Perdue open to restarting water talks with governors

The state’s entire congressional delegation is expected to gather Tuesday afternoon in Washington to discuss how to proceed. Perdue and his staff will join the emergency session via conference call, Brantley said Monday.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson issued a ruling in a nearly 20-year-old dispute among the three states that could cut Atlanta’s share of water from the lake — metro Atlanta’s primary water source — to 1970s levels if the states aren’t able to reach a pact within three years.

Magnuson ruled that Congress should ultimately resolve the dispute. But Georgia’s congressional delegation overwhelmingly wants Perdue and the other governors to restart negotiations — in part because taking up the matter in Congress would involve not just three states but all 50. How to get the governors to resume talks is expected to be at the top of the agenda Tuesday.

“This is still a states’ issue,” Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said Friday. Besides, Chambliss added, the governors’ staffs, and not members of Congress, have the expertise and the experience on the water dispute.

Already though, there are signs that Georgia’s governor and its congressional delegation may not be in lock step on what to do next. Earlier Monday, Perdue’s office had said he would not travel to Washington for Tuesday’s meeting, nor would he take part by phone.

“We want to make sure ... we’ve evaluated all the different aspects and options first,” before meeting with delegation members, Brantley said. “We don’t want to go up there with a lot of unanswered questions.”

Late Monday, however, Brantley said Perdue and other staffers would be on the line Tuesday.

“We’re going to join them on the call and we’ll brief them on what we know,” he said. “We’ll let them know how we’re moving out from here and how they can be involved moving forward.”

The governor’s willingness to restart negotiations was uncertain after he issued a statement Friday saying he would appeal Magnuson’s ruling and indicated he would leave it to Congress to decide what’s next. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida and Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama said they were ready to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Perdue may be more reluctant to negotiate because the court ruling clearly favors Alabama and Florida. In his ruling, Magnuson said it is illegal for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from Lake Lanier to meet Atlanta’s needs, as it has for decades.

Also, Perdue will be out of office in January 2011 — meaning any negotiations he starts may not be complete before a new governor takes office.

Meanwhile, some Democrats running to replace Perdue blasted the governor and Republican leaders for not reaching a settlement earlier.

“Georgia’s Republican leaders have been using lawyers and engineers and political fixers to put off this day, and all of the millions of dollars poured into that effort has finally come to nothing,” Georgia House Democratic leader and gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter said.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes, another Democratic candidate for governor in 2010, also faulted Perdue on Monday, saying the Republican should have taken the case directly to the Supreme Court in 2003.

“That was the plan before I left, and it was what we should have done,” Barnes told Fox 5 News. “And if we had done so, this issue would be determined.”

Brantley said it wasn’t fair for others to draw conclusions about negotiations they weren’t part of.

“Unless you were sitting in the room, you don’t know what was on the table, what was offered or what the other parties were willing to agree to,” he said.

Staff writer Aaron Gould Sheinin contributed to this report.