(The Center Square) — Louisiana officials heard from groups opposed to a taxpayer-funded flood control lake on the Pearl River in Jackson, Mississippi on Tuesday.

The Lower Pearl River Basin Task Force in Louisiana held a hearing to hear about the potential environmental impacts on the project, which a draft environmental impact statement says could cost up to $2.1 billion.   

Andrew Whitehurst, a representative from Healthy Gulf, a program dedicated to preserving the Gulf's natural resources, argued the One Lake Project would adversely affect Pearl River and its habitats through Mississippi and Louisiana. 

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the river drains an area of 8,760 square miles consisting of all, or parts, of 23 counties in Mississippi and parts of three Louisiana parishes. The Corps is hosting a comment period on the project that will end on July 22. 

Along with three meetings in Mississippi, the Corps will host a meeting in Slidell on July 11 at 11 a.m. at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium. 

A draft environmental impact statement issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 7 indicated while that the agency wouldn't support the full One Lake project, it would support other flood control measures that could include a smaller lake. 

The Rankin-Hinds Drainage District, an entity of the state of Mississippi created to prevent flooding in the two counties, supports the project. District officials say the lake would not only prevent flooding in Jackson, but provide an urban waterfront that would increase city revenues and provide recreational opportunities. 

However, Whitehurst says the dredging and damming required to create the lake would cause wetland and wildlife habitat destruction that would be extremely environmentally damaging. 

Whitehurst said the dredging near toxic waste sites might loosen some slurry and leachate down the river system. He also said the lives of multiple turtle and fish species whose habitat near the current banks would be endangered. 

A project to fix the flooding in the area has been in talks for years and the One Lake Project has been working its way through committees and boards since 2011, according to Pearl River Keeper's website, an organization devoted to preserving the Pearl River.

Louisiana lawmakers, representing constituents that could face downstream effects from One Lake, were opposed to this project as recently as 2018. Whitehurst urged the task force to recommend a new statement from the Legislature against the project due to the urgency of its decision. 

“It's desired that this whole process wrap up with a record of decision on this EIS this fall. They're not waiting,” Whitehurst said. 

Whitehurst also suggested that there is not enough economic explanations made to justify the impact to businesses on the river. 

“It's something that they're worried about,” Whitehurst said of those businesses who rely on the river remaining in its original state. “There's not a cost or economic appendix released with this document. That's one of the first things we looked for.”

Healthy Gulf says a combination of levee setbacks to widen a constricted floodplain, plus some improvements to existing levees along with floodplain buyouts could be employed to relieve flooding in Jackson without blocking the channel, destroying habitats or causing flow problems downstream. The Rankin-Hinds Drainage District has opposed this plan, saying it would be too expensive. 

(The Center Square) – Federal data released on Tuesday shows a record nearly 1.2 million residents were participating in the workforce in May.

The Magnolia State also had its least number of residents, 34,605, collecting unemployment as the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 2.8%, three tenths lower than May 2023, when the rate was 3.1%.

“Our economy is firing on all cylinders, which is why we continue to make history,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a release. “There are more jobs in Mississippi than ever before, which is truly a victory worth celebrating. We'll continue fighting for good-paying, high-quality jobs that attract more residents to our great state.”

The state's labor force participation rate continues to lag behind the national average. 

In May, the state's labor force participation rate was 53.8%, one-tenth better than last month, but nearly 10% less than the national rate of 62.7%. That means nearly 1.36 million of the state's residents aren't part of the labor force. 

The labor force participation rate trails regionally, led by Texas (64.3% in May), Georgia (61.6%), Tennessee (59.6%) and Florida (59.1%). 

Louisiana's participation rate was at 58.1% in May, followed by Alabama and Arkansas, each at 57.5%. 

According to the monthly release from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, the county with the lowest unemployment rate was Union at 1.9%, followed by Lafayette County at 2%. The report also said 35 of the state's 82 counties were at or below the state average of 2.8%. 

The highest unemployment rates for counties was Jefferson at 11.3%, followed by Claiborne at 7.2% and Humphreys at 7.1%. 

Among the state's three metropolitan areas, Jackson and Hattiesburg had unemployment rates of 2.5%, while the Gulf Coast was three-tenths behind at 2.8%.

Initial unemployment claims were up from April, growing from 4,246 to 6,338. 

Mississippi is almost surrounded by states that have expanded school choice. Why don't we?

Last week Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed into law the LA GATOR Scholarship program. Starting in 2025, Louisiana families can receive state funds to pay for educational expenses to meet their child's individual needs.

Alabama passed similar legislation a few months ago. Arkansas did something similar in 2023.

In Mississippi, nothing. Why?

Mississippi does not lack a conservative majority. Conservatives have been in charge of the Mississippi House, Senate and Governor's mansion since 2012.

Conservatives in Alabama and Arkansas have had control for about the same length of time as in our state. Somehow, they seem to have done something with it.

Louisiana conservatives have achieved more school choice in 12 months than Mississippi conservatives have in 12 years. Landry only won back the governor's mansion last year and he signed school choice into law last week.

A major part of the problem is that many Mississippi leaders refuse to see the need for reform. They want to believe that education standards are improving and that there's not much need to change. 

Here's why they are wrong:

• One in four school children in our state are chronically absent. That's 108,310 children in 2022-23, up dramatically from 70,275 in 2016-17. If Mississippi education is as good as they say it is, why are so many kids not showing up?
• Eight out of 10 eighth grade kids in Mississippi were not proficient in math in 2022.
• Almost seven in 10 fourth grade kids in Mississippi were not proficient in reading in 2022.

How many Mississippi politicians would be willing to send their kids to a school with those standards?

Almost four in 10 fourth graders in 2022 did not even reach the basic reading standard. Let's quit pretending things are fine when our current system is unable to teach 10 year olds the basics of reading.

Reform is difficult. If you are a conservative, overhauling anything involving the public sector means stirring up a hornet's nest of opposition. It's easier to buddy up to the absurdly misnamed Parents' Campaign and defend the status quo. I get all that.

Here's why Mississippi conservatives absolutely have to use the majority they have to achieve school choice.

Over the past 30 years, we have seen the ideological takeover of much of America by the far left. If you had told me at the time of the Iraq war or even when Obama was in the White House that American students would be protesting in support of Hamas in 2024, I would not have believed you. Today it happens frequently.

A generation ago, corporate America did not demand to know your preferred pronouns. Today you can hardly apply for a job at a big firm without doing so.

Where do you think this ideological extremism came from? It has been made possible by the influence of critical theory ideologues on our education system.

Of course, not every school is a hotbed of woke intersectional ideology. But the only way to stop the advance of woke ideology in America is to give parents back control over their children's education.

The lesson of the past 30 years is that unless conservative America has a plan to take back control of the education system, the left will win. It is not enough to run for office as a conservative because you happen to hunt or have the right bumper stickers on your truck.

 Conservatives in office who do nothing to advance school choice are assisting, however unwittingly, the radical left in their capture of this country.

We cannot afford another decade of wasted opportunities to achieve school choice.

Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.