Yazoo Pumps Project Sets Dangerous Precedent for Bedrock Environmental Protections

Oppose Yazoo Pumps

If you’re a longtime River Citizen and follower of 1 Mississippi, chances are that you’ve heard of the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project in Mississippi’s South Delta region. It is a project with a decades-long history and devastating impacts. It is a project that would destroy 200,000 acres of wetlands in the culturally and economically important Mississippi Flyway.

Hundreds of Waterfowl in Flight. Photo courtesy of USFWS.

We’ve known about this project’s impacts on the flyway and local ecosystems for some time now, but we are now considering a new threat — the dangerous precedent this project may set for the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) important veto authority.

What is a Clean Water Act Veto?

The Clean Water Act just celebrated its 48th anniversary this past October. It is the most critical environmental legislation we have to protect clean water for drinking, fishing, recreation, wildlife, and so much more. Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has kept billions of pounds of pollutants out of our beloved waterways, and it is how we have come so far in protecting the health and resilience of our Mississippi River. As a River Citizen, you know that we have much more work to do to continue to reverse our River’s decline. That is why we work to strengthen the protections afforded to the River by the Clean Water Act. Unfortunately, if the Yazoo Pumps project proceeds, it may set a dangerous precedent to weaken an essential tool in the Clean Water Act – the veto authority.

“Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has kept billions of pounds of pollutants out of our beloved waterways, and it is how we have come so far in protecting the health and resilience of our Mississippi River.”

The Clean Water Act veto authority is not used lightly; it has been deployed only 13 times in the Act’s history, covering thousands of federal projects. It is a crucial tool and safety valve meant to prevent the most destructive federal projects from ever moving forward. The Yazoo Pumps project is one of these few projects that was stopped in its tracks by a CWA veto in 2008 by the George W. Bush administration. Now, the project is back from the dead. And the 2020 version of the project is too similar to the vetoed 2008 project for comfort. If it continues to move forward, it would be the first and only time one of the 13 CWA vetoes has been overturned.

What does a Yazoo Pumps project resurrection mean for the other 12 projects vetoed by the Clean Water Act? It might raise the specter of other environmentally devastating river projects that have already been rejected. An example is the Spruce No.1 Mine – one of the largest mountain top removal mines ever conceived, or the Two Forks Dam – a massive 539-foot reservoir that would drown pristine canyons along Colorado’s South Platte River. It also weakens the power of the veto authority in the first place.

The impacts of the Yazoo Pumps project reach far beyond the state of Mississippi or even the Mississippi River – it could have a ripple effect on bedrock environmental policies that protect people and the environments we depend on.

Have 30-seconds? Make your voice heard and act now! Tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that you oppose the Yazoo Pumps and want to protect the Clean Water Act!

-Maisah Khan

Policy Manager, Mississippi River Network

Ready to learn more about the multi-benefits wetlands provide for the people, land, water, and wildlife of our treasured Mississippi River? Keep on reading below!

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