State of Mississippi Office of the Lieutenant Governor DELBERT HOSEMANN Lieutenant Governor April 22, 2025 Colonel Cullen A. Jones, P.E. Commander, New Orleans District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 7400 Leake Avenue ‘New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 Re: Immediate and Strong Opposition to the Opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway Dear Colonel Jones: I write to you in the strongest possible terms to oppose any proposed opening of the ‘Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2025 without utilizing other available diversions to minimize its affects. Repeated diversions of Mississippi River freshwater into the Mississippi Sound have devastated Mississippi's coastal ecosystem, crippled our seafood industry, endangered public health, and severely harmed our tourism economy. The cumulative damage is no longer tolerable and cannot be justified by the Corps’ singular focus on flood diversion by this sole matter at the expense of an entire neighboring state. ‘The Mississippi Sound is a critical nursery for shrimp, oysters, blue crab, finfish, and bottlenose dolphins. Dr. Moby Solangi, President of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, ‘has documented significant mortality and illness in dolphin populations—especially among calves—due to extended freshwater exposure and altered salinity conditions.' In 2019, following ‘two Bonnet Carré openings, dolphin strandings increased by over 400% compared to the historical average? “That same year, every beach along Mississippi's Gulf Coast was closed due to harmful algal blooms directly linked to the spillway's prolonged opening.’ These blooms, including cyanobacteria, posed serious health risks to children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals, Mississippi’s coastal communities endured public health wamings, a mass decline in tourism, and plummeting seafood landings—yet received none of the flood protection benefits “Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, Impact of Freshwater Intrusion on Bottlenose Dolphins in the Mississippi Sound (2020), https://imms.org/wp- content/uploads/freshwater-intrusion-report-pdf 2IMMS Marine Mammal Stranding Database, 2014-2024 summary + Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, 2019 HAB Closure. Records, https://www mdeq.ms gov/coastal-programs/beaches P.O, Box 1018, Jackson, MS 39215-1018 + 601-359-3200 igov@senate.ms.g0vOur commercial seafood sector continues to suffer lasting harm. Oyster landings dropped to less than 6% of historical averages, and juvenile shrimp and crabs faced major die-off due to abrupt salinity changes.‘ This is not only an ecological tragedy——it is an economic one affecting ‘working families, processors, and restaurant owners across our Gulf Coast. Repeated openings are driving long-term ecological shifts that may take a decade or more to reverse, even with active restoration. ‘The Mississippi Sound’ collapse is not hypothetical—it is measurable, visible, and increasingly permanent. Seagrass beds are dying off. Spawning cycles have been disrupted. Entire oyster reefs have been wiped out. And Mississippi is being asked to accept this devastation as routine collateral damage. We will not. ‘The Corps must exhaust all viable alternatives before even considering a 2025 opening. ‘This includes: «Immediate utilization of the Morganza Spillway to direct excess flow through the Atchafalaya Basin instead of into the Mississippi Soun + Emergency dredging of the Mississippi River both south of the Bonnet Carré and near the river’s mouth to increase conveyance and avoid spillway use; © Utilization of the Old River control structure for diversion of flood waters prior to reaching the Bonnet Carré; * Coordinated, timed reservoir releases upriver to flatten flood peaks before they reach the lower valley. Mississippi is willing to partner on engineering evaluations, restoration plans, and infrastructure enhancements fo achieve a more equitable and scientifically sound approach. But we will no longer silently bear the brunt of decisions made without regard to our waters, our wildlife, and our citizens. If this federal decision-making process continues to ignore Mississippi's rights and interests, as well as the devastating effects of marine life, we will pursue every legal and political remedy available. request a written response outlining the Comps’ altematives analysis, the decision- making timeline, and the methods you will employ to evaluate regional impacts beyond the immediate New Orleans floodplain. My office and our state agencies are prepared to engage immediately. We recognize the necessity to protect New Orleans and our Louisiana neighbors and support doing so, but we do not believe the first and only alternative is the destruction of the Mississippi Sound. Sincerely, Dak Nr Delbert Hosemann Lieutenant Governor State of Mississippi 4 Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Commercial Oyster and Shrimp Landings, 2000-2024, https://dmr.ms.gov/Senator Roger Wicker Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith Governor Tate Reeves Secretary Michael Watson Attomey General Lynn Fitch Congressman Trent Kelly Congressman Bennie Thompson Congressman Michael Guest, Congressman Mike Ezell General Joe Spraggins, Executive Director of Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Chris Wells, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality