Corps revises Pearl River flood study, sets new comment period

Associated Press

4 days ago

Heading into the Fourth of July weekend last Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a revised study on potential flood controls for the part of the Pearl River that runs along Jackson. The Corps has narrowed its focus to two proposals, and only one of them would resemble the long-debated 'One Lake' plan.
The latest step in an effort decades in the making, the 243-page document highlights an array of flood control measures such as building levees, lowering the river's banks, and elevating and floodproofing vulnerable structures.
The public can view the study, submit comments and find information on upcoming public meetings through the Corps' website. The public comment period lasts until Aug. 18.
In last week's study, which is a revision of a draft the Corps released last year, the agency wrote that 'Alternative E1' could be the 'National Economic Development plan,' or the option that most aligns with the Corps' cost-benefit criteria. Alternative E1 includes all the above mentioned measures, but notably omits building a dam that would essentially create a lake on the Pearl River.
The idea to pool a section of the river into a lake has been a key component of proposals local officials have favored for years. From 2011 until last year, the Rankin-Hinds Flood Control District, the project's local government sponsor, pushed an idea coined as 'One Lake,' which would have widened the river for recreational use. While the Corps last year determined One Lake's cost wasn't justifiable, the agency instead pitched a dialed back version of the idea as the potential National Economic Development plan.
The Corps in its new study said that plan, 'Alternative D1,' may have more potential for recreation than E1, but added that the two options have equal flood control benefit. The agency's final selection, it wrote, will likely come down to those two proposals.
The costs of either would be considerably more than what the Corps considered last year: E1, the agency estimates, could cost between $708 million and $753 million, while D1 could cost between $873 million and $918 million. While the Corps pledged $221 million toward the project in 2022, the federal government is only responsible for 65% of costs, meaning the local flood control district, also called the levee board, would have to raise between $248 million and $321 million for the remaining balance through a combination of local taxes and state appropriations.
Levee board attorney Keith Turner told Mississippi Today that either proposal would expand the district to include more homes. Turner said that for many homes, tax payments needed to fund either project would still be lower than what they pay for flood insurance now.
Part of the higher costs comes from four levees, totaling about 6 miles, that the Corps includes in both D1 and E1: a levee that would protect 250 homes in the Canton Club neighborhood; a levee in northeast Jackson that would protect 415 homes, but would require the acquisition of two other homes; a levee that would protect 40 homes in south Jackson; and one that would protect 40, mostly industrial, structures in Richland.
Both projects would also 'adversely affect' endangered or threatened species within the Pearl River's natural habitats, the study says, including three different types of turtles. D1, the Corps wrote, would impact a wider range of species, including the Gulf sturgeon, than E1.
In a presentation to board members at a Monday meeting, Turner said he disagreed with 'a lot' of what's in the new study and that the board will submit a long list of comments to the Corps. For instance, he said the Corps greatly inflated its cost estimates with overly safe projections. Turner added the Corps didn't consider additional maintenance costs from maintaining the shortened river banks under E1, which would just be underwater under D1.
The board last year gave its support to Alternative D (the same as D1 without the levees, which weren't included in last year's study), although Turner said their support doesn't necessarily impact what the Corps chooses.
Turner said the current timeline would allow the Corps' final study to come out in November, and then a final decision to be made in December. That call would fall to the assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, a currently vacant role. President Donald Trump earlier this year nominated Adam Telle for the position, leaving it up to the Senate to confirm the choice. Telle, Magnolia Tribune reported in May, has ties to the state, including having worked for former Sen. Thad Cochran, who once advocated for the project in his role in the Appropriations Committee.
The Corps is preparing to hold a series of public meetings, including a virtual meeting on July 14, in-person meetings in Monticello on July 29; Slidell, Louisiana, on July 30; and in Jackson on July 31. Information on those meetings is also available on the agency's website.
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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.