Tybee Island Beach Fine for Sea Turtle Nesting

It seems the federally protected loggerhead sea turtles will find plenty of nesting habitat on Tybee Island’s freshly re-nourished beach after all.

The federal government spent $11 million pumping fresh sand onto Georgia's largest public beach last fall.

And late last month researchers were concerned the sand was too compact for the finicky sea turtles to lay their eggs. But now, the Department of Natural Resources turtle expert Mark Dodd says he’s reinterpreted the data to find the compact sand is mostly on the tide-line where the turtles don’t nest anyway. And where they do dig… 85-90 percent of that shore is nest-friendly.

Their nesting season begins early May and ends in October.

Good news for Lake Hartwell

Rains in December were a big bonus to Lake Hartwell in east Georgia. Its level is up nearly four feet from the recent low. Because of that, the Army Corps of Engineers says it probably won’t have to release any water from Hartwell for at least three weeks to help feed downstream needs. And more good news is ahead--forecasters say at least two storms could positively affect the area around the lake in the next week. Lake Hartwell is shared by both Georgia and South Carolina.

Tybee getting beach renourishment

Tybee Island’s beach is getting an 11-million dollar injection of new sand. The project headed by the Army Corps of Engineers is the first time since 2000 that the state’s largest public beach has been renourished with new sand to repair erosion. Tybee’s beach has been in dire need of help, with portions so eroded it has disappeared underwater during high tide. The Army Corps began the project last week by pumping sand from the ocean floor. Work will be complete sometime in January after around 120,000 truck loads of sand have been spread.

Army Corps holds hearings over river basin

Public discussion over the re-writing of water management rules in Georgia and two other states is underway this week. The Army Corps of Engineers held one hearing Monday in Kennesaw, with another to come today in Rome. Two other public hearings will be held in the Alabama cities of Gadsden and Montgomery. At issue is the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa river basin, which flows from northwestern Georgia down across Alabama to Mobile. It is that system which has been part of a two-decade-old feud involving Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Drought conditions worsening

Extreme drought conditions have spread into most of northeast Georgia. Most rivers and streams are at record lows for this time of year.

State climatologist David Stooksbury also warns that dry conditions are rapidly intensifying across the coastal plane - particularly in central and southwest Georgia.

The Chattahoochee River near Cornelia is at 28 percent of normal flow while the Middle Oconee River near Athens is at 26 percent of normal flow. And that means lower inflows to North Georgia reservoirs.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Lake Lanier - Atlanta's main water source - is only receiving 26 percent of its normal inflows this month. The lake is about 14 feet below full, lower than it has ever been at this time of year.

Judge grants protection for forested wetlands

Georgia’s forested wetlands get greater protection. A federal judge ruled in favor of environmentalists yesterday who took the Army Corp of engineers to court for allowing logging in a private lake area in Southeast Georgia without a permit.

The Corp wrongly waived the permit in 2006; opponents argued the logging would harm the lake’s habitat as a wetland.

The ruling clarifies a vague exemption in the federal Clean Water Act which allows permit exemption for “ongoing” tree harvesting. The judge said landowners failed to show they had logged their lake in the past, and there was no guarantee the trees would grow back.

Florida opposition to water plan to help Georgia

Florida officials sent a letter to federal officials detailing their objections to the newly-devised plan that would allow more water to be stored in Georgia--and less going into Apalachicola Bay. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers received the Florida complaint, which says the plan will decimate oyster populations and threaten protected species in the river. The government is expected to finalize its plan on June 1st.

Georgia Drought Update

Georgia is still in a historic drought. With the state entering the hot season, and winter rains failing to replenish many of the states northern reservoirs, the chance to undo last years water loss is almost gone.

Overall, the states water levels look a lot like they did this time last year - when Georgians were told the state was entering into extreme drought - and then just months later, metro Atlanta was counting down the days till they ran out of water entirely.

And now, State Climatologist, David Stooksbury says the outlook for this year’s hot season is the same:

"Being that we are starting at very low levels already across much of the state, the conditions will slowly worsen, even if we have normal rain fall through October."

