The Army Corps of Engineers updated lawmakers on hot-button water and energy projects Wednesday, including a World War II-era flood-control proposal and the Dakota Access pipeline.
The agency plans to issue a draft environmental impact statement for the Yazoo Backwater Area Project within the next 30 to 45 days, said Michael Connor, assistant secretary of civil works at the Army Corps.
First authorized by Congress in 1941 and most recently revived under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the project aims to address chronic flooding in the Mississippi Delta and improve agricultural operations.
But it faces opposition from environmental groups, who say it would harm wildlife, destroy sensitive wetlands and mostly benefit a few well-connected landowners.
