The 2019 - 2020 Bonnet Carre Spillway Opening

Each of the 4 panelist presented their view of the consequences of the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway. I've listed their description from the Sun Herald handout and some of my notes from what they said that day.

Anita Lee - Investigative Reporter, Sun Herald

Anita Lee has written most of the Sun Herald's coverage on the spillway opening. Lee is a Mississippi native who specializes in investigative, court and government reporting. She has covered South Mississippi's biggest stories in her decades at the Sun Herald, including the Dixie Mafia, public corruption and Hurricane Katrina, a Pulitzer-winning effort.

The articles she wrote about the spillway were very helpful and as a base of knowledge about the effects of the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening

He founded the organization in 1984 to promote marine research, conservation and education. He has conducted pioneering research on dolphins and sea turtles both in the wild and under human care.

Dr. Moby Solangi Ph.D., President and Executive Director Institute of Marine Mammal Studies

Rick Burris, Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Fisheries

He has been at the Department of Marine Fisheries (DMR) for 12 years, previously as a marine fisheries scientist and as Director of the Shrimp and Crab Bureau. He represents the DMR on numerous state and federal committes.

• After the spillway opening seasonal shrimp catch numbers are down.
• shrimpers have to travel farther, away from the fresh water to catch shrimp
• After the spillway opening, most oysters are dead from the fresh water

Save Louisiana Coalition represents over 1000 members of the commercial and recreational fishing industries, as well as seafood wholesalers, restaurant owners, tackle store owners, and coastal community residents. Ricks has become a student of salinity and freshwater intrusion in coastal waterways.

Captain George Ricks said, "My Dad said ‘You can’t breed giraffes and get monkeys.

You can’t have saltwater species in river water. Simple as that. Our crabs, our shrimp, our oysters, speckled trout, our tourism, we can’t do it in river water.

“If we had to rely on catfish, bass, frogs and alligators, that would be one thing, but our whole economy is driven off of our saltwater industries, and that’s being eliminated by this influx of river water.”

“This has been the worst year for speckled trout I’ve ever had,” Ricks said.

I am a retired Oceanographer who worked at NAVOCEANO for 40 years. I traveled the world for the U.S. Navy collecting and processing oceanographic data.

I have an undergraduate degree in Marine Science and Marine Ecology from the University of South Carolina. There I studied the ecology of the saltmarsh. Basically, you learned that the saltmarsh, is the nursery grounds for many saltwater ocean species. Without the saltmarsh, you won't have crabs, shrimp, oysters and many fish species we currently enjoy along our coast.

My graduate degree from the Florida Institute of Technology is in Bio-Environmental Oceanography. Here I learned the importance of keeping things in balance with the marine environment. If we allow the ecology of the environment to get out of balance, their may be problems for the species of the marine environment. I grew up fishing in both fresh and saltwater in South Carolina.

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 BY MARY PEREZ 

AUGUST 30, 2019 05:00 AM, UPDATED SEPTEMBER 04, 2019 11:42 AM

Nearly 200 people listened intently as panel members each told how they knew South Mississippi was in trouble after the Bonnet Carré Spillway was opened twice this year, bringing flood waters from the Mississippi River into the Mississippi Sound.

When they left the Sun Herald Bonnet Carré Spillway Community Forum on Wednesday at the Knight Nonprofit Center, audience members asked what they can do to protect the Coast, the seafood and the estuary.

Adding to their concerns was hearing about other Mississippi River diversions that are in the works in Louisiana. The experts said the Mid-Breton diversion would introduce fresh water into the salt water of the Sound over a longer period of time, bringing additional damage to seafood, the fisheries and tourism.

It proposes construction in Breton Sound at Plaquemines Parish, extending into the Mid-Breton Sound Basin. It would release 75,000 cubic feet per second of Mississippi River water, and could operate continuously throughout the year from January through July. This would release 9.74 trillion gallons of fresh water into the Breton Basin, the resolution says, which is about the same as this year’s record Bonnet Carré Spillway release.

“Living in Coastal Mississippi, especially in Hancock County, a lot of the time we are associated with being part of Louisiana,” said LaFontaine. “In some parts we’re even called a parish, Hancock County parish. But at the end of the day as an official, looking ahead at the next decade, we think of threats. Some of those threats are sometimes economic, some of the times they are hurricanes, but to me our single-most largest threat to the future of our coastal economy is probably the Mississippi River.”

Anything the county can do to advocate for dredging the river o to consider other solutions to eliminate diversion is probably better for the fisheries and Coastal economy, he said.

