Georgia Governor Declares State Of Emergency

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue on Saturday declared the northern part of Georgia a disaster because of drought and is asking President Bush to also declare that area a federal disaster. Drought has stricken this area for some time leaving Lake Lanier at its lowest levels ever.

Last week I told you about the problem stating that much of the problem of Lake Lanier being so low was the requirement to keep water flowing out of the damn at a prescribed release amount in order to protect some endangered species. There are also issues with water power plants downstream on the Chattahoochee River. Gov. Perdue would like in his declaration to change the law and reduce the amount of water being released from the lake in order to conserve it for the 5 million customers it supplies.

The Army Corps of Engineers reached an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 80s to release 5,000 cubic feet of water per second in order to supply power plants and assist in the protection of certain mussels and sturgeon, considered endangered species. One U.S. congressman has come out publicly in opposition to this requirement.

“What we’ve learned from this is what a blunt weapon the Endangered Species Act has become, where some obscure bureaucrat in Fish and Wildlife and some obscure judge can decide that mussels are more important than our children and grandchildren,” said U.S. Rep. John Linder, R-Georgia, who spoke after Perdue at Saturday’s news conference.

Governor Perdue thinks it’s a bureaucratic mess.

“We are also mired in a frustrating manmade disaster of federal bureaucracy,” Perdue said. “The actions of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Services are downright dangerous, and Georgia cannot stand for this negligence.”

Tom Remington