The local sponsor of a long-discussed Pearl River flood control project announced last week that the project would finally be able to move forward with a plan to widen and develop along the river’s banks in Mississippi’s capital city.

While federal officials may still go forward with the project, they clarified shortly after that no final decision has been made. A final environmental impact study is still required before they reach that stage.

The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District held a press conference Feb. 26 to announce that the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, Adam Telle, had selected a plan based on the locally supported project, “Alternative D1.”

In its last draft study in 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers narrowed the project selection to alternatives “D1” and “E1.” D1 is a scaled-back version of the controversial “One Lake” plan the flood control district has backed for over a decade, and which both environmentalists and downstream communities have passionately fought. E1 has the same design as D1 except for a dam.

In a Jan. 31 memo, Telle wrote that he had selected a combination of D1 and E1. Officials with the flood control district said that’s what their Feb. 26 announcement.

“I find that both Alternative D1 and E1 are environmentally acceptable, subject to further investigations required for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as the development of mitigation plans to compensate for losses of habitat,” wrote Telle, a Mississippi State University graduate who was nominated for the post last year by President Donald Trump.

That act was signed into law in 1970 to require federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impacts of projects on the front end.

Telle attended a Corps press event Feb. 27 in Vicksburg to boost the agency’s new “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” initiative, focused on speeding up projects and reducing “bureaucratic regulations.”

When asked about the status of the Pearl River efforts, he told Mississippi Today the point of the memo was to “untie” the Corps’ hands to begin the final environmental study. The National Environmental Policy process requires the agency to complete the final study before making any final determination.

“ It still requires more design, more decisions, more public engagement and more environmental work,” Telle said. “And once we get there, then we’ll see construction begin.”

At the local flood control district’s event, Pearl Mayor Jake Windham said he hoped to have a final decision about the project by the summer. The next day at the Vicksburg event, Col. Jeremiah Gipson, commander of the Corps’ Vicksburg District, called that timeline “aggressive” but possible.

“The first step is to complete a design agreement with the (local flood control district), and when we do that we will very quickly see this process move forward towards that decision,” Gipson said.

When asked why the local sponsor made its announcement when it did, Telle said of his Jan. 31 memo, “We do work every day, we don’t necessarily announce it.” Mississippi Today also asked Keith Turner, attorney for the flood control district board, why they made the announcement without coordinating with the Corps.

“I don’t know why (the Corps) chose to not be as public as we were,” Turner said. “To us, it’s really important because it’s a big threshold.”

Jill Mastrototaro, state policy director for Audubon Delta, said the Corps’ last study, released in 2025, is missing significant environmental considerations.

“I think that the claims of victory by the (project’s) proponents are very premature and very ambitious,” said Mastrototaro, a longtime stakeholder in the project’s studies and opponent of damming the Pearl River.

“There is going to be a lot of additional study,” she said, pointing to needed hydrologic and sedimentation research, as well as habitat mitigation plans, that were lacking in the last publication. “There are still many shortcomings, many questions, many inaccuracies in that flood plan.”

Damming the Pearl River, the difference between alternatives D1 and E1, is an essential piece of the local flood control district’s preference. The inundation would allow for more development and recreational opportunities along the section of the river neighboring downtown Jackson. The dam, though, would not only make the project more expensive but also, opponents argue, impair valuable wetlands and habitats and disrupt the flow for the communities downstream on the river.

The Corps’ own draft study estimated D1 would remove 740 acres of forested wetlands as well as 230 acres of riverine habitat.

When asked about potential mitigation to compensate for those losses, Turner said the plan is to protect habitats along the Pearl upstream of Jackson. Those details, though, still need to be worked out in the final study, he said.

Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, argued the project’s goal is only to enrich people in the Jackson metro area. She said the Corps isn’t considering the other communities who share the Pearl River.

“I don’t believe they have a clue what it’s gonna do (downstream), and I don’t think they care,” Currie said.

A project with the dam would cost roughly $900 million, the Corps estimated last year. With the federal government responsible for 65% of the cost share, Mississippians would be on the hook for over $300 million. When asked if the Legislature would help fund the project, Currie just said, “I hope not.”

So far the federal government has allocated $221 million for the project, which would be far less than the 65% share needed, or close to $600 million.

Even farther downstream in Slidell, Louisiana, residents are largely against the proposal, and officials from the state, including Gov. Jeff Landry and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, have asked for more research on the plan’s impacts on their section of the Pearl River, NOLA.com recently reported.

At the Feb. 27 event in Vicksburg, Telle said it was important to him to avoid any downstream disruptions to the river, and that he instructed Gipson’s team to “take care of those folks.”