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Name:
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jeff r
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Subject:
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Lake Lanier
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Date:
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6/13/2006 9:22:13 AM
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This article was written in today's Montgomery Advertiser. It concerns possible rewriting of the water use code
Editorial
'Water wars' intensify again
For going on two decades, Alabama has been engaged in disputes with Georgia and Florida over that most valuable of natural resources -- water. The tenor of the discussions has ranged from amicable to angry, in full recognition of the high stakes involved.
Now trust -- or its betrayal -- has surfaced as an issue in the long-running exchange among the states. At issue is the conduct of John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a major player in the water distribution concerns at the center of the states' debate.
The Birmingham News reports that Alabama officials, including Gov. Bob Riley and U.S. Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, contend Woodley misled the state in saying that the Corps of Engineers would remain neutral in the dispute, then proceeding with plans to revise its water distribution regulations in ways that would harm Alabama. Woodley is seen as favoring the interests of Georgia in his actions.
This is far more than some tiresome bit of bureaucratic wrangling. The implications of the eventual decisions in the aptly named "water wars" are enormous.
Two important river basins, the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint, will be affected by the water allocation decisions. The challenge lies in balancing the water needs of metropolitan Atlanta and north Georgia with the downstream needs of Alabama and Florida. If the decisions were easy, they'd have been made long ago and would not remain unresolved more than 15 years after the issues were raised.
The Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, which merge near Wetumpka to form the Alabama River, are hugely significant for our state. The Coosa, heavily impounded to form a string of lakes, including Lake Jordan, would face a tremendous impact if its flow is substantially reduced. The Tallapoosa, which feeds Lake Martin, one of the state's greatest economic and recreational assets, is also a leading source of drinking water.
The Chattahoochee, which forms part of Alabama's border with Georgia, has notable agricultural and transportation uses that could be severely compromised if its flow is significantly cut. In addition, the river flows into the Flint and then into the Apalachicola in Florida, which feeds into Apalachicola Bay, an area critical to that state's seafood industry.
There's a great deal at stake here and it is troubling to see Woodley propose an action that, at least in the view of Alabama officials, is a complete contradiction of an earlier pledge.
"They misled us on it. As a matter of fact, I think it was a straight lie," Shelby told the News. "I am disappointed. The whole delegation is."
That's pointed language from a senator not given to rash statements.
Sessions, who said he agreed with Shelby that the state had been misled, told the News that he had spoken with the secretary of the Army -- Woodley's superior -- and was told that rewriting the water distribution manual would be delayed. Secretary Francis Harvey "determined there is no legal requirement to rewrite this manual in the immediate future," Sessions said.
Assuming Harvey's assurance holds, there is another chance for mediation among the governors. That is much to be desired, as a legal battle could drag on for still more years with an uncertain outcome. Riley told the News he has urged Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to return to the negotiating table.
Alabamians -- Georgians and Floridians, too, for that matter -- should hope that's what happens next.
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