$345m Mississippi flood control project holds public hearing

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — More than 20 environmental groups have expressed opposition to an estimated $345 million Mississippi flood control project.

News outlets report the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District held a public hearing Tuesday in Jackson over the One Lake Project. It’s an attempt to prevent a flood like one that devastated the Jackson area in 1979.

Critics argue damming the Pearl River would decrease flow downstream and threaten endangered species and oyster production.

Sierra Club’s Mississippi representative Louie Miller and other critics say the hearing didn’t have a question-and-answer period.

Keith Turner is an attorney for the flood control district said representatives taking questions in booths after the panelists spoke were the public comment session.

Two more public meetings are scheduled in August, in Pearlington and in Slidell, Louisiana.