LOW GEORGIA RESERVOIR CAPACITY CONCERNS

[Old Dog]

OF INTEREST TO MANY OF US:

From: "Carol Couch" ccouch@dnr.state.ga.us
To: Cullen Larson
Date: Tuesday - June 6, 2006
Subject: Serious Declining Reservoir Storage

"USCOE" = US Army Corps of Engineers]
Dear Cullen:

Today Governor Perdue and I met with General Walsh and Col. Taylor of the USCOE to determine what course of action they will pursue given the serious concerns and requests of the State of Georgia regarding the storage releases currently being conducted from Lake Lanier, West Point Lake, Walter F. George and Lake Seminole. In short, the USCOE is not prepared to take our concerns into consideration and extend the time period of the biological consultation to allow for sound science to guide a rationale and balanced flow regime to be developed. I would appreciate your assistance in communicating the emerging problems to your members and help press the USCOE to be responsive. I have attached correspondence with the Corp for your information, but the essential points are summarized as follows. Please don't hesitate to call me with any questions.

The Corps' plan to provide flows for federally protected species is draining Georgia's water stored in the Corps reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River

What are the problem and the urgency?

Georgia predicts that with continued dry conditions this year the USCOE may drain all stored water in Lake Lanier, West Point Lake, Lake Walter F. George, and Lake Seminole. This would result in lake levels not seen since the 1950's with devastating consequences to water supply, water quality, lake-side homes and businesses. Already this year, low lake levels in Walter F. George are disrupting bass fishing and boating that is a mainstay of the local economy. During a multiple-year drought such as experienced in 1998-2000, very little of our natural winter and spring rains would be stored and conserved for use.

Why is Georgia's water being drained away?

Under Section 7 of the Endangered Species ACT (ESA), federal agencies such as USCOE are required to consult with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain a "biological opinion" that their operation or actions would not harm or jeopardize ESA protected species. Now after years of delay and in reaction to an injunction sought by Florida in the Northern District Court of Alabama that would compel the USCOE to undertake a Section 7 consultation, the USCOE on March 7, 2006 initiated this process and presented a hastily prepared operations plan. They have been releasing stored water to try and follow this plan. The federally protected species are a fish, the Gulf sturgeon, and two species of freshwater mussels.

Georgia's position is that the USCOE should responsibly manage the water releases to provide water flows for protected species in a manner that is scientifically sound, and that can be sustained with manageable or at least known impacts on other federal or state purposes such as hydropower production, navigation, water supply, recreation and fisheries. The USCOE and USFWS are rushing the consultation process without allowing complete analysis of all biological data and analysis of impacts to other water resource purposes. Meanwhile, the USCOE is releasing water according to this ill-considered plan.

What does Georgia want?

· We want the Corps to take decisive action to stop releases of more water than the Interim Operations require and immediately undertake measures to mitigate the negative effects of the Interim Operations

· We ask that the Corps thoroughly reconsider the Interim Operations in light of our findings that the continued operation of the federal reservoirs in the ACF Basin thereunder is unsustainable and threatens not only the endangered species but other vital needs within the Basin

· We ask that the Corps and the Fish and Wildlife Service extend the consultation so that the Corps and the Service have the opportunity to consider the best scientific and commercial data on the endangered and threatened species and the hydrologic data and analysis necessary to meet the needs of those species while meeting the other vital needs within the basin. An extended time frame should allow them time to properly address the impacts to the reservoirs and to use biological data that will not be available until sometime in July. (As late as last week and after being presented with Georgia's analysis and concerns during a two-day meeting, USCOE staff stated that they would not seek to extend the consultation.)

Carol A. Couch, Ph.D.
Director
Environmental Protection Divison
Suite 1152 East
2 Martin Luther King Jr., Drive, S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Office: 404-656-4713
Fax: 404-651-5778
http://www.gaepd.org/


Several attachments were included with the above email, including a letter from Governor Perdue to Secretary of the Army Harvey, and correspondence between EPD Director Couch and the US Army Corps of Engineers and US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Please contact Cullen Larson, GEDA at clarson@georgia.org if further information is needed.


DIRECT YOUR COMMENTS EXPRESSING YOUR VIEWS TO:

Honorable Francis J. Harvey
Secretary of the Army
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301


Col. Peter Taylor
Commander and District Engineer
Department of the Army
Mobile District, Corps of Engineers

190 Saint Joseph Street
Mobile, Alabama 36602-3630

Ms. Gail Carmody
Ecological Services
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1601 Balboa Avenue
Panama City, Florida 32405-3721

Send copies of your comments to:

Carol A. Couch, Ph.D.
Director
Environmental Protection Division
Suite 1152 East
2 Martin Luther King Jr., Drive, S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
==========================================================

[FUTCHCAIRO]

I KNOW THAT THE WATER LEVELS IN ALL THE PONDS AROUND HERE ARE DOWN A LOT, I THOUGHT THAT NORTH GA. HAD CONTINUED TO RECEIVE RAIN OVER THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS, THEY ALSO HAVE HAD A LOT MORE RAIN THAN WE HAVE OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS. I WAS OVER AT LAKE IAMONIA SEVERAL DAYS AGO AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS DOWN SOME BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THE PONDS. SOUNDS LIKE WE NEED TO CLOSE THE GATES ON ALL OF THE DAMS ALONG THE HOOCH, AND THE FLINT TILL THE RAINS IMPROVE.
PA