In April 2020, the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) announced that it would prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for a flood control project in the Mississippi delta, known as the “Yazoo Pumps Project.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted comments to ACE regarding the scope of the supplemental EIS. ACE subsequently issued a draft of the supplemental EIS in October 2020. EPA staff drafted a letter to ACE providing comments on the draft supplemental EIS. Among other things, the letter stated that the Yazoo Pumps Project failed to meet Clean Water Act requirements for protecting wetlands that provide wildlife habitat, filter pollution and buffer flooding and included data showing how the project would damage thousands of acres of ecologically rich wetlands. Before the letter was sent to ACE, it was reviewed by senior management at EPA. According to EPA staff, the senior managers “made” or “directed” changes “that resulted in significant inaccuracies and omissions in the” letter. EPA staff later said they were “deeply disturbed by the changes” made to the letter.
In December 2020, ACE sent EPA staff a copy of the final supplemental EIS for the Yazoo Pumps Project. EPA staff again drafted a letter to ACE, providing comments and recommendations on the final supplemental EIS. Staff sent the letter to EPA senior management for approval. Senior leadership decided not to send the letter to ACE.