Gulf Restoration Network

United for a Healthy Gulf

Dump the Pumps: Protect Wetlands and Your Tax Dollars

The Yazoo Pumps project is a boondoggle of the highest degree. If built, the pumps would cost American taxpayers over $211 million dollars and would drain over 200,000 acres of wetlands. The pumps would also harm two wildlife refuges and part of a national forest, taking away several valuable public resources.

The wetlands threatened by this project support critical fisheries, serve as habitat for migratory birds and the black bear, and reduce flood damage. We need your help to stop this project! Let the Corps, EPA, and the Department of the Interior know you oppose this project. To maximize your impact, please take a moment to personalize the message below.

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July 30, 2010

Subject:

Dear Corps, EPA, and Department of Interior Officials:

I am writing to voice my opposition to the Yazoo Backwater Pumping Plant (Yazoo Pumps).  The Yazoo Pumps would result in an unacceptable amount of wetland loss in the state of Mississippi and waste at least $211 million federal tax dollars.  I urge you to take all steps necessary to stop this project.

In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that the Yazoo Pumps would drain and damage more than 200,000 acres of ecologically significant wetlands.  This is more than nine times the wetlands that are harmed by private developers in an entire year nationwide. The wetlands that will be drained are a critical migration route for 20 percent of the nation's duck populations and include wetlands that federal taxpayers are already paying to protect in the Delta National Forest, a number of national wildlife refuges, and on lands enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) says that these wetlands are some of the richest natural resources in the nation.  In addition to being a haven for ducks and other migratory birds, they support critically important floodplain fisheries and a host of wildlife species.  These wetlands also improve water quality and help reduce flood damages by acting as natural sponges that store and slowly release floodwaters after peak flood flows have passed.  Not surprisingly, the Service has concluded that Yazoo Pumps are ecologically unsound and totally contrary to the Service's goal for a balance between economic and environmental sustainability.

In a throwback to another era and in direct violation of federal wetlands policy the Corps will use the Yazoo Pumps to drain wetlands to allow more intensive farming on floodplain lands. Taxpayers will bear the burden of any economic gains from this project.  An economic analysis prepared for EPA shows that, at best, the Yazoo Pumps will produce an increase in farm subsidy payments.  There are many strategies that would better promote economic development in the Mississippi Delta and better preserve its important natural resources.  I urge you to take all steps necessary to stop this destructive, unnecessary, and wasteful project.

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