The supervisors also asked the governor to let federal agencies know that Mississippi “. . . exerts its territorial jurisdiction over certain waters that can and will be impacted by Louisiana’s proposed large-scale Mississippi River Diversion project.”

LaFontaine said he hopes other Coast counties will pass resolutions in support of the Gulf Coast Resource Coalition.

The fresh water intrusion from the polluted Mississippi River closed the water off every beach along the Coast for much of the summer and killed most of the oysters and brown shrimp. It’s not over yet, audience members said after the forum. Now that the spillway has closed, they await a fish kill as the oxygen levels stabilize and the waters return to normal salinity.

“There are so many facets to this story. It’s very complicated,” said Sun Herald reporter Anita Lee, who has written extensively about the spillway and the blue-green algal bloom that followed the fresh water intrusion into the Mississippi Sound.

IT’S A FEDERAL ISSUE

The rules that regulate when the spillways open were written almost a century ago in the 1920s and ‘30s, said Moby Sonalgi, executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport. The Army Corps of Engineers  regulates when the spillway  is opened based on the 1928 Flood Control Act.

Solangi said, "Some very powerful people were in the room, filled with engineers, environmentalists, those who fish for a living and others, who are concerned about the future of South Mississippi".

“All of you need to recognize your power,” Solangi told the audience. He urged them to talk to their Congressional delegation in Washington and ask them to change the rules and provide “flexibility and direction” for the Bonne Carre Spillway openings.

Dennis Lambert — who worked on the Breton diversions until he began questioning the project — said the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board in Louisiana already has spent about $200 million.

“So you know how hard it is to stop that,” he said. So much money has been spent they can’t give it up — “They don’t want to give it up,” he said.

“The only people that can change what is going on are the people in this room and the state of Mississippi,” Lambert said.

ALSO A STATE ISSUE

Several people in the crowd said they want the issue interjected into Mississippi’s governor race so they know where the candidates stand.

Lee said in this election year, she questions if support from Jackson is about the election or about protecting the Coast.

“It’s very much a concern who will stand up for us,” she said.

Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, is meeting with the Army Corps on a regular basis and will be with the Congressional delegation next month, said Rick Burris, deputy director of Marine Fisheries. He said Gov. Phil Bryant and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann also are very involved.

This is not the first time the Bonnet Carré Spillway has opened, Burris said, but all previous times except in 2011 it was in the winter. This year it was open twice for the first time and a record number of days, and in May. “That’s a critical time for our fisheries,” he said.

WHO TO CONTACT:

Now it’s a critical time for the Coast as progress continues in Louisiana toward building additional spillways.

Here is contact information for the Coast delegation in Washington, D.C.:

 ▪ Sen. Roger Wicker  — 555 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-6253

Coast office : 2909 13th St., 3rd Floor, Suite 303, Gulfport, MS 39501

Phone 228-871-7017

 ▪ Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith  — 702 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-2405

Phone 202-224-5054Coast office: 2012 15th St., Suite 451, Gulfport, MS 39501Phone 228-867-9710 Phone 202-225-5777

 Congressman Steven Palazzo 

Washington, DC Office - 2349 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, T: (202) 225-5772, F: (202) 225-7074

 BY MARY PEREZ  AND ALYSSA NEWTON 

OCTOBER 07, 2019 03:10 PM, UPDATED OCTOBER 07, 2019 03:11 PM

Hancock County supervisors expressed “adamant opposition” to Louisiana’s plans to add another Mississippi River diversion and asked the governor and the Coast’s congressional delegation in Washington to join their fight.

To oppose Louisiana’s proposed Mid-Breton Basin diversion project and the issuance of a federal permit for the construction of the project, asking Gov. Phil Bryant to do the same.Request the Coast delegation take take immediate action to repeal one law and defeat another that would allow the Mid-Breton project to go forward.To authorize an agreement between the county and the nonprofit Gulf Coast Resource Coalition to work together. The agreement says the coastal projects proposed by Louisiana “could extremely and negatively impact Hancock County’s coastal resources, communities and economy.”Board president Blaine LaFontaine said Louisiana’s master plan to create this new diversion project, “Will probably be the single-largest threat to the Gulf Coast and this economy — maybe in the next decade.

The supervisors know what happened this year when the Bonnet Carré Spillway was opened for 123 days for flood control on the Mississippi River.

“This inundation has caused massive harm to Hancock County’s economy and fisheries, as well as dire effects on the marine mammal population in and around the coastal waters of Hancock County,” the resolution said.

