The Pascagoula River and the Mississippi Sound are an amazing natural and economic treasure for Mississippi – home to wildlife like pelicans and dolphins, and famous for their fantastic fishing. Unfortunately, they are threatened right now by a Department of Energy plan to hollow out an underground salt dome near Richton, Mississippi in order to store more oil! This plan involves sucking 50 million gallons of water a day from the Pascagoula River every day for five years, and dumping this polluted, hyper-salty water off the coast of Horn Island.To add salt to the wound, this irresponsible plan will cost American taxpayers upwards of $4 billion dollars! Recently, Congress set aside another $25 million dollars for this project. Despite widespread opposition, Congress keeps approving more and more public money for this environmentally destructive project! Click here to tell your representatives to put the brakes on the Richton salt dome and listen to the public’s concerns by holding Congressional field hearings now:http://action.healthygulf.org/t/5894/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=28072The Mississippi Sound and the Pascagoula River are vital economic drivers for the state’s economy and this project puts these resources and the jobs that rely on them at risk. Marine fishing alone employs over 6,000 people! It’s time for our representatives to listen to the public and stop squandering taxpayer dollars on this wasteful project. Take action by sending a message to your representatives now!Raleigh Hoke is GRN’s Mississippi Organizer
