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Dams should already be in placeDams should already be in place |
2009-11-09 |
By Robert Tribble |
According to Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, a recent court ruling has been made that says Atlanta has not been authorized by Congress to withdraw drinking water from Lake Lanier. She also says that a plan to dam the Flint River will be devastating and be a waste of taxpayer dollars.
It also has been reported that Gov. Sonny Perdue is considering several new reservoirs on the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers after the Court ruled that Georgia has three years to stop withdrawals from Lake Lanier or be authorized by the U.S. Congress to continue the withdrawals.
Atlanta is our state’s largest city and most of us don’t care about living there because we enjoy the small town life style. However, the folks in the Atlanta area must have water, and it must be provided from lakes in the surrounding area. Water conservation alone will not solve their problem.
A proposal to have a study done to build dams on the Flint that could guarantee water for Georgians for decades to come was made last year by Congressmen Nathan Deal and Lynn Westmoreland.
The Flint winds for more than 200 miles from the South Atlanta suburbs to the Gulf of Mexico and has two small dams on it already. Westmoreland was going to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to do a study on whether larger dams could be built that would provide the needed water.
As soon as the Deal and Westmoreland plans were announced a group of extreme environmentalists who call themselves the Flint River keepers became active and dedicated themselves to fight any future dams on the Flint. They said the Flint would no longer be a river but rather a ditch, which of course is hogwash.
It has been over a year since Deal said he was drafting legislation to allow construction of dams on the Flint. It also has been over a year since Westmoreland began pushing for more studies of the river. He said back then his plan was about managing our natural resources and if there was a solution to manage the river systems why not do it.
Many of you remember that Congress approved the money to build three dams on the Flint River back in the early 1970’s.
Congressman Jack Flynt from Griffin led the movement.
The four major reasons for the dams were electricity, flood control, water and recreation.
The cost to build the dams back then was less than a tenth of what the cost would be today.
Our famous governor, who was eventually elected president, vetoed the needed project in 1974 and the state legislature came very close but was unable to rally a two thirds vote to override the veto. Jimmy Carter opposed the dams after taking a paddle ride down the river and becoming convinced that some fish or other creatures would be destroyed.
Carter’s veto of the three dam project 35 years ago has done much economic damage to the areas along the river where the dams were to be built.
It caused the loss of much needed electricity, has allowed flooding to occur on numerous occasions along the river and has stopped any chance of water being provided for Atlanta or any other area.
Free flowing rivers are beautiful and enjoyable, but so are large lakes. Three dams on the Flint that flows for more than 200 miles would still leave many miles of river from one dam to the other. The dams should already be in place.
Tribble is the president of Fayette Newspapers, Inc. |
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