| Yazoo
Pump Project helps all in the Delta
1of2.jpg) In
the case of this newspaper’s longstanding editorial
view opposing the Yazoo Backwater Pump Project, I first want
to point out that unlike The Clarion Ledger, I am elected
to represent and legislate in the Congress on behalf of the
people of a district which saw no meaningful economic development
until a federal commitment was made by the Congress in 1928,
to protect the Delta from floodwaters that accumulate from
rainfall which occurs over 31 states in this nation.
I
speak to the points offered in your editorial (“Boondoggle:
Yazoo Pump is still a bad idea.”)
This
is our Project The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not invent
projects; rather, it responds to local concerns for balanced
and viable solutions to flooding problems.
These concerns are then channeled into a congressional office
such as mine, and we then must determine if the Corps’
solution to the problem is compatible with the careful balance,
which should be struck between the local economy and the local
environment.
In the case of the Yazoo Backwater Pump Project, after carefully
reviewing the huge compromises made by the interested parties,
I consider it “our” project, not the Corps’
project.
Incidentally, The Clarion Ledger should know that I was sold
on the merits of this federal project.
As for the newspaper’s continued emphasis on who the
project benefits, I am satisfied this project will be a plus
to every segment of the economy and that the communities of
the five-county project area will benefit from reduced flooding
as a result of the pump.
As for the people who will benefit most from the pumps, one
only needs to meet the people of the south Delta who relate
authentic stories about having to pull a boat full of children
to a school bus, or being forced out of their houses because
of raw sewage back flowing out of their toilets, to know that
lowering the water during flooding periods in the south Delta
makes common sense.
As for the environment, it is unlikely that any outdoor recreational
activities can be sustained for the economic or social benefit
of the south Delta if one is sitting on a park bench that
has a foot of water under it.
Moving out not a solution
The editorial’s reference to the Environmental Projection
Agency report which essentially makes an offer to write checks
to each household in the south Delta in exchange for asking
them to move out is a ludicrous idea.
As for your suggestion that the EPA would use pump funding
to build new roads, new houses, provide job programs and other
federal services, I would point out that there is no congressional
authority nor is there any federal precedent for utilizing
these funds in this way.
Additionally, why would one need new roads and new houses,
much less job programs, in order to ride around and look at
people moving out of their houses?
In reflecting on my study of the flooding problems, my half-day
tour of the south Delta, and your Dec. 4 editorial challenging
my decision to support this solution for flooding in the 2nd
District, I would simply offer that I am not the one who has
been “sucked in,” but rather somebody else has
been “sucked in.”
I challenge you, as the largest newsprint outlet in our state,
to accept this invitation to come to the south Delta as my
guest in order to determine for yourselves who has really
been “sucked in” – the newspaper or me.
Bennie Thompson
U.S. Representative - Bolton
From
The Clarion-Ledger
January 20, 2003
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