Perdue and congressmen point fingers in water war

By Jeremy Redmon and Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gov. Sonny Perdue called on Congress on Thursday to help settle Georgia’s water rights dispute with Alabama and Florida, a day after congressmen from all three states said Perdue and the other two governors also need to take action.

Perdue repeated his call on Congress to create a national water policy that could resolve the long-standing legal case concerning the Atlanta region’s reliance on Lake Lanier for drinking water.

Perdue and others have pointed out that there are dozens of federally managed lakes in other states that, like Lanier, are used for municipal water supplies even though they aren't specifically authorized for that purpose.

The governor’s renewed request came after federal lawmakers from Georgia, Alabama and Florida emerged from a closed-door meeting Wednesday and expressed frustration that the governors from their three states aren't working quickly enough toward a local settlement. The congressmen agreed to draft a joint letter to the governors urging them to meet as soon as possible to begin negotiating an agreement.

“I’m calling on all of Congress to recognize that water supply is a real 21st century need throughout our nation,” Perdue told reporters after attending an event honoring veterans at the state Capitol. “It is a national water policy issue that needs to be debated and voted on. You can’t compartmentalize the water supply issue …  just into a little flurry between Alabama, Georgia and Florida.”

The back and forth between Congress and Perdue illustrates the thorniness and complexity of the legal dispute.

A federal judge ruled in July that Congress never authorized Lake Lanier to be used for the Atlanta region's drinking water when the lake was created with federal funds in the 1950s. As a result, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled, Atlanta has been illegally tapping the lake for decades, taking water from the Chattahoochee River that should have flowed to Alabama and Florida. Magnuson ordered that Atlanta's allocation of water from the lake revert to 1970s levels if Congress doesn't approve a solution within three years.

Members from Georgia's congressional delegation have been considering floating legislation that could make it legal for municipalities to draw drinking water from not only Lake Lanier but other federally managed reservoirs in other states. But some worry whether Congress could get legislation passed in time for Georgia.

If Magnuson’s ruling were allowed to take effect today, the Atlanta region would be left with a deficit of 302 million gallons of water a day, according to a Sept. 30 report by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. In 2035, the gap would reach 497 million gallons a day.

"Presumably the fix might be a fix that's nationwide, and if that's the case it's just going to take more time," U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, a Macon Democrat, said Wednesday after meeting with other members of Congress from Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Marshall said he's concerned that even if Georgia and other states pursue a national solution, other states with similar issues won't be in as much of a hurry because they're not facing the same three-year deadline set in Magnuson’s ruling.

"It's easy to see the possibility where we are rushing and others are saying ‘Slow down, what's the rush?’ " Marshall said.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Duluth Republican, were early supporters for a national water policy to address all federally managed lakes. Linder has said any legislation favoring Georgia that addresses only Lake Lanier would be hard to pass, given that Alabama and Florida combined have many more votes in Congress than does Georgia.

Perdue also announced Thursday that former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement will lead an appeal of Magnuson's ruling by Georgia and the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Clement heads the appellate division in Washington for the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding. From June 2005 through June 2008, Clement served as solicitor general, overseeing all government litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has argued more than four dozen cases before the high court.

Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said that McKenna Long & Aldridge, which has long represented Georgia in the case, will remain lead counsel in other phases of the litigation.

Perdue also said Thursday that he will meet with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to work on a local compromise, though he didn’t say when. He also declined to comment on speculation from some congressmen that Crist is dragging his feet.

A spokesman for Crist said in an e-mail Tuesday that his staff was working with the other two states to settle on a meeting date. And Riley issued a statement Wednesday saying he “remains ready to resume negotiations immediately.”

“We don’t want to meet just for a photo opportunity to say we met,” Perdue said Thursday. “We want to accomplish something, and that is what we are preparing to do.”

Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.