HYDE-SMITH PROMOTES ADDITIONAL FY2027 FUNDING FOR YAZOO BACKWATER PUMPS, ARKABUTLA DAM REPAIRS

HYDE-SMITH PROMOTES ADDITIONAL FY2027 FUNDING FOR YAZOO BACKWATER PUMPS, ARKABUTLA DAM REPAIRS

Miss. Senator Looks to Build on FY2027 Army Corps Budget Requests for Major Miss. Projects

VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Promotes Additional FY2027 Funding for Yazoo Backwater Pumps and Arkabutla Lake Dam at Hearing.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today received confirmation that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could use additional funding in FY2027 to make additional progress on two major projects in Mississippi - Yazoo Backwater Area Pumps and Arkabutla Dam repairs.

Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee that conducted a hearing to review the latest budget requests for the Army Corps and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Army Corps budget recommends $30 million for the Yazoo Backwater Area and more than $20 million to complete pre-construction engineering and design requirements to repair the Arkabutla Dam.

"I was just thrilled to see money in the budget for the funding for the actual construction of the Yazoo Backwater Area Project," Hyde-Smith said. "I have never understood how we got to the many years that it should have been done and had not been done. So, you can imagine how excited I am that this is in the budget. But we've recently learned that the fiscal year 2027 total capability for this project has increased since the time the budget was prepared. Should Congress appropriate funding above the amount proposed in the budget, are you confident those additional funds can be put to good use, can be dispersed the way they should be, and make a major difference in the lives of all of those people down there in the South Delta in Mississippi?"

Adam Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and Lt. Gen. William H. "Butch" Graham, Jr., USACE Chief of Engineers and Commanding General both agreed that funding above the budget request could be used to advance mitigation and initial design work on the Yazoo Backwater project.

"To your question, the president's budget includes $30 million for this project. The technical assistance we provided to the committee indicates a capability of $100 million for this project, in addition to that," Telle said. "I'm confident that the additional money included in that amount for mitigation could be executed in fiscal year 27. The additional monies for design, I'm less confident that all of that could be executed in FY27, but certainly, if additional funding is included, we will put it to good use."

Regarding the Arkabutla Dam repairs, Hyde-Smith also asked whether the Army Corps could responsibly use additional funding above the budget request.

"The results of a breach in a dam that size would obviously be catastrophic to homes, rural towns, and hundreds of thousands of acres downstream. So, failure is not an option on that," Hyde-Smith warned.

Telle told the subcommittee that the Northwest Mississippi facility is a major safety concern for the Army Corps and that the budget has identified it as being capable of using additional funding in FY2027.

"The engineers of the Corps of Engineers rank all of the dams in our inventory based on their safety level and our concerns. Prado Dam, which I mentioned in my opening statement, in the Los Angeles area of California, and Arkabutla Dam are number one and two in terms of the dams we're looking at nationwide in terms of safety concerns," Telle told Hyde-Smith.

"The good news story here is I was briefed earlier this week about this project. We had been looking, and I know your office had brought to our attention the idea that this might take 10 years or longer. As we are right now, it looks like we've actually are going to start construction in 2028 and construction is going to be complete within five years. So, we're moving in the right direction on Arkabutla," the Assistant Secretary said.

Hyde-Smith is working to build on her previous appropriations work to support both projects. In January, President Trump signed the FY2026 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, which included funding Hyde-Smith worked to secure for Mississippi, such as $49 million for the Yazoo Backwater project and $21.9 million for Arkabutla Lake dam repairs.

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