Stookesbury says South Georgia is looking a little better - not as dry as it has been in the past but could see drought conditions within a month. For North Georgia, Lake Lanier, unlike last year, is starting at a deficit, and Lake Allatoona- it filled quickly, but loses water just as fast.

New water-operating plan

The Army Corps of Engineers’ current operating plan is, when there’s more water, store it rather than send to Florida. But with a dry forecast on the horizon, the gates will likely open to send it downstream, spelling bad news for Lake Lanier and West Point Lake.

To help Lake Lanier, the EPD announced last week that it will probably try to extend a March plan to refill it. In that plan, Peachtree Creek's flow was reduced to refill the basin, however a concern over what that does to water quality for the wildlife habitat requires further study.

The Corps' operating plan also brings back "ramping rates," which allow releases to be brought up and down slowly to accommodate slow-moving mussels as they get up and down their habitats.

New water plan for Georgia river basin

There is a new water management plan for water Georgia shares with Florida and Alabama. The federal government's new plan reduces how much water Georgia would have to send downstream to Florida's Apalachicola Bay during extreme drought. Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been fighting over water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin for nearly two decades. The Army Corps of Engineers developed new guidelines after the latest round of negotiations between the three states broke down in February.

State EPD asks for water cut out of Lanier

The Army Corps of Engineers has received a letter from Georgia officials requesting the flow of water out of Lake Lanier be cut-down to help the needs of metro Atlanta. The state’s Enviromental Protection Director wants the Corps to keep an additional 130-million gallons of water a day in the federal reservoir through April. The letter says this move is needed to "preserve valuable storage in Lanier for future use during this exceptional drought".

Meanwhile, it appears a water-sharing deal between Georgia, Alabama and Florida will not be done by the previously set deadline of today. The Interior Secretary is mediating the dispute--he says he expects to receive a status report today instead. Any new deadline being set depends on where the three sides are in talks.

Florida to Army Corps: reassess water flow

Florida’s top environmental official says the reduced flow of water into the Apalachicola River has already changed the makeup of the water, and is killing oysters. The official says the Army Corps of Engineers needs to reassess its decision to cut the flow of water that is sent downstream in the Chattahooche River, from Georgia’s Lake Lanier. Georgia’s Sonny Perdue will meet the governors of Florida and Alabama December 17th to talk water issues once again.

Georgia could get bad news in water war fight

A decision will come soon from a federal appeals court that could invalidate a 2003 agreement between the Army Corps of Engineers and Georgia, over water rights to Lake Lanier. In that agreement, Georgia secured rights to about a quarter of the water from the Lanier federal reservoir. Alabama and Florida have claimed the deal is illegal. Last month, the federal appeals court's Washington circuit heard oral arguments over the case--another chapter in the long running water wars.

Corps: Rains Won't Do Much For Lanier

Recent rains haven't covered the sand bars on the Chattahoochee River at Eagle Phenix Dam in Columbus, Nov. 27, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The rains that swept over much of Georgia in recent days comes as good news, at least for the southwestern part of the state: Columbus and Rome got the most serious soaking in Sunday and Monday's rains.

The National Weather Service in Peachtree City says Columbus got over two and a half inches inches of rain, and Rome just about half that amount. Rob Holland of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the limited rainfall mostly helped the Chattahoochee River downstream from Atlanta:

"The level of Lake Lanier is not going to be affected very much by the recent rainfall. It did not come far enough north and fall over the basin that feeds the lake itself. However, they did get significant rain in the lower part of the Chattahoochee basin."

Holland says that flow should allow the Corps to halve the amount of water released from Lake Lanier from some 4,000 to about 1,500 cubic feet per second for about a week. Lanier is currently at 19 feet below nominal levels - a record low.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the drought.

Corps looking into Middle Georgia Regional Airport

Middle Georgia Regional Airport is being investigated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is looking for leftover munitions or pollution from the time the airport was a WWII flight training school. So far, an initial inspection at a former pistol range at the site has revealed no concerns. However, officials say some petroleum compounds in the soil of a skeet range need further investigation. Cochran Field was used from 1941 through 1948 as a basic flight training school. It eventually became the current Middle Georgia Regional Airport--9 miles south of Macon.

