EPA Holds Off on Yazoo Project Decision

VICKSBURG – The Environmental Protection Agency won’t make a decision on the Yazoo Backwater Project before July 11.

A notice filed Wednesday in the Federal Register by Deputy Regional Administrator Lawrence E. Starfield termed the EPA’s record of comments “extensive.” Starfield is the appointed deciding officer for any final EPA action regarding the project.

In addition to the comments, “substantial additional information” supplemented public input during the process, the notice said.

EPA spokesman Laura Niles said Wednesday it could include facts and figures with enough substance to change or “significantly influence” the project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will take no action in the interim, Vicksburg District spokesman Frank Worley said.

“We are waiting for the process to play out,” he said.

The EPA is expected to issue a rare veto under the Clean Water Act, though it won’t make a final ruling for several months.

The Yazoo Backwater Project was authorized by Congress in 1941. It has undergone multiple revisions. The goal is to remove rainwater from the lower Delta that becomes impounded inside levees when the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers are at higher stages.

Supporters of the project include Gov. Haley Barbour, whose representative told EPA officials at a recent public hearing in Vicksburg that most of the negative comments they are receiving come from people who do not live in Mississippi.

The area’s farmers also hope the backwater project can relieve nearly constant flooding that disrupts planting or destroys crops in the area.

Opponents contend the project would drain and damage life- sustaining wetlands in Mississippi and threaten a wide array of fish and wildlife.

Originally published by Associated Press .

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