WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight will convene a hearing to examine current issues that adversely affect environmental justice communities.
In his opening remarks to the subcommittee, Wicker is expected to highlight the repeated flooding in the South Mississippi Delta that has resulted from a decades long delay in the completion of the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project.
In 2019, over 500,000 acres were inundated for several months with floodwaters, which damaged homes, roads, farms, businesses, and wildlife management areas.
As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has noted in an updated supplemental environmental impact statement, the repeated flooding has caused undue hardships and economic losses in a high-poverty area of the state. Completion of the pumps would benefit the low-income and minority populations in the region, accomplishing goals that are related to environmental justice.
As ranking member of the subcommittee, Wicker invited Mrs. Tracy Harden, owner of Chuck’s Dairy Bar in Rolling Fork, Miss., to testify about her experience as a longtime resident and business owner in the Yazoo Backwater Area.
