Great News! Congress Gives Corps $5 Million to Resume Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study

At the Mississippi Sound Coalition’s request, Congress has approved $5 million in federal funding for completion of the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the FY2026 appropriations package. The new funding was signed into law by the President last week.

In the wake of the devastating 2019 openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway, the Mississippi Sound Coalition requested that Senators Hyde-Smith and Wicker initiate the original $25 million for the study in two consecutive Water Resources Development Acts (WRDA) in 2020 and 2022. The latter version secured 100% in federal funding after no state or local sponsor would put up the 10% local match required in the 2020 act.

The Mississippi Sound Coalition thanks Mississippi Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss), along with Congressman Mike Ezell (R-Miss), Louisiana Senators Jim Cassidy and John Kennedy, and the entire Mississippi Congressional delegation for playing integral roles in securing the funds to resume the study.

“The Army Corps of Engineers was making great progress on this study when the Corps paused it last year,” said Marlin Ladner, Chair of the Mississippi Sound Coalition. Gerald Blessey, Manager of the Coalition, said, “A tremendous amount of work must still be done to better understand the river’s creation of dead zones in the Gulf and other negative impacts on seafood and all marine life in Louisiana and Mississippi. We’re grateful to our delegation for making sure it will be completed.”

This critical funding ensures that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ work on this vital study, which was unexpectedly paused in early 2025, can resume.

The Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study is a multi-year, multi-state effort to evaluate how the Mississippi River’s management can be improved to address navigation, flood risk, water quality, ecosystem restoration, storm protection and other system-wide issues. The study spans the lower Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Gulf of Mexico, reflecting its national significance and broad stakeholder impact.

Section 213 of the Act covering the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study, PDF Linked HERE, includes specific references to studying the river’s impact on the Mississippi Sound Estuary and on coastal resources. The Act also requires to Corps to consult with local governments and people living in the impacted areas.

To begin implementing the findings of the Study and any further studies the Corps may recommend, the Mississippi Sound Coalition has proposed that Congress adopt the Northern Gulf Estuary Protection Act. PDF Linked HERE.

For further information about the River’s harm to the Mississippi Sound, click here to see the Coalition’s website: https://saveoursoundms.org/