----- Message from "Carol Couch"
on Tue, 6 Jun 2006
13:48:33 -0400 -----
To: "Joe Maltese"
cc: ,
Subject: Serious Declining Reservoir Storage
Dear Joe:
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 to 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/
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