Regardless of political winds created by next year’s federal elections, the Environmental Protection Agency should veto the latest plans to put a pump station in the Yazoo Backwater Area, opponents of the $220 million plan said Tuesday.

In a teleconference with news outlets, officials with environmental groups who have long opposed the pumps indicated provisions protecting wetlands and wildlife should make the decision a no-brainer for the agency.

“Section 404 allows for a clear process,” said James Range, chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, referencing the section of the federal Clean Water Act that gives the EPA veto power over projects deemed harmful to wildlife and wetlands.

EPA “has a responsibility under the law and shouldn’t consider political ramifications,” said Jim Conrad, senior water resources official with American Rivers.

A draft record of public feedback gathered until a Corps-imposed Jan. 22 deadline will be sent to the president of the Mississippi River Commission, Brig. Gen. Robert Crear. Corps project managers have said, no specific deadline exists for its approval by the MRC.

In the interim, the newest specifications for the pumps, on the drawing board since 1941, can be considered by the EPA or the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Only 11 projects have been nixed under the Clean Water Act since its passage in 1972. In November, letters were sent to the secretaries of the EPA and the Department of the Interior asking each agency to veto new plans unveiled by the Vicksburg District of the Army Corps of Engineers, that actually worked with the EPA in the process of providing wildlife protection and mitigation aspects of the project.

Signatures included those from the National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Delta Land Trust and Republicans for Environmental Protection, among others.

Analysis leading to a veto by either EPA or the White House could take a year to complete.

Theodore Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of the former president, said the Louisiana black bear — the inspiration for the “teddy bear” popularized by a legendary hunting trip in 1902 to Sharkey County — a threatened species recently re-established in the area and waterfowl, too, would be jeopardized by the pumps.

“It’s the heart of the Mississippi flyway,” Roosevelt said. “(The pumps) are yet another example of an outrageous earmark.”

The Corps counters that the project actually increases habitat and fully addresses all environmental risks. The project’s goal has been to remove water from the South Delta that becomes trapped inside levees when the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers are at high stages. Final details have the pumps coming at a $220 million price tag capable of moving 14,000 cubic feet of water per second from the sparsely populated region.

The environmental groups were skeptical of Corps promises, including its plan to reforest more than 55,000 acres to address opponents’ fears over habitat loss.

Mitigation requirements usually present in such efforts are not in the Corps’ plan and “would be difficult,” said Cathy Shropshire, director of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation.

Opponents have called on a federal veto of the pumps to stay consistent with Bush administration policies aiming to avoid net losses in wetlands.

Comments on the Yazoo Backwater Project may still be submitted by mail. Forms may be requested by contacting the Vicksburg District public affairs office at 601-631-5053. They also may be submitted online to yazoopumps@usace.army.mil.