At the request of Mississippi District 1 Congressman
Roger Wicker, the newly appointed Assistant Secretary
of the Army for Civil Works, John Paul Woodley Jr.,
flew to the Yazoo Backwater Project pump site at the
Steele Bayou drainage structure on an MH-60 Blackhawk
helicopter to see firsthand the impacted area under
discussion on Friday, October 24.
Residents and landowners in the south Delta area have
been waiting since 1941 for the federal government
to construct a previously promised pumping station,
now expected to cost around $191 million. The pumping
station (a part of Mississippi River and Tributaries
Project) will pump millions of gallons of rain and
floodwaters, over the levee during high stages on
the Mississippi River. Over 4,000 square miles of
Mississippi Delta relies on the Steele Bayou structure
as the outlet for flood waters.
"This is part of a series of trips I am making
to see a number of projects underway," said Woodley
who is now the civilian head of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers. "I am very new to this position
having been in it for about two months. I have made
it a point to see what's in progress here in Mississippi.
Thanks to my good friend Roger Wicker, I'm seeing
what's going on in Mississippi," Woodley said
of the visit.
"This is a project that has generated a lot of
controversy and I wanted to see first-hand the impacted
area and talk to people. The decision-making process
on this project is still ongoing but things are in
the works. Nothing is finalized yet. I want to strike
the best balance between the environmental concerns
and the concerns of the people who are most directly
affected by what is happening in the south Delta area
of this state," Woodley said.
Woodley had an opportunity to meet a few of those
affected landowners Friday at the Catledge Farm shop
building at Fitler. One of those,Ruby Johnson, chair
of the South Delta Flood Control Committee, requested
time with Wicker and Woodley during the visit so they
could see and hear from people who get flooded out
of their homes, lose their animals and otherwise are
directly impacted by the lack of action on the pumping
station.
"We have been told that we can move out or put
our homes on stilts," Johnson said. "We
don't want to do that. We want you to give us something
to help keep the water off of us. We do not intend
to give up our homes and we are willing to march on
Washington, D.C. Our families--they left us with a
little piece of dirt. Why should we give that up?
We can't afford to start over and we shouldn't have
to do it."
"We
went through some hard times," added Fitler resident
Anderson Jones Sr. "The flood got so bad in 1973
- I don't want to go through this no more. We don't
want to lose our homes. Sixty-plus years is too long
to get something done."
"We intend to go back to Washington to tell the
human side of this," said Wicker, in response.
"We hope that the 60 years comes to an end very
soon. The point of this whole trip is that we've got
to work together. The Corps of Engineers is very vital."
Since Woodley and Wicker have been friends for over
30 years, Wicker said he expects his friend to use
caution and "to look at the facts rather than
the hyperbole."
"This is exactly what I came here to see,"
Woodley said. "The people I've heard from prior
to the visit are not the people affected by the problem
or by the solution. This has been a very informative
trip. We want to do what's right to help people in
their daily lives. It's not for me to talk on this
trip, it's for me to listen."
Jim Wanamaker, chief engineer for the Mississippi
Levee Board headquartered in Greenville, also presented
Woodley and Wicker with a detailed, visual overview
of the status of the project. "It's very important
for Secretary Woodley and Congressman Wicker to see
what's under discussion and why this project is so
important to the south Delta," said Wanamaker.
Chip Morgan, executive director with Delta Council
at Stoneville, said that Delta Council, which has
been very active in this discussion, was "very
appreciative" that Wicker and Woodley "came
to the Mississippi Delta."
Woodley said he didn't expect a decision on the project
until sometime next year at the earliest but that
he "would now review the information and material"
and "see about a consensus as quickly as possible."
This
article originally appeared in the Delta Democrat
Times and was written by David Lush. It is reprinted
here by permission in a modified and edited form.
