Georgia’s protracted legal-fight with neighbors Florida and Alabama over water supply from the Chattahoochee basin has extended nearly two decades. Earlier this year during a trip to Washington, Governor Sonny Perdue met with Obama administration officials hoping for a fresh look at the situation. At the time, a promise was made for an official to visit Georgia for a first-hand look at the major reservoir in the battle-Lake Lanier. That happened Wednesday with the Interior Secretary’s trip south.
This morning, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took a helicopter tour over the north Georgia reservoir:
While Lake Lanier has benefited from good rainfall that’s swept the state in recent months, Perdue acknowledged the basin is still recovering—it remains about five feet below normal.
Meanwhile, in the tri-state fight for Lanier’s water, a Florida U.S. District judge is considering the latest arguments made earlier this month. The question-whether metro Atlanta is entitled to use Lanier as a main drinking water source.
Perdue says costly legal wrangling is going nowhere:
This morning, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took a helicopter tour over the north Georgia reservoir:
"My own view of Lake Lanier as I walk away from it is it’s one of the great assets here in the state of Georgia that has multiple uses including the generation of power that we use in homes and industry here in GA."Getting a full sense of the scope of Southeast water issues was a charge given by President Obama to Salazar when he took the reigns of Secretary of the Interior in January. Flanked by Governor Sonny Perdue at a state Capitol press conference, Salazar said the water war is one of the "cardinal issues" for his department.
While Lake Lanier has benefited from good rainfall that’s swept the state in recent months, Perdue acknowledged the basin is still recovering—it remains about five feet below normal.
Meanwhile, in the tri-state fight for Lanier’s water, a Florida U.S. District judge is considering the latest arguments made earlier this month. The question-whether metro Atlanta is entitled to use Lanier as a main drinking water source.
Perdue says costly legal wrangling is going nowhere:
"Ultimately, one litigation leads to another litigation to another appeal, and as Secretary Salazar so wisely talks about what he accomplished in Colorado, the ultimate solution is a mutual agreement among the three affected states."As attorney general for Colorado in 2002, Salazar helped engineer a tri-state water agreement between Colorado and neighboring Kansas and Nebraska. After tens of millions of dollars spent in the courts, the Governors and attorney generals of those states hashed-out a deal themselves:
"It’s a model that essentially projects what the water supply entitlements are to each of the states, and sets forth an agreement under which any disputes are in fact resolved. And it’s worked well. I’m hoping some of those lessons that we’ve learned in those kinds of situations might be useful here."Salazar’s position as Interior Secretary doesn’t allow for the power to impose a solution to the tri-state water battle here. Instead, he says he wants to be "helpful when called upon":
"I do not see us as playing the role of coming in and hammering heads and trying to get the deal done. It really is something that has to come from the three respective states, and if we can play a facilitating role in that, we would be very happy to help."Thursday, Salazar heads further south to meet with Florida Governor Charlie Crist to get that state’s perspective.
