Finish the Pumps mounts grassroots effort to gather comments in support of the Yazoo Pumps

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The Finish the Pumps group has started a grassroots effort to gather as many comments as possible in support of finishing the Yazoo Backwater Pumping Project.

In 2008, opposition groups gathered more than 38,000 comments and signatures, the vast majority of which did not come from the affected areas or even the state.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently published a Notice of Intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Yazoo Area Pump Project and is accepting public comments on the proposal through June 15.

Look for drop boxes with this sign on the front. (Photo by Thomas Parker)

This time, Finish the Pumps is countering the opposition with a campaign of its own.

The group has placed drop boxes and pre-addressed cards at 17 locations around the South Delta. The cards only need your name, address and signature. Finish the Pumps will make sure they get to the USACE.

“Our goal is to just reach as many people as possible, make sure they send in their comments, whether it be their email, personal story, letter,” Victoria Darden of Finish The Pumps told WJTV.

The deadline to turn in comments to the USACE is June 15.

Find drop boxes at these locations:

• In Vicksburg at Abe’s Tire, River Hills Bank-61, Patriot Motorsports, Delta Outfitters, Toney’s Liquor and Grill and the Squealing Pig.
• In Rolling Fork at Chuck’s, Green Apple, the Farm Bureau office, Deep Delta Drugs, Britton Furniture, Bank of Anguilla, Belmont, South Delta Auto Parts and Service Lumber.
• In Valley Park at the elevator facility off Highway 61.

Comments can also be submitted directly to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and should include this heading:

To the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District
RE: Notice of Intent published April 16, 2020, 85 FR 21218

If sent by postal mail, send to:

Edward E. Bel, Jr.
Director of Programs
Mississippi Valley Division
US Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District
ATTN: CEMVK-PPMD
4155 East Clay Street
Room 248
Vicksburg, MS 39183

If sent by email, send to: YazooBackwater@usace.army.mil