Two ‘water war’ reactions that weren’t by the book
On Friday, a federal judge stunned Georgia with his diagnosis of the 19-year, tri-state water war:
Metro Atlanta had no right to rely on federally constructed Lake Lanier for its water supply, he said — and Congress needed to step in to clarify the issue.
Most of the reaction from Georgia politicians and candidates has been predictable — an expression of disappointment followed by a promise, brimming with earnestness, to work toward a bipartisan, tri-state solution.
But two reactions diverged from the ordinary. U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville reflected an emerging view that Georgia’s congressional delegation might punt the issue back to the three states involved:
“I am disappointed in the ruling and will begin immediately working with my colleagues in the Georgia delegation to resolve this issue.
At the same time, there is nothing to prohibit the governors of the three states from coming together and reaching a long-term workable solution.”
Or maybe that was candidate-speak for “Just wait. I’ll fix it when I get there.”
On the Democratic side, House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin breathed fire at the influence of developers over a Republican-controlled state Capitol:
Georgia’s Republican leaders have been using lawyers and engineers and political fixers to put off this day, and all of the millions of dollars poured into that effort has finally come to nothing.
Instead of investing in the science we needed to learn what our resources are, and the hard policy decisions to learn how we can most effectively use them, we have spent our money trying to move the water to where the developers and mortgage peddlers wanted the growth to occur….
The Big Money Development Boomers have been paying big bucks for the fantasy that they would never have to face this reality.
They have been able to enlist the present state administration in this fairy tale, and now the federal court has said, in effect, “Time to close the story book. Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall.”
Somebody didn’t get any money from the Reynolds family.
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18 comments Add your comment
Matilda
July 20th, 2009
11:36 am
The Republican “leadership” in this state has FAILED the citizens of Georgia.
Steve
July 20th, 2009
11:46 am
I agree with what (I hope) Deal is saying … we now have a deadline for resolving this and that might be the impetus needed to finally end this saga:
http://www.lakelanier.com/blogs/judges-lake-lanier-ruling-actually-good-news/
Tea
July 20th, 2009
11:46 am
As much as Republican thinking appears to be frequently impractically ideological, short sighted, blinded by profit and oriented toward the wealthy, I find it almost impossible to believe they are the only ones culpable.
cajdawg
July 20th, 2009
11:51 am
Democrats were in charge in the governors mansion and state legislature far longer longer than Republicans, so to primarily blame current Republicans is idiotic.
Vince
July 20th, 2009
12:01 pm
We are wasting time trying to blame Democrats or Republicans for the problem. Republicans have run the state for the last 6 years and this problem is certainly much older than that. The real idiots are the people who try to paint it as a blue or red problem. We don’t have time for that anyway and it gets us nowhere.
The real people t o blame, actually are the politicians in Florida and Alabama who have created the problem solely for economice and political reasons. Their logic flies in the face of all reason. Metropolitan Atlanta actually consumes a VERY small percentage of the water that is drawn from the Chattahoochee basin. Almost all of the water drawn out is taken south of Columbus.
Alabama’s Governor Riley let the proverbial cat out of the bag Friday when he joyfully predicted the legal decision would be “an economic boon” to his state. He says this because he hopes Atlanta’s troubles will spread growth his way.
You see, the issue has never been about water in the first place. It has been about two states’ dislike of Atlanta. For anyone in Florida to talk about Atlanta’s uncontrolled growth is beyond comical.
The Snark
July 20th, 2009
12:10 pm
Cajdawg: It’s not so idiotic to blame the current Republicans for this mess. I remember very clearly in 2002 when brand new Republican governors in Georgia, Florida and Alabama issued a somewhat snarky joint press release saying that the water wars had gone on too long and they were going to meet like grownups and work it out. Well, that didn’t work out, did it?
opit
July 20th, 2009
1:03 pm
Problems come in clusters. There’s a lot of international pressure to give private companies access to public water supplies. Anybody who doesn’t understand the danger of giving business control of any necessity of life has no appreciation of history : slavery, water empires,monopolists,robber barons and more. JanforGore on Current TV online will scare any sane person silly with her tales. I monitor Care2 and more myself – and have even listed a bunch of wild intel at Opit’s LinkFest!
Google is your friend.
There is stimulus money for water treatment out there. I suggest you jump for it yesterday.
Vince
July 20th, 2009
1:23 pm
Yes, The Snark….it is idiotic to blame Republicans for the problem. Just because none of the governors were able to come to agreement does not mean they CREATED the problem.
In truth, Alabama does not want us to solve the problem. They only want to hurt Atlanta’s image and drive business in their direction. They don’t need more water. You only needed to look at the water levels of Lake Eufaula and Lake Seminole over the past few years of drought. Their levels were just fine and dandy. Again, this issue isn’t really about water. It is about the dislike of Atlanta by other states.
