Public-private reservoir bill passes

By Chris Joyner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A bill that would allow local governments to forge partnerships with private businesses to help pay for large water projects passed the House on Wednesday over stiff, bipartisan opposition.

The bill, Senate Bill 122, is part of Gov. Nathan Deal's plan to jump-start reservoir development, but several lawmakers voiced concerns that it would lower environmental protections and give too much authority to private developers.

The bill passed by a vote of 92-68, with a number of metro Atlanta Democrats supporting the measure.

Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross, opposed the bill and said Georgians downstream from the new projects would suffer.

"We have water supply concerns, too," he said.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lynn Smith, R-Newnan, stressed the voluntary nature of the process. Local governments could choose to create these partnerships or they could go it alone, she said.

“Nothing in this bill is mandatory," she said. "It is all optional.”

Smith pushed back on the claim by opponents that the bill opened the door to private developers looking to use state governments to create new lakes for development.

“I have never known that ‘private’ is a synonym for ‘developer,’ ” she said.

Public-private partnerships using state money would have to keep an undeveloped “buffer” around the reservoirs, she said. Using only local and private money would have no such requirement, however.