The Mississippi Senate is now considering a $50 million funding bill for a lake on the Pearl River near Jackson after the House reversed course and approved it last week.
State Sen. Angela Hill, who represents Marion County, said she is hopeful the bill will not pass on the Senate side after narrowly passing the House on the second try. Hill said she’s had “extremely strong opposition” to the “One Lake” plan from her constituents.
“I’ll be working extremely hard to make sure this bill does not go through the Senate,” she said Thursday morning.
The bill would provide bonds to help fund a project seen as an economic and flood control benefit to the Jackson area, but a potential environmental detriment to those, including in Marion County, who live downriver on the Pearl River because it would reduce the flow downstream.
The project already has about $150 million in federal funding toward the total price of about $300 million. The next step in its review would be the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg releasing its environmental impact statement for public comment, which is expected to happen soon.
State Rep. Ken Morgan said the state bond funding was brought back up in the House just days after it was defeated when Morgan had spoken against it.
“They beat us by three votes,” he said. “It was on the deadline to bring up any money type bills. They needed to get it back on the floor that day. Jeff Smith, chair of Ways and Means, had it on the floor and then I weighed in against it.”
Morgan said he has since discovered several inaccuracies in statements made about the project recently.
“They made some statements that we found out not to be true,” he said. “They had said that DEQ and the Army Corps of Engineers had signed off on it. Through telephone conversations this past Monday that they have not signed off on the projects. The Commission on Marion Resources has sent a resolution up on it opposing it due to the fact they depended on a certain amount of freshwater coming down from the Pearl to help the oyster beds and such on the Coast.
“In speaking with the folks from the Army Corps of Engineers, it is their understanding that they have not taken any kind of action to move it through – they turned it down. It was their understanding that a third party had got involved and Ok’d the plan. They said they had looked at it. They had not taken it up – nobody has signed off of it as far as them or DEQ at this time.”
Morgan said he offered a closing argument against the bill before the vote, which he said he doesn’t think is going to fare very well there.
“But we just can’t take it for granted. There are people lobbying for it, and we have some lobbyists pushing the issue because that’s what they get paid for,” Morgan said. “I hope and pray that it doesn’t live very long over there.”
Hill said she has been collecting documentation against the project, including a resolution from the Marion County Board of Supervisors and a letter from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Commission on Marine Resources.
The Marine Resources Commission says it is “opposed to the permitting or construction of any dam or weir that would further reduce the natural seasonal flows of freshwater into Mississippi’s estuarine waters. The Commission is opposed to the permitting or construction of the proposed reservoir located on the Pearl River designated as the Mississippi Pearl River Lake Project near Jackson. The Commission is opposed to the permitting or construction of a proposed reservoir located in Washington Parish, La. The Commission urges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take whatever actions necessary to ensure that the state of Mississippi and its citizens are not adversely affected by the construction of dams or weirs.”
Hill said she has given the information to Senate leadership and others already.
“I’ve got a resolution from St. Tammany Parish and I’ve also got one from Washington Parish, La., and Marion County,” she said. “We have one forthcoming from Pearl River County. We’ll be working on Hancock County. There is a tremendous amount of opposition brewing downstream.”
Hill said the bill must come up before the Senate’s upcoming deadline to have action taken on it and she hopes to convey the opposition she’s heard to her fellow senators.
“Basically, from what I’ve read, none of the permits have issued on it,” she said. “The environmental studies have not come back yet and the Corps has not signed off on it yet. It seems very premature for the legislature to be passing a $50 million bond before any of the dust is even settled with any of the permits or any of the real serious approvals that have to be done.”
Hill said she and Morgan face some big opposition from federal sources.
“Sen. Roger Wicker spoke at a Town Hall meeting in Picayune last week,” she said. “He told the audience that ‘Jackson needs something.’ He called it an economic development project and compared it to the San Antonio Riverwalk. He then said that it was also flood control. We’re facing big opponents, but we’re working extremely hard to make sure that the bill does not go through the Senate.”
Pictured Above: This map shows the proposed lake to be created on the Pearl River in Rankin and Hinds counties. Orange areas represent “excess fill areas,” which would need to be acquired by the state.
