NEW ORLEANS — Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he wants the state to be compensated after "serious environmental impacts" from freshwater diverted by the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
In a letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Major General Richard G. Kaiser, Hood writes that at least 80 dolphins and 125 sea turtles have died from skin and eye lesions consistent with freshwater damage. He adds that Mississippi's coast has seen the highest number of dolphin and endangered sea turtle deaths in the month of April compared to the last five years.
"These initial findings raise concerns about the longer-term impact to other marine life in the Mississippi Sound from this freshwater incursion," Hood writes.
In addition to the coastal seafood industry being impacted, Hood says that farmers along the Yazoo River are unable to plant crops due to backwater flooding by the Mississippi River.
"Farmers are unable to plant crops under water, and residents have evacuated or remained trapped," Hood wrote.
Hood said he would like to meet with the Corps to make sure that the federal agency is "considering all of its options" in regards to flood control. He is also asking that the Mississippi Attorney General be included in any future meetings regarding the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway and other Mississippi flood management.
"I understand that the Corps is concerned about potential flooding in the New Orleans area. Meanwhile, our Delta farmers may not be able to plant a crop this summer, which will be devastating to Delta communities on top of extensive damage to homes," Hood wrote.
The Bonnet Carré Spillway gets opened to relieve stress on New Orleans levees when the Mississippi flows at 1.25 million cubic feet per second — fast enough to fill the Empire State Building in 30 seconds.
"The risks in not operating the spillway as it is designed ... would be potentially catastrophic," corps spokesman Ricky Boyett said.
The spillway, completed in 1931, is a 1.5-mile-long construction of 350 concrete bays and 7,000 huge timbers called needles. Its unusually early opening in February marked the 13th time it has been used overall, but only the second time it's been used in consecutive years. Earlier this year, 206 bays were opened, discharging 213,000 cubic feet of water per second into the spillway.
"An average flood season is from March to May. This year has not been average at all," the New Orleans district's deputy commander, Maj. Jordon Davis, said.
The water is diverted along a 6-mile course of guide levees to brackish Lake Pontchartrain, after which it flows to the Mississippi Sound in the Gulf of Mexico.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.