Lanier's flow could get second cut

Lake Lanier could be in-line for another reduction in its water releases.

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers says it will decide December 7th whether it will further cut the water released from the shrinking reservoir in north Georgia. The Corps could cut flows as much as five percent.

Just last week, federal biologists gave the go-ahead to the Corps for water reductions to be made. That cut was about five percent, or just over three billion gallons. In the end, the plan could reduce water sent downstream by as much as 17-percent--depending on lake levels.

Lanier is metro Atlanta’s main water source, and has been hit hard by Georgia’s drought. Yesterday, the lake reached its lowest level since it was built in the 1950’s. Only one of Lanier’s roughly 100 boat ramps is still usable.

Decision to come today on Lanier water release

Federal biologists are expected today to give their decision on the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to reduce the water flow out of Georgia’s Lake Lanier. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been analyzing whether federally-protected mussels can survive on less water coming downstream, into Florida’s Apalachicola River. Earlier this month, an agreement was worked-out in Washington to help Georgia by slowing the release of Lanier’s water. It needs the O-K of the biologists to move forward.

Temporary fix brokered in water wars

Governor Sonny Perdue left Washington Thursday afternoon with some help for Georgia. It comes in the form of a 16-percent reduction in the release of water from Lake Lanier.

Perdue along with the governors of Alabama and Florida met with Bush administration and federal officials yesterday in what was described as sometimes "tense" meetings in trying to find solutions in the tri-state water wars. The Army Corps of Engineers' plan for water release reduction must still get approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The three governors plan to meet again in December in attempts to broker a longer-reaching deal.

Corps says there's enough water in Lanier

The Army Corps of Engineers says its recent testing of Lake Lanier shows there’s enough water for everybody. Even as the drought grips the state tighter day-by-day, Corps officials say north Georgians and residents downstream shouldn’t worry excessively over Lanier’s dropping levels.

Patrick Taylor, the Corps' assistant operations program manager at Lanier, said this to GPB Tuesday.

"It’s not likely that we’ll even exit or go beyond the conservation pool".

The upper level, or ‘conservation pool’, provides water to nearby communities like Buford, Gainesville, and Cumming. The lower, or ‘inactive pool’, feeds metro Atlanta and downstream residents. Despite Lanier shrinking close to lower elevation levels, Taylor says all should be fine:

"We’re presently at 1,055’ elevation, and that’s another 20 feet—vertical feet of water. And sooner or later it’s going to rain, so we’ll start replenishing the storage".

Taylor does acknowledge predictions of a dry winter could be problematic to replenish the lake.

Perdue, Riley to meet with Interior Sec'y., White House adviser

Water Wars, Water Woes from Dave Bender on Vimeo.
YouTube version: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nASTHXpvyz8

Governor Sonny Perdue plans to meet with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, and Jim Connaughton, environmental quality adviser to President George Bush, on Friday to discuss the drought, according to a report citing a Governor's Office official.

The two Administration officials, in an effort to head off more acrimony between Georgia, Alabama, Florida and the Army Corps of Engineers over water usage, are to meet later in the day with Alabama Governor Bob Riley.

Riley told The Birmingham News:

''We're going to tell him that the only way all of us get through this is through a concept of shared pain."

Perdue, at a press conference on the fast-drying shores of West Point Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 24, lashed out at both the Army Corps of Engineers and Riley (see video).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Chattahoochee, Dooly, Marion, Muscogee, and Talbot counties as primary natural disaster areas, due to drought-incurred losses. Crisp, Macon, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, and Taylor counties were named contiguous disaster areas.

The decision allows farmers in both areas to apply for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

Corps: 'Lanier has water for 100 days'

Lake Lanier and surrounding area. (U. S. Army Corps of Engineers)
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official says the water level at Lake Lanier is less severe than has been claimed.

Corps' operations project manager Jonathan Davis, says the lake has reserves to meet critical needs for the next several months, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report.

Davis, speaking at the Alpharetta Rotary Club, said the lake has over three months worth of water, according to the report.

The state, for its part, today filed suit in a Florida federal court against the Corps. Click here for more GPB News coverage of the water crisis.