2018 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 5
BY SENATORS MIZELL, HEWITT AND PEACOCK AND REPRESENTATIVES
CROMER, PEARSON AND W HITE
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To express opposition to the "One Lake" project that proposes to dam the Pearl River and
to build a fifteen hundred-acre lake near Jackson, Mississippi, and to urge and
request the United States Army Corps of Engineers to deny the pending permit
application for the project.
WHEREAS, there is pending a permit application to the United States Army Corps
of Engineers, Vicksburg District, to dam the Pearl River and to build a fifteen hundred-acre
lake near Jackson, Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, the proposed "One Lake" project requires close scrutiny from all
interests that rely on the Pearl River to safely and legally discharge regulated wastewater;
and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Oyster Task Force and the Mississippi Governor's Oyster
Council have identified insufficient freshwater quantity flowing down the Pearl River to
coastal waters as a threat to oyster production in both states; and
WHEREAS, in Louisiana there are dozens of permit holders in Washington and St.
Tammany parishes, including Bogalusa's International Paper mill, and the towns of Bogalusa
and Pearl River, that need stable flows and adequate dilution on the Pearl River and its
tributaries; and
WHEREAS, the Pearl River is on the Mississippi Department of Environmental
Quality's Impaired Waters List due to wastewater going into the Pearl River from runoff
from parking lots, farms, and septic tanks, resulting in too much nitrogen and phosphorus
ending up in the Pearl River, and necessitating limits on these pollutants in existing permits
held by business, industry, and municipalities; and
WHEREAS, increased nitrogen and phosphorus compounds cause excess algae and
plankton to grow, and too much algae and plankton choke the life out of a river, which
combined with high summer temperatures, rob the water of oxygen and may cause fish kills;
and
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WHEREAS, water flow of the river where waste mixture is released is important;
and
WHEREAS, permit holders need adequate water in a receiving stream to mix with
and dilute wastewater; and
WHEREAS, the Pearl River has reduced water flows in summer and fall when
rainfall amounts are seasonally low; and
WHEREAS, dams also threaten to limit water flow, making it hard for existing
wastewater discharge permit holders to comply; and
WHEREAS, in 2013, the St. Tammany Parish engineering department examined
evaporation predictions for the proposed "One Lake" project and calculated a possible
reduction of ninety cubic feet per second of flow at their end of the Pearl River, which
reduction could have a significant adverse impact on permits and the health of the Pearl
River downstream.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
express its opposition to the "One Lake" project that proposes to dam the Pearl River and
build a fifteen hundred-acre lake near Jackson, Mississippi, and urge and request the United
States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, to deny the pending permit application
for the proposed "One Lake" project.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
commander of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to each
member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States Congress.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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