U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Bonnet-Carré Spillway caused “minor” impact, Mississippi Sound Coalition disagrees

The Mississippi Sound Coalition released its rebuttal to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claim that the Bonnet-Carré Spillway only caused minor impacts to the Mississippi Sound.

The organization has worked alongside researchers at Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi, whose research shows extensive damage to oysters and marine life in the Mississippi Sound.

Research has shown that oyster reefs have been damaged in a way that oysters have not been able to grow without human intervention in the past 5 years since the Bonnet-Carré Spillway opened.

The coalition hopes this rebuttal will make the corps take responsibility for the damage caused and lead to a law change that would reduce the number and length of openings and find alternatives that mitigate harm to the Sound.

“The oysters are dead. The oyster reefs are dead. We want to bring them back. The marine mammal population, the dolphins, 10% of them were killed in the 2019 Bonnet Carre,” Mississippi Sound Coalition Manager Gerald Blessey said. “These are warning signals, you know. Humans are at the top of the food chain. We’re next. But let’s all kind of get in this and figure out a win-win, where we can protect public safety from flooding, but at the same time… save our sound. Save our ecosystem.”

The coalition hopes that this process will have updates within the next few months.