Matilda
July 20th, 2009
1:44 pm
It’s true that many of Georgia’s woes began before the total Republican rule at the hands of many ineffective Democratic legislators and officials. Sure. It’s also true that Gov. Barnes tried to address our water issues with plans for N. Georgia Water Planning Commission and three new reserviors. He was also initiating plans that would incent local water jurisdictions to shore up their systems and fix leaks, reducing pointless waste. After ousting Barnes with his swagger and flag rhetoric, Gov. Perdue didn’t give one rat’s fuzzy behind about this issue until Lake Lanier — the source of his own drinking water — was about to run dry and the media stuck cameras in his face. Then what did he do? He hollered for the lawyers! And you call ME an idiot? Please.
Let’s all insist our next governor ditch the partisan ego BS and actually get something done for a change.
BPJ
July 20th, 2009
2:16 pm
I hope that (after filing an appeal, to give Georgia some leverage), the three states can work out a deal. Whatever the three states can work out, Congress will pass (although we might have to promise the Tennessee delegation that we won’t go after the Tenn. River).
Whatever is worked out, part of the solution will be water conservation. This doesn’t have to be odious. Here are two things that would make an enormous difference in metro Atlanta’s water consumption”
(1) everyone with a “running” toilet should get it fixed. It’s amazing the amount of water this saves. Another helpful thing is getting the dual-flush toilets (these have two buttons, one for “number one”, and the other…well you get it). We replaced our old toilets with these last year, got a nice rebate, and saw our water bills go way down!
(2) Don’t water your garden in the middle of the day! It’s amazing to see people running sprinkler systems at noon in July. Water early in the morning or in the evening; if you have a system with a timer, water at 3am. And plant things which are drought-tolerant – there are plenty of choices.
There will have to be some strict rules about water efficiency in new developments – that’s the new reality. Deal with it, or move to Alabama or Florida!
More On The Water War Ruling « Goat Hill News
July 20th, 2009
2:27 pm
[...] Two ‘water war’ reactions that weren’t by the book Political Insider [...]
The Snark
July 20th, 2009
3:05 pm
The Snark most assuredly does not blame Republicans for the tri-state water problem. Lord knows it’s been going on for a long time. But the current Republican officeholders in this state have completely failed in their duty to solve the problem. If they are replaced by Democrats who likewise fail to solve the problem, be assured that I will be the first to skewer them in this august blog.
GSU
July 20th, 2009
3:42 pm
Deal appears to be very level-headed. I like that he immediately tries to resolve the issue instead of pointing fingers
Daedalus
July 20th, 2009
4:41 pm
If we’re waiting on Sonny Perdue to show leadership on infrastructure (any infrastructure, with the exception of ramps for bass fishing) then we are better of praying for rain and reservoirs to store the water.
I remember the all-GOP governors of Alabama, Georgia and Florida promising to end the water litigation and work out a deal. They didn’t even try. Now Sonny’s a lame-duck heading back to Bonaire. His ‘vow’ to appeal just means more litigation (he’ll be out of office before his appeal is ruled on) and the Georgia Republicans in Congress don’t have ANY friends across the aisle…what with calling Obama an uppity muslim terrorist-socialist commie and all.
BTW, deal isn’t level-headed, he’s block-headed. It looks similar from the top, but the flat sides and blank face are dead-giveaways….
Zeb
July 20th, 2009
9:33 pm
Go DuBose!!!! Speak truth to the greedy morons who want to pave and pillage this beautiful state. Keep it up. Kick some butt!!! Say what needs to be said and keep saying it! Lordy how this state needs an honest leader.
Mae
July 21st, 2009
10:02 am
The last line of Jim Galloway’s piece says a lot – “Somebody didn’t get money from Mercer Reynolds.” Too often developers looking to profit from building on public lands find willing allies in the political arena, more often than not of the Republican stripe. Case in point – Jekyll Island State Park, where developer Mercer Reynolds has recently sealed a deal giving his firm free use of state-owned oceanfront land in order to build $160 million worth of time-shares, while the taxpayers of Georgia get stuck with $50 million in bond indebtedness to pay for the infrastructure that supports the Reynolds project. Gubernatorial candidates DuBose Porter, as well as David Poythress, clearly recognize that deals such as this are fiscally irresponsible and bad public policy. Our Republican candidates for Governor, on the other hand, seem to be keen on giving away land in Georgia’s only barrier island staee park. Eric Johnson, who is an ex officio member of the Jekyll Island board of directors that has been pushing the Reynolds project and scrambling for taxpayes dollars to subsidize it, is leading the pack in this regard. Coincidentally(?), Jamie Reynolds, who heads up the Jekyll development project, is co-chairing Johnson’s campaign finance committee.
Porter Campaign Pushes Back Against David Poythress’ Claims Of Deafening Silence — Peach Pundit
July 30th, 2009
5:46 pm
[...] Atlanta could no longer depend on Lake Lanier for its water supply [Galloway, Jim (July 20, 2009). Two ‘water war’ reactions that weren’t by the book. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved on [...]
What Pundits Are Saying » Blog Archive » Porter Campaign Fact Checks David Poythress’ Claims Of Deafening Silence
September 1st, 2009
5:09 am
[...] Atlanta could no longer depend on Lake Lanier for its water supply [Galloway, Jim (July 20, 2009). Two ‘water war’ reactions that weren’t by the book. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved on [...]