Groups File Suit Over Approval of “Boondoggle” Yazoo Pumps Project

Washington, D.C. —

Today, Friends of the Earth, Healthy Gulf, and Sierra Club filed suit over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ illegal approval of a massive pumping station that would have devastating impacts on some of the country’s richest wetlands and hundreds of species of wildlife in a sparsely developed area of Mississippi.

The groups argue that the pumping station violates the terms of EPA’s longstanding veto of the project. The groups further argue that agencies ignored practicable alternatives for flood relief to low-income communities in a rush to approve a project that could cost taxpayers upwards of $2 billion. An affordable, non-structural and nature-based “Resilience Alternative” would provide prompt, effective, sustainable, and environmentally-sound flood relief to the communities in the Yazoo Backwater Area.

“The current Yazoo Pumps project plan nearly doubles the pumping capacity, posing an even greater risk to wetlands, fish, and wildlife,” said Andrew Whitehurst, Water Program Director for Healthy Gulf. “EPA made the right call in 2008 when it vetoed this project under the Clean Water Act and that veto still stands. There are smarter, less destructive ways to reduce backwater flooding that don’t come with such a high environmental and financial cost.”

The Yazoo Pumps project was vetoed by the EPA in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration to prevent unacceptable adverse impacts to wetlands, wildlife, and fisheries. Earlier this year, however, EPA did an about face and concluded that the 2008 veto did not apply to a 2024 Army Corps plan for the pumps, which would triple the minimum amount of unacceptable harm prohibited by the veto and almost double the project’s pumping capacity. Conservation groups filed suit today challenging the EPA and Army Corps’ decisions as violations of the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Water Resource Development Act.

“The Yazoo Pumps are nothing more than an antiquated 1941 agricultural drainage project masquerading as flood control and designed to make rich plantation owners richer at taxpayer’s expense,” said Louie Miller, state director for Mississippi Sierra Club.

“We have fought the destructive Yazoo Pumps Project for decades,” said Hallie Templeton, Legal Director for Friends of the Earth. “Rather than abide by longstanding protections for our nation’s waning wetlands, the federal government has shamefully doubled down on a bad idea by unlawfully sidestepping the veto and greenlighting an even larger Yazoo Project than before. It should not take a lawsuit to uphold the law in this situation, but we are not shying away from suing where it matters.”

The approved pumps project would operate at 25,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) — nearly double the 14,000 cfs originally rejected by the George W. Bush administration. This would make the Yazoo Pumps the largest hydraulic pumping station in the world. Under the operating plan, the pumps would degrade at least 92,867 acres of wetlands — an area over twice the size of Washington, D.C., and almost three times the amount of damage prohibited by the veto.

While the Army Corps has refused to disclose cost information or provide an economic analysis for the project, conservation groups estimate the cost to be in the billions of dollars.

“This boondoggle project could cost taxpayers billions of dollars while destroying critical wetlands and ignoring the needs of communities,” said Stu Gillespie, senior attorney with Earthjustice. “Community leaders sounded the alarm on this project and have repeatedly asked for viable, common-sense alternatives, but the Army Corps and EPA charged forward and approved a pumping project that plainly violates EPA’s longstanding veto. In fact, the Army Corps and EPA approved a far more damaging project, one that would harm three times as many wetlands as allowed under the veto.”

The Yazoo Pumps project would benefit predominantly large-scale farms at the expense of both wetlands and low-income communities downstream. Prior to approval, local community leaders urged the Army Corps in comment letters to “quickly implement nature-based and non-structural solutions that can help us recover and thrive” and “address the substantial needs of our low-income, minority communities[.]”  The community leaders also noted that “[c]ommunity members . . . are not fooled by the false claims that the Yazoo Pumps are the only solution to protect us from flooding.” Despite these calls, the EPA and Corps approved the project without adequately exploring alternative solutions.

The Yazoo Backwater Area contains some of the richest wetland and aquatic resources in the nation, including a highly productive bottomland hardwood forest and a floodplain fishery that supports at least 58 different species of fish. The area is a globally significant migratory bird foraging ground along the Mississippi River Flyway. It provides significant habitat to 257 bird species and annually supports approximately 29 million migrating birds. The area’s wetlands are an integral part of the economic and social life of local residents and sportsmen from around the country.