This video emphasizes the mission of the Mississippi Sound Coalition to restore and protect the ecosystem of the Mississippi Sound estuary and the way of life and economies of coastal communities that depend on it. This way of life will be in serious jeopardy if we do not find ways to avoid or mitigate harm to the Mississippi Sound caused by the Bonnet Carré Spillway and other negative impacts.
To save our Sound we must find win-win alternatives to managing the Mississippi River.
There are win-win ways to balance flood control in Louisiana while protecting our Sound. Congress could change the law to require win-win solutions for all concerned parties.
Meanwhile, the Courts should compel the Corps of Engineers to obey existing laws.
The Coalition is participating in the Corps of Engineers recently announced Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study (“LMRComp”). We are presenting to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers our win-win ideas, science, engineering and economic impact studies to support changes in the law to mitigate Bonnet Carré Spillway’s harm to the Mississippi Sound and to prevent harm from other diversions of Mississippi River water.
State and federal research dollars should focus on science and engineering to find alternatives that avoid or at least minimize opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
The Corps of Engineers could open upriver spillways and natural flood plains to minimize and sometimes avoid opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
The Mississippi Sound Coalition is comprised of Mississippi Gulf Coast cities, counties, businesses and concerned citizens. We propose to change federal law that governs the Mississippi River to compel the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform three duties: protect life and property from flooding; protect the natural ecosystems affected by river water; and maintain navigation throughout.
Polluted, saltless "fresh" water intrusions from the Bonnet Carré Spillway and other sources put the Mississippi Sound estuary in grave danger of massive loss of marine life. The proposed Mid-Breton Sound Sediment Diversion Project will accelerate the death of the Sound.
In 2019, low-salinity water from the Bonnet Carré Spillway caused our natural oyster reefs to die in 2019. Dolphins and other marine life died in record numbers. Nutrients in the water from 31 upriver states caused an algae bloom that killed our summer tourism season.
The Mississippi Sound Coalition extends heartfelt appreciation to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), for his questions about the Bonnet Carré Spillway at a Senate confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Adam Telle.
On April 3, 2025, the Mississippi Sound Coalition (MSSC) provided powerful and insightful new commentary to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Coalition prepared the document linked below in response to the Corps’ invitation for comments on the occasion of the Mississippi River Commission’s annual high water inspection trip.
1926, my grandfather, a fisherman by trade, began ferrying locals and tourists out to the Mississippi islands in the Gulf of Mexico on a converted wood oyster schooner. Nearly 100 years later, using my family’s hundred-foot passenger ferry, I’ve continued the business of transporting people across the shallow, brackish Mississippi Sound out to the emerald-green waters of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
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