The supervisors know what happened this year when the Bonnet Carré Spillway was opened for 123 days for flood control on the Mississippi River.

“This inundation has caused massive harm to Hancock County’s economy and fisheries, as well as dire effects on the marine mammal population in and around the coastal waters of Hancock County,” the resolution said.

The project proposed in Louisiana would have a much bigger impact on Mississippi, the supervisors’ resolutions say.

Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has filed Permit Application WQC 190227-01 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the  large-scale diversion project 

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors met on 4 November and voted to oppose the Corps of Engineers scheduled Mid-Breton Sound project.

2019 late winter and early spring record rainfalll in parts of the Mississippi River basin lead to the spillway being opened twice in one year for the first time ever.

The extra fresh water changed the salinity structure of Lake Pontchartrain from brackish water system to a freshwater system while the gates of the Bonnet Carre Spillway remained open.

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors met on 4 November and voted to oppose the Corps of Engineers scheduled Mid-Breton Sound project

John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation     

Bren Haase, CPRA Executive Director

Moby Solangi, Institute for Marine Mammal Studies

Joey Windham,USACE Mississippi Valley Watershed Division

Read Hendon, USM Gulf Coast Research Lab

Each panelists talked about their area of expertise.

John Lopez, head of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. Dr. Lopez assured everyone that there would be some interaction between La and Ms in the next year to avoid the tragedy of the Bonnet Carre Spillway openings of 2019.

Bren Hasse, CPRA Executive Director. He talked about the impending Mid-Breton Ms River diversion permitting process and assured everyone it was still about 9 years away from happening. He spoke about the Marine Mammals Act and how it was changed slightly just to get approvals for the next phases of the diversion project. 2024 was mentioned as a start date for the Mid-Breton Sound River Diversion.

Moby Solangi, Institute for Marine Mammals Studies. Dr. Solangi spoke about how the Mississippi River waters had changed in the last 100 years. Todays Ms River water contains runoff from upstream farmlands with nitrates and phosphates that cause algal blooms in the Ms Sound and ultimately beach closures. It also contains other toxins, that kill dolphins, turtles, oysters and change shrimp seasonal spawning patterns.

He also pointed out that the Mississippi and Mid-Breton Sounds are connected. And, he said the largest dolphin population in the United States lives in these waterways.

Dr. Solangi said he was concerned that Congress granted a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, meaning dolphins could be killed or harmed for diversions.

Waivers from the act are not unusual, but Solangi said this one was because no study preceded the decision to grant them.

Louisiana officials point out that diversion impacts on dolphins must still be studied as part of the permitting process.

Dolphins died in record numbers this year after the spillway opened. Many had skin lesions that can occur when salinity levels are low.

Solangi also pointed out the Mississippi River, which drains 41% of the United States, is far more polluted than it was 100 years ago and could further degrade coastal waterways.

He is concerned that Congress granted a waiver from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, meaning dolphins could be killed or harmed for diversions. Waivers from the act are not unusual, but Solangi said his concern was because no study preceded the decision to grant them. 

Joey Windham, USACE Mississippi Valley Watershed Division. He reviewed the process of opening and closing of the different river diversions. He said future openings and closings should be studied to determine what will be best for both Louisiana and Mississippi.

Louisiana officials point out that diversion impacts on dolphins must still be studied as part of the permitting process.

Read Hendon, Head of the USM Gulf Coast Research Lab. He talked about model runs that were made to show the effects of the Bonnet Carre Spillway fresh water intrusion. In the future, these model runs may be used to determine how to control opening and closing of future river diversions.

This meeting marks the first time Louisiana and Mississippi have talked about working together to fix this problem. This story map will follow and report on upcoming issues as both states begin to work together on the problem of freshwater intrusion into La. and Ms. Marine Ecosystems.

BY ANITA LEE

DECEMBER 30, 2019 01:57 PM

Anita Lee reported that Mississippi State Secretary Delbert Hoseman filed a suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi River Commission have violated federal law by failing to study the consequences of diverting Mississippi River Water into the Mississippi Sound through the Bonnet Carré Spillway, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says in a lawsuit filed Monday.

“This is not only unlawful, it is inexcusable,”the lawsuit says”

His office filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Gulfport against the Army Corps of Engineers and MRC, the two agencies responsible for flood management on the river. The lawsuit also accuses the agencies of “willfully and obstinately” refusing to open the Morganza Floodway to relieve river flooding, despite the authority to do so.

