Mississippi pump project gets go-ahead, but needs funding By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUSJanuary 15, 2021 GMT JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday gave the green light to long-debated flood control project in Mississippi. But the project still needs federal funding, and the start of construction could be years away — if it happens at all. Conservation groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency this week to try to block the project. They argue that the EPA last year improperly reversed its own 2008 veto of massive pumps for the rural Yazoo Backwater Area. The expanse of rural flatlands is between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, north of Vicksburg. Much of it is used for farming.