There is a lot that could be written about federal Judge Paul Magnuson’s ruling that the Corps of Engineers has been illegally allowing metro Atlanta governments to withdraw water from Lake Lanier, but let’s focus on this aspect of it: if the judge’s ruling sticks (and I think it will), then all of the developers and construction companies who’ve been spreading subdivisions and strip shopping centers like a layer of radioactive manure over metro Atlanta are in for a rude awakening.
Magnuson’s ruling is sure to be a huge disappointment for politicos like Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, as well as county commissioners who for years have sucked up to the builders and real estate types. Not to mention lawmakers like Sen. Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville), who believes that everybody, by God, has the constitutional right to grade and pave every square inch of property abutting Georgia’s reservoirs and then put a septic tank along the shore line.
Magnuson shrewdly saw through that bullshi’ite in his 97-page ruling:
“Too often, state, local and even national government actors do not consider the long-term consequences of their decisions. Local governments allow unchecked growth because it increases tax revenue, but these same governments do not sufficiently plan for the resources such unchecked growth will require.”
The judge decided that it’s time to put a stop to that. Metro Atlanta will not be allowed to stick its straw into the Lanier reservoir after three more years unless Congress passes legislation that legalizes those withdrawals, he ruled.
The natural reaction of Congress will be to hold off on doing anything so that Georgia, Alabama and Florida can work out an equitable solution among themselves.
“Congress should not intervene in this process until the three states have reached a negotiated settlement,” said Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III of Alabama, a Klan admirer who calls black attorneys “boy” and was last seen criticizing Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being a “racist.”
Sessions has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I’ll remind him of an important piece of information: the three states are never going to reach a negotiated settlement on water allocation from Lake Lanier. They haven’t been able to do so for 19 years because Georgia insists that it has the right to take as much water as it wants from the reservoir. The governors of Alabama and Florida, for some odd reason, don’t think that’s a very good idea.
This means that the final decision on the use of Lake Lanier will be made by the House and Senate. And this is where Georgia is really in a weak position.
Start with the numbers: Florida and Alabama, whose interests generally align on this issue, have 36 members combined in their congressional delegations. Georgia has 15. Barack Obama carried Florida and its 27 electoral votes in 2008 – he did not carry Georgia’s 15 votes.
If those numbers aren’t daunting enough, let’s dig a little deeper in our analysis.
Nine of Georgia’s 15 congressional members are Republicans at a time when Democrats have the majority. Two of Georgia’s Democratic House members, Jim Marshall and John Barrow, might as well be Republicans because they’re more likely to vote with the GOP than with their own caucus. That leaves the state with four real Democrats in Congress – John Lewis, Sanford Bishop, David Scott and Hank Johnson – and they aren’t exactly considered to be power brokers.
The Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation are not just minority party legislators, they are minority party legislators who have gone to extraordinary lengths to piss off the Democratic leadership.
Rep. Paul Broun of Athens is a right-wing nutcase whack job who makes crazy statements comparing Barack Obama to Hitler. Suffice it to say that compared to Broun, Jeff Sessions comes off looking not only liberal, but sane.
Reps. Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland and Jack Kingston don’t accomplish much in the way of passing legislation, but that’s because they’re so busy mocking and taunting the Democratic leadership. I’m sure that gives them a lot of personal satisfaction and face time on the Sean Hannity show, but it also means they won’t get jackshi’ite if they’re hypocritical enough to ask the Democrats for help on the water issue.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss would rather spend his time securing farm subsidy payments and pork-barrel defense contracts for his lobbyist buddies than work on something as boring as water policy. Don’t expect much help there.
Rep. Nathan Deal, who at one time was a Democrat, is one of the more rational voices in the Republican House caucus, but he’s leaving Congress to run for governor. Sen. Johnny Isakson will at least listen to reason, but his party is now down to 40 seats in the Senate and that number seems to keep shrinking.
And yet, Perdue has this nutty idea that Congress is going to listen to him on the Lanier issue.
“I will use this opportunity not only to appeal the judge’s decision but, most importantly, to urge Congress to address the realities of modern reservoir usage,” Perdue said after the release of Magnuson’s decision on Friday. “The judge’s ruling allows a three-year window for either congressional action or an agreement by the states, and we will work diligently with Georgia’s delegation and members of Congress to re-establish the proper use of federal reservoirs throughout the country.”
If Perdue really believes that, then I’ve got some oceanfront property in Utah I’d be happy to sell to him and his real estate partner, Stan Thomas. I think somebody needs to inform our governor that his good friend George W. Bush is no longer the president and his party no longer holds a majority in Congress.
Two years ago, I was interviewing Perdue for a magazine article at a time when the state was in the midst of an historic drought. I asked him what he was planning to do to address the water shortage and mitigate the effects of future droughts.
He chuckled like a beneficent uncle trying to deal with the antics of an unruly, autistic nephew and said reassuringly:
“I remember in 2005 and 2006, flying over Lake Lanier, and it was absolutely beautiful, it was gorgeous. It was full. That’s why I’m optimistic. If we can get the management of the reservoirs aligned with future hydrology and potential rainfall and weather predictions and move quickly, I don’t think we’re in jeopardy of getting in this situation again.”
That may well be the dumbest comment I’ve ever heard uttered by an elected official in Georgia.
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