Congress has ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a five-year, $25 million study of the river from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Gulf of Mexico.
One particularly sensitive subject is almost certain to involve flood control management, especially the Bonnet Carre Spillway. While the spillway prevents catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, it has negative effects on marine life and seafood interests in Lake Pontchartrain and other nearby bodies of water.
Mississippi political and business leaders are among those pushing for the Corps to alter its flood control practices, which could involve wider use of the Morganza Spillway upriver from Baton Rouge. That would also produce consequences for communities downstream in the Morganza floodway.
This week, the Corps begins hosting a series of public scoping meetings for the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study (LMR Comp) at sites throughout the study area.
