Posted on October 17, 2018
One U.S. Senate bill currently waiting on President Donald Trump’s signature could have major ramifications for the long-planned and controversial “One Lake” development and flood-control project along the Pearl River in Jackson.
Republicans from Louisiana have inserted language into the bill to require a full vetting of the “One Lake” proposal, which has raised many questions about environmental and safety impacts, effect on existing businesses, who would pay additional taxes and exactly what flooding would be helped should the project come to fruition. U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, laid out dozens of questions he and other critics say are not answered in the draft “One Lake” plan in a comprehensive memo and letters to the Corps, Congress and “One Lake” backers in early September.
Thompson included multiple questions about potential conflicts of interests of Lake backers and land owners, and about how financing of the study has worked to date. The Pearl River Vision Foundation, started by a backer of the project whose family owns land within and near the possible project footprint, is leading efforts to make One Lake happen.
Source: Jackson Free Press
