Perdue: ‘No’ to conservation legislation, ‘yes’ to ‘water wars’ appeal
July 23, 2009 at 4:22 pm by Thomas Wheatley in News
Flanked by Mayor Shirley Franklin, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, state lawmakers and business bigwigs, Gov. Sonny Perdue this morning told reporters the state would appeal a recent ruling that said metro Atlanta’s use of Lake Lanier for its primary water supply was illegal.
Perdue met behind closed doors with 130 officials at the Governor’s Mansion this morning to discuss Georgia’s next step in the ongoing water wars dispute with Florida and Alabama. (Jim Galloway has a list of those who attended.)
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has given Georgia three years to seek Congressional approval for the use of Lake Lanier. If not, withdrawals would return to 1975 levels, when the metro region population was a third the size it is today. Perdue, who earlier this week said he’d “fight to the death” for Georgia’s water, said he hopes to bring other states on board because the federal management of reservoirs is a “national” issue.
For nearly 20 years, the three states have argued over water withdrawals from the lake, which was originally built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s for flood control, hydroelectric production and downstream barge navigation.
When asked by CL if he’d considered asking his floor leaders to introduce legislation that would encourage conservation or set mandates, Perdue bristled. He said the state had made strides over the last 18 months simply by asking local governments and residents to reduce their use of water.
“The fact is, we cannot conserve ourselves back to 1975 standards,” Perdue said. “We demonstrated as a state that we have a culture of conservation…When we undid the drought act, the numbers didn’t automatically come back…Why should we think about mandates in the very first act to do something like this?”
The governor’s tapped Georgia Power CEO Mike Garrett to lead a state water task force. That team will include former officials (some of whom are now Gold Dome lobbyists), local government officials, and business leaders. Appointing Garrett might have been one of Perdue’s cagiest maneuvers yet. Georgia Power, which is owned by Atlanta-based Southern Co., has sister companies in Florida and Alabama. Prior to joining Georgia Power, Garrett was an Alabama Power executive.
Perdue said the team will also look at the feasibility of other water sources, such as withdrawing water from the Chattahoochee River south of Buford Dam.
“That’s not a federally constructed program,” Perdue said. “That’s God constructed.”
No word on how that whole “Let’s-invade-Tennessee” idea is going.
View a photo gallery of Perdue’s press conference.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:27 pm
A solution to the water war should not be that hard to achieve. The governors of the three involved states are all Republicans and they should be able to sit down and hash out their differences. If they need help, they could solicit help from other, right-thinking Republican governors (or former governors). Sanford of South Carolina and Palin of Alaska come to mind as candidates who seem very compatible with the three water war governors.