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Senators: Bill Would Reverse Veto of Mississippi Delta Pumps

U.S. Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker are introducing a bill they say would overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2008 veto of a pumping station that could relieve flooding in parts of the Mississippi Delta. Photos by Ashton Pittman and Stephen Wilson

U.S. Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker are introducing a bill they say would overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2008 veto of a pumping station that could relieve flooding in parts of the Mississippi Delta. Photos by Ashton Pittman and Stephen Wilson

Thursday, August 1, 2019

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — U.S. Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker are introducing a bill they say would overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2008 veto of a pumping station that could relieve flooding in parts of the Mississippi Delta.

The Mississippi Republicans said Wednesday that the measure would amend the Clean Water Act to prohibit the EPA from vetoing a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood project Congress specifically authorized. The bill would also overturn the EPA veto.

Congress decades ago authorized pumps to remove water from a Delta region that can fill when floodgates close, protecting from even worse Mississippi River flooding.

The region north of Vicksburg has seen months of flooding this year as the Mississippi River remained high. The now-draining flood covered hundreds of thousands of acres at its peak.

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