The Mississippi Sound has borne the brunt of polluted river water, with trillions of gallons flowing through the Bonnet Carré in 2019 while the Morganza Floodway in centeral Louisiana remained closed. The discharge also includes river sediment that has blanketed the water bottoms of the Mississippi Sound.

The Bonnet Carré empties into Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi Sound beyond.

Hosemann wants a preliminary injunction that directs the federal agencies to also open the Morganza when river flooding is a problem instead of directing all the floodwaters through the Bonnet Carré.

He also is requesting that the judge order the federal agencies to update an environmental study, called an Environmental Impact Statement, that addresses the impacts of river water on the the Mississippi Sound. Previous studies have failed to evaluate damage to the Mississippi Sound, the lawsuits says.

Hosemann held a news conference Monday afternoon to announce the lawsuit, filed by attorneys from Balch & Bingham in Gulfport. Hosemann said he that his office was forced to file the lawsuit because the Corps has been unwilling to work with Mississippi on alternatives to opening only the Bonnet Carré.

“If the injunction is not granted, a substantial threat of irreparable injury exists in the form of massive freshwater inundation to a saltwater body, namely the Mississippi Sound,” the lawsuit says. “Such freshwater inundation will not only upset the delicate ecological balance of the Sound, but will also inflict serious economic damage to the people and businesses that derive their livelihoods from the Sound.”

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY OUTDATED, LAWSUIT SAYS

An updated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would require the agencies to assess environmental impacts on the Mississippi Sound and consider less destructive alternatives to opening the Bonnet Carré.

This is the second lawsuit filed in federal court in Gulfport against the Army Corps and MRC. The first, filed by several Coast localities and two private associations representing hoteliers and the seafood industry, also calls for an EIS and other relief.

“We thank Secretary Hosemann for today’s powerful action and look forward to working with the state to protect the Mississippi Sound,” said Gerald Blessey, who heads the Mississippi Sound Coalition that includes Coast localities suing the Corps.

Repeated openings of the Bonnet Carré in recent years are without historic precedent. The spillway opened twice in 2019 for 123 days, releasing trillions of gallons of river water and causing $215 million in damage to Mississippi fisheries and the seafood industry, the lawsuit points out.

Such changed circumstances should under federal law prompt an updated EIS, the lawsuit says. Other changes the lawsuit enumerates since the last EIS, which was 43 years ago:

▪ Ecological changes to the Sound caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the BP oil catastrophe in 2010.

▪ Sediment and silt buildup that have raised the bottom of the Mississippi River.

▪ Changes to the coastline’s shape and the size of its barrier islands.

CORPS ‘WILLFULLY’ REFUSES MORGANZA OPENING

The lawsuit also points out that the Corps and MRC have “absolute discretion” to open the Morganza Floodway, where excess river flow is released into the Atchafalaya Basin. The Morganza Floodway has been opened only twice in its history, most recently in 2011, when the Bonnet Carré also opened for a prolonged period.

Mississippi officials urged the Corps to open the Morganza in 2019, but the Corps said the river did not reach the trigger point of 1.5 million cubic feet per second. The lawsuit points out that the Corps’ water control manual allows the Morganza to be opened even if the flow rate does not reach the established 1.5 million cubic feet per second.

The Corps, “without explanation, justification, or rationale, has willfully and obstinately refused to open the Morganza Spillway, which is per se arbitrary and capricious,” the lawsuit says. “Failure to do so has resulted in a 100% diversion of all floodwaters directly into the Mississippi Sound.”

Hosemann has filed the lawsuit as the steward of Mississippi’s tidelands — water bottoms subject to the tide’s ebb and flow.

The Army Corps and MRC have 60 days to respond to the lawsuit, which represents only one side of the case.

Hosemann said he will continue to support the lawsuit when he ascends to the lieutenant governor’s office. Secretary of State-elect Michael Watson of Pascagoula, currently a state senator, said he will continue to “aggressively pursue” the lawsuit when he takes office January 9.

The State of Mississippi, through its Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, has filed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers over the operation of the Bonnet Carre' Spillway and its associated severe damage to Mississippi's ecosystem and economy. Also filed was a similar lawsuit by Mississippi coastal government bodies and nonprofit organizations.

A request was made to Gulf Coast Resource Coalition to file an Amicus Brief as part of the pending lawsuits in Federal Court, and our organization - as always - will keep you updated on events as they happen.

 https://www.sunherald.com/news/politics-government/article238824753.html#storylink=mainstage_lead   

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