WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement in response to actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse its guidance regarding the Yazoo Pumps Project:

“I am deeply frustrated the EPA has chosen to reverse its guidance on the Yazoo Backwater Pumps and leave the people of the South Mississippi Delta in harm’s way.

The federal government authorized the pumps 80 years ago, but the project has been held up by bureaucrats and red tape ever since.

Today’s action means that roads will continue to be impassable, deer and other wildlife and plant life will die, hypoxia will kill fish, small businesses will shut down, and residents will continue to be forced to leave their houses.

In fact, 94% of the homes that this project would save from the 100-year floodplain are minority-occupied. It amounts to an environmental injustice.

The government has made a promise to address the flooding problem in Mississippi. Today’s decision makes it harder to fulfill this promise and will delay a solution. However, I intend to continue fighting to achieve approval of this much-needed flood control project.”