Part 2 of 3: Analysis of Excellent New Article on Mississippi River’s Effect on Mississippi Sound
INTRODUCTION: The Times-Picayune and Nola.com in New Orleans published a compelling article on November 26, 2025 by Mike Smith, their acclaimed environmental reporter, entitled: Mississippi River spillways have kept Louisiana dry and safe. That may no longer be enough about the Mississippi River’s effects on the Mississippi Sound. The article was built after months of research, including countless interviews across the region and attending the Mississippi Sound Coalition’s October public meeting in Gulfport. Smith’s story expertly explores the real harms to Mississippi’s coastal ecosystem, fisheries and economy, and the balancing act of finding solutions to protect Louisiana from flooding while also protecting the Mississippi Sound.
We encourage readers to take the time to read the full article. However, the article itself (linked here) requires a subscription to Nola.com, and we know not everyone has a subscription. The Coalition believes this article is so important and well-done, that we’ve written our own analysis in the form of a three-part series starting today. We introduce Part 2 of 3 below which also contains a link to the full text of our Part 1 analysis on the Coalition’s blog.
Part 2 of 3: Sound Coalition Builds Regional Unity Using Diplomacy and Science
Mike Smith’s Times-Picayune/Nola.com’s Nov. 26, 2025 article, Mississippi River spillways have kept Louisiana dry and safe. That may no longer be enough, chronicles how the Mississippi Sound Coalition has carved out a uniquely effective path by blending diplomacy and science into a unified strategy for change in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ management of the Mississippi River that will simultaneously protect life and property from flooding, maintain navigability for world trade, and do no harm to the estuaries of the Northern Gulf. The Coalition’s approach has not only built a solid foundation for meaningful policy and legal reforms but has also begun shifting public and official attitudes about the dire future of the Sound. This story examines how that balance of relationship-building and research-driven evidence has positioned the Coalition to make a lasting difference.
Smith highlights how the Sound Coalition has forged unprecedented communication lines between Mississippi and Louisiana, bringing together communities that have long stood on opposite sides of flood-management debates. By combining diplomacy with credible science, the Coalition has worked to engage with the appropriate experts and federal and state agencies to ease historic tensions, align regional leaders around shared solutions, and establish a clear mandate to prevent the kind of devastation the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019 caused to the ecosystems of Lake Borgne, Mississippi Sound, and Mobile Bay.
Smith points out that politics and government cost-cutting are making it hard for these solutions to be explored, including how the Corps of Engineers had been engaged in the five-year, $25 million Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study, until the study was paused in 2025 due to a suspension of federal funding. He points out how the Mississippi Sound Coalition has met with political and business leaders in both Mississippi and Louisiana to restart the funding for it. (see more about the study in Part 1.)
In the article, Smith mentions Jacques LaCour, a commissioner with the Atchafalaya River Basin Levee District in Louisiana. The District, which has operated for 135 years, is responsible for levee maintenance across the parishes within its jurisdiction. LaCour was part of a recent delegation that met with the Mississippi Sound Coalition to discuss potential paths forward. He and fellow board members, including Tommy Thibodeaux and representatives from the Teche-Vermilion Freshwater District Board, met with Coalition Chair Marlin Ladner (who is also a member of the Harrison County, Mississippi, Board of Supervisors) and Coalition Manager and Counsel Gerald Blessey. Together, they agreed to ask Congress to restart and fund the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study (LMRComp), further demonstrating diplomatic and collaborative efforts to find win-win solutions.
Smith mentions LaCour’s farming history and how flooding affected his annual plans, especially flooding from the opening of the Morganza Spillway, which is upstream from the Bonnet Carré.
Smith quoted LaCour, “Of course, our preference would be that we never need to open it again,” LaCour said of the Morganza while sitting on the back deck of the Old River Landing and boat launch he owns in the town of Batchelor. “But it’s there for a purpose that serves the greater good of the nation and the community here.”
(Note: In addition to collaborating with organizations across Mississippi and Louisiana, the Coalition’s scientific work has become a critical pillar of its mission. Through a competitive RFP awarded by Harrison County, The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) led by co-director Dr. Paul Mickle, a Mississippi State University professor, has led much of the scientific work behind the Mississippi Sound Coalition’s mission. Members of NGI’s scientific team working on these projects include: Dr. Jerry Wiggert, Dr. Kemal Cambazoglu, Dr. Brandy Armstrong, Dr. Kim de Mutsert and Dr. Scott Milroy all from The University of Southern Mississippi; and Dr. Vladimir Alarcon from Mississippi State University. In addition to producing key data on how the Bonnet Carré Spillway openings have affected Mississippi Sound water quality, including a “Tipping Points” study to be published soon following peer-review and extensive work on oyster mortality, the NGI team is now establishing a dedicated water-quality monitoring station in the Rigolets, the critical bottleneck connecting Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Borgne and the Mississippi Sound. This station will deliver real-time readings on nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as oxygen levels, giving scientists a clear picture of the “freshwater” inflow from the Bonnet Carré Spillway and its impacts. (It leaks even when there is no flood fight.))
Smith quotes one of the NGI scientists in the article, “De Mutsert said ‘essentially all oysters that grow in the western Mississippi Sound died [in 2019], shrimp landings were down sharply, and eggs and larvae from species such as speckled trout were harmed.’”
Through these examples, Smith illustrates the passion and sincere commitment behind the push for new solutions. Stay tuned for Part 3 where we analyze Smith’s take on efforts in the courtroom and on a national level to ultimately find the win-win solutions to protect vulnerable areas from flooding in Louisiana while protecting the Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay and Louisiana ecosystems.
To read the Part 1 analysis, click HERE.
End of Part 2 of 3
NOTE: The Sound Coalition has written and proposed to Congress a comprehensive new law called the NORTHERN GULF ESTUARY PROTECTION ACT which, if passed, would finally require by law that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not only protect New Orleans and all other areas from flood waters of the Mississippi River, but also avoid or at least minimize the negative impacts of polluted Mississippi River on the estuaries of the northern Gulf from eastern Louisiana through the Mississippi Sound and all the way to Mobile Bay.
Additionally, the Coalition is requesting a Congressional committee field hearing on the Mississippi Coast to hear from scientists, fishermen, tourism businesses, and others from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama about win-win solutions for managing the Mississippi River to protect life and property AND avoid harm to ecosystems.
To read the Part 1 analysis, click HERE.
TO COME: Part 3.Coalition’s Efforts in the Courtroom and at the Federal Level Are Making a Difference
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED: Part 1 Coalition Transforms Regional Ecological Concerns Into Federal Engagement
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