CUMMING - Governor Sonny Perdue Saturday declared a state of emergency in 85 north Georgia counties - including Forsyth and Hall - and asked President Bush to declare the state a major disaster area as it copes with a historic drought.
"This morning I signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency," the Governor said. "Just this morning I sent a letter to President Bush asking him to declare a major disaster area in this section of Georgia."
Perdue asked Bush to exempt Georgia from complying with federal guidelines that dictate the amount of water sent downstream from Georgia's reservoirs to federally protected mussel species.
"These are the silly type of federal bureaucratic rules and we are just saying,enough is enough," the Governor added. "We're tired of it, it doesn't make any sense."
He made the announcements at a news conference on the shores of Lake Lanier at Mary Alice Park in Cumming. The level of the lake, the primary water supply source for metro Atlanta and a number of other North Georgia counties, was 1056.33 Saturday morning. That's 14.67 feet below full pool and 1.18 feet lower than it was a week ago.
Congressman Nathan Deal stood with the Governor and said this was the right course, calling on President Bush to issue a disaster declaration.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps of Engineers are executive branch agencies are that are under his jurisdiction, so he's got the power and he's got the control," Deal said.
Perdue said he did not want to wait to declare an emergency, a mistake Louisiana made following Hurricane Katrina.
The Governor also pointed out that unlike Georgia, Alabama and Florida are not under water conservation restrictions.
Perdue's emergency declaration drew approval from lakeside homeowner Karl Funderburg, who, along with his small daughters, showed up with protest signs against the Corps of Engineers.
"Why do we have to go to these extremes to make the Army Corps of Engineers and our federal government realize the problem before it gets this far down the road," Funderburg asked.
EPD director Carol Couch, also with Governor Perdue, said that slowing the Corps of Engineers water releases could extend water storage up to 200 days, well into next year but if not, a major disaster would befall one of the nation's major metropolitan areas.
"Nature does what nature does and it's severe and extreme, but it's combined with a man made disaster of federal bureaucracy," Couch said.
Perdue said that he is confident the state ``will emerge from this disaster stronger than before with a solution that will benefit all of Georgia's interests for years to come.''
He says that Georgia ``will step up to the plate to conserve our precious resources -- we need our federal partners to do the same and not continue to shift this water downstate while it's needed here.''
Georgia was under statewide water restrictions in April that limited outdoor watering to three days a week.
By May the city of Atlanta allowed watering only on weekends, and last month environmental officials banned virtually all outdoor watering through the northern half of the state.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report).
Wednesday
October 16th, 2024
11:23PM
