During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing last week, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) questioned Adam Telle, nominee to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, about ongoing wastewater projects.
00:03I'll take over for the chair while she's voting.
00:05So, Senator Wicker.
00:08Thank you, and very ably done, Mr. Interim Chair.
00:13Mr. Tell, let's talk about a wastewater treatment program,
00:18project that involves the state of Mississippi and the state of Tennessee.
00:23As everyone knows, Memphis and Shelby County amount to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country
00:32and certainly the largest in the state of Tennessee.
00:35Just below Memphis and Shelby County is DeSoto County, Mississippi,
00:41one of the fastest-growing counties in Mississippi.
00:44Included abutting the state line or the cities of South Haven, Horn Lake, and certain unincorporated areas.
00:56About 48 years ago, a wastewater treatment facility was federally funded
01:03addressing the wastewater treatment needs in both of those areas.
01:12It was funded to the extent possible based on population numbers from the Mississippi area as well as the Memphis area.
01:23Some years ago, the folks north of the state line brought a suit
01:30and asked that the Mississippi customers be excluded from that treatment plan.
01:39This went to court.
01:41We didn't feel it was fair, but the federal judge ruled that the Mississippi areas,
01:48South Haven, Horn Lake, and certain unincorporated areas,
01:51have to get on their own water treatment system by the year 2031.
01:57The only way we can possibly do that is to look, as this metropolitan area did 50 years ago, to the federal government.
02:08The Army Corps of Engineers is a valuable part of this new project.
02:18Can you please commit to me that the Army Corps of Engineers do everything possible
02:23to assist the DeSoto County Regional Utility Authority, known as DECRUA,
02:30and building a new wastewater system before this judicially imposed 2031 deadline?
02:38Senator Wicker, thank you for the question.
02:40It's an issue that I have familiarity with from both sides of the state line.
02:46In 1992, Congress began authorizing the Corps of Engineers to take on projects generally described as environmental infrastructure.
02:53These are not the traditional navigation, flood control, aquatic ecosystem restoration types of projects that the Corps of Engineers has done,
03:01but it's had a great deal of interest from the Congress.
03:04I think that's going to continue, and I certainly commit to work with you in an area, DeSoto County, Shelby County,
03:11that I know well, to make sure that we get it right and we can facilitate, to the degree that we're able,
03:16DeSoto County's ability to meet the directive of the courts.
03:20I assume that if this project isn't done by 2031, the federal judge will not decree that sewage start to run in the streets of DeSoto County, Mississippi,
03:34but we're going to try to, with your help, we're going to try to comply with this.
03:39Let's talk about the Bonnie Carey Spillway.
03:44We've already talked about how long the Mississippi River is and the Missouri River.
03:52Thirty-one states contribute to what runs by the state of Louisiana and Mississippi as it gets almost to the Gulf.
04:01By the time it gets there, it's full of bacteria, nutrients, fertilizer runoff, sediment,
04:08and other things that leads to algae blooms in the Gulf.
04:14When the water gets high, there are a number of spillways that can be opened to prevent flooding of a number of very important areas.
04:27In 2019, though, the Bonnie Carey Spillway was opened for a total of 123 days.
04:35It spilled into the Mississippi Sound, a salt water, an important area for fishing.
04:45Changing it more into a freshwater was hugely damaging, costing many, many jobs.
04:52We can't possibly have this happen again.
04:56There are times when the spillway can be opened, take some of the freshwater into a salt water area, but not that much.
05:09Will you agree that the Army Corps should include stakeholders such as the Mississippi Sound Coalition
05:16and stakeholders in both Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi in a comprehensive study of which spillways are open?
05:27Senator Wicker, I would gladly take input from stakeholders.
05:31As you rightly point out, there are facilities up and down the Mississippi River from Bird's Point to Morganza.
05:36And then the spillway of last resort, of course, is the Bonnie Carey, which diverts water into Lake Pontchartrain
05:42and ultimately, as you say, into the Mississippi Sound, which affects the ecosystem there, the commercial ecosystem,
05:48as well as the recreational ecosystem.
05:49These are the types of tradeoffs that we have to discuss when we talk about operating the Corps of Engineers' many facilities,
05:55preventing a flood upstream may mean effects, as you describe, on places like the Mississippi Sound.
06:02It is very important that the Corps of Engineers has clear input from stakeholders from across a waterway,
06:11from up and down, to understand the impacts.
06:13These are complex systems of systems, and we could use as much input as we could possibly get
06:17to try to make sure that we get the balance right.
06:19Thank you for that answer.
06:20Mr. Chairman, I realize we've gone over, but it is a matter of thousands and thousands of jobs
06:27up and down the Mississippi River.
06:30Senator Blount, Rochester.
06:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to the nominees in your families.
