Recreation is an Authorized Purpose of Lake Lanier
We understand that the scoping process has been re-opened due to Judge
Magnuson’s Memorandum and Order of July, 2009 in the Tri-State Water Rights
Litigation. But, while Judge Magnuson ruled that water supply storage is not an
authorized purpose of Lake Lanier, recreation has always been and remains today an
authorized purpose. The Corps has always considered recreation an authorized purpose,
and Judge Magnuson explicitly and deliberately left this premise intact in his Phase 1
decision.
Augmentation Flows are Not Required by the Endangered Species Act
During the 2006-2007 drought, Lake Lanier became the sole source of
augmentation flows to maintain the 5000 cfs required minimum flow at the
Chattahoochee Gage. Augmentation releases from Lanier’s storage during late summer
and fall of 2007 at times amounted to two to three times the basin inflow of the entire
ACF. Lake Lanier alone cannot provide enough water to be the sole source of
augmentation flows to meet the Apalachicola River required minimum flow under such
circumstances without being depleted.
As addressed in our previous comment letter and in the Association’s Motion for
Summary Judgment in Phase 2 of the Tri-State litigation, the Endangered Species Act
(“ESA”) does not require the Corps to augment Apalachicola River flows above run-of-the-river levels using Lake Lanier storage. This is because nature herself - not
discretionary Corps operations - is the cause of any harm to the species resulting from
low ACF flows. However, the Corps is obligated even during severe droughts to support
the ACF facilities’ legally-recognized benefits, including recreation.
The Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) and the Corps used the wrong
environmental baseline in determining what flow levels are required in the Apalachicola
for protected species under the ESA. The correct baseline is run-of-river flows, which by
definition do not consist of augmentation flows from Lake Lanier. Therefore, although
we fully support the laudatory goal of the ESA, augmentation flows that
disproportionately affect Lake Lanier are not required by the ESA and should not be
imposed by the new WCP.
