveyed recently for the health of their populations.