This is yet another example of Perdue’s total lack of vision. (He does have great eyesight when it comes to spotting a great land deal that will benefit him and his family at taxpayers’ expense, I’ll give him that much.)

No vision on water, none on transportation and absolutely none one education. Most governors want to leave some thing as a legacy for their tenure. Perdue’s will be his “Gone Fishin’” program which was purchased on the backs of about 80 eledrly veterans displaced from a soldier’s home in Milledgeville.

What a sensitive and sympathetic man our Governor is.

Where are the scientists? The academics? The Riverkeepers?

A solution to fix the water issue: Congress, back in the 1800’s, set the Georgia / Tennessee boarder on the 35th parallel. A bad survey was quickly accepted by Tennessee, while Georgia NEVER accepted the survey. For over 100 years, Georgia has disputed that survey. The 35th parallel runs directly through Nickajack Lake on the Tennessee River. Congress set the line. A bad survey does not change what Congress set.

I feel that Georgia should quit claim any disputed property to Tennessee in return for a tap into the Tenn River. We could then use I-75 right of way for the pipeline down to a split with one leg going east into Lanier watershed, and a second leg continuing down I-75 into the Allatoona watershed.

This plan effectively ends the decades old Water Wars dispute between the southern states. Here’s how:

Tennessee wins: They have their disputed land free and clear. The tap is a few miles from AL. Tenn has enjoyed full use of the Tenn River resource by this point. They won’t miss a drop. No more disputes with Georgia.

Alabama wins: They won’t miss the miniscule withdrawal. The Tenn River is huge. They will gain a forever full river system along the Chattahoochee River along the Alabama boarder with Georgia. Tons of water for their Dothan plant. No more disputes with Georgia.

Florida wins: Florida will forever have water flows keeping their sturgeon and mussels watered. Florida can now relax. No more disputes with Georgia.

This pipeline project is tiny compared to similar projects in Alaska (oil & gas pipelines) and Los Angeles (drinking water aquifers). This pipeline solves the water war between the states and provides several benefits for all of the states. This project would put a lot of folks back to work, and Lanier would be full indefinitely. Win, Win, Win.

State Senator David Shafer, Dist 48, has been working on this issue for years. Perdue should re-open this issue. Remember, Congress set the line on the 35th parallel. The subsequent survey was wrong. (I’ll bet somebody paid off the surveyors to keep the river in Tenn.)

No, water supply is NOT a national issue. Water supply is an issue which results from failure to plan and assuming that since a stream flows by you, you can use it all. Your local governments keep issuing building permits and didn’t undertake any conservation measures until drought hit a few years ago……sounds like a local problem to me.
And before you go wasting the taxpayers’ money on a lawsuit, you might want to figure out the law’s not very much in your favor on this one. Be smart, get an agreement, learn to live with your share of the water instead of expecting it’s all yours.

Alabama have nothing to gain by giving one drop of water to Georgia or the Atlanta Metro Area. They don’t even have to be reasonable… they can refuse to meet with Perdue and shut down that avenue. Even if Georgia said, “just give us enough water to meet our current needs”, they can and probably will refuse.

The other alternative is to take this issue to Congress. Of the three states, Florida has the most Congressional pull and (therefore) is on the side likely to prevail.

Georgia is out of options. While it seems far fetched to believe that the taps for 3 million people will be shut off in 3 years (resulting in a Katrina like devastation of the Atlanta metro area), there doesn’t appear to be an option that will resolve this issue in Georgia’s favor… even for simple drinking water for current residents.

Also, check out water conservation in the Chatt Basin during this drought. Places like Phenix City, AL; Eufaula, AL; Dothan, AL. NOt a single one of them had a rationing mechanism (even/odd etc). And Crisp and Goober (Bob Riley) are blowing smoke about ATL being unfair.

One more point, the Corps of Engineers in 1989 had a Post Authorization Change Report completed. This was a document to go to Congress to have Lake Lanier re-allocated (re-authorized). AL sued and the Corps started this ridiculous negotiation, rather than go to court and then send the report to Congress. In 1989, there was a very powerful Congressman from Jasper, AL named Tom Bevill. Bevill was on a committee which controlled the Corps of Engineers budget and they were afraid of him. These strategy decisions were made in the Mobile District of the Corps of Engineers. Bevill has since died and if we keep negotiating we will all be dead before its over.

What the judge essentially told the Corps to do last week is to prepare a Post Authorization Change Report and send it to Congress. They (AL-GA-FL) have negotiated for 20 years; 3 more years won’t matter. I think the judge should have given them 12 months. Goober has made one good point in his whinning. This IS a Federal project – not a GA, AL, or FL project. A freaking Federal project – do a good report on water use and the value of water and allocate the water to the one with the greatest value – whether it be drinking water in GA; oysters; or a nuclear power plant. The truth will truly set you free.

And DONT GO TO GULF SHORES or FLORIDA.

And Babs, you need to grow up. This IS, at times, a mean world you live in and Goober is not your friend.