GEORGIA'S WATER CRISIS: Tennessee is asked to share its river
By Dan Chapman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/06/08
Georgia's drought could spark a border water war as key state legislators demanded Tuesday that Tennessee share its same-name river with parched Atlanta.
In a bold move, Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) plan to introduce legislation today that would, in effect, move Georgia's northwest boundary a mile north so a section of the river flows indisputably into Georgia.
They cite a centuries-old —- and "erroneous" —- survey for placing the marker below Tennessee's Nickajack Reservoir when it should rightly, they say, be situated in the middle of the river.
They want Gov. Sonny Perdue and his Tennessee counterpart to resolve the watery mess.
The joint resolution also calls for creating boundary commissions between Georgia and Tennessee, and Georgia and North Carolina.
The legislative bombshell could make the ongoing water war among Georgia, Alabama and Florida look like a pillow fight.
"A misplaced survey marker is just that and nothing more," said Shafer, who expects all 56 senators to sign on as co-sponsors to the Senate resolution. "A state boundary can only be changed by the legislatures of the states, with the consent of Congress. It cannot be changed by a mathematician with a faulty compass or a skittish surveying party afraid of the Indians."
Bert Brantley, Perdue's spokesman, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has vowed to fight Georgia's attempt to tap the river, said it was "premature to offer comment" until he'd seen the legislation.
The 652-mile-long Tennessee River —- the nation's fifth-largest —- snakes from Knoxville, through Chattanooga, into Northern Alabama and Mississippi, before returning to western Tennessee and joining the Ohio River in Kentucky. The federal Tennessee Valley Authority manages the river.
The resolution requests that six Georgia legislators meet with counterparts in Tennessee and North Carolina to resurvey the border "to establish the definite and true boundary lines."
And if Tennessee refuses to consider a new boundary?
"Then I suspect you have the recourse of the courts," Geisinger said.
By Dan Chapman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/06/08
Georgia's drought could spark a border water war as key state legislators demanded Tuesday that Tennessee share its same-name river with parched Atlanta.
In a bold move, Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) plan to introduce legislation today that would, in effect, move Georgia's northwest boundary a mile north so a section of the river flows indisputably into Georgia.
They cite a centuries-old —- and "erroneous" —- survey for placing the marker below Tennessee's Nickajack Reservoir when it should rightly, they say, be situated in the middle of the river.
They want Gov. Sonny Perdue and his Tennessee counterpart to resolve the watery mess.
The joint resolution also calls for creating boundary commissions between Georgia and Tennessee, and Georgia and North Carolina.
The legislative bombshell could make the ongoing water war among Georgia, Alabama and Florida look like a pillow fight.
"A misplaced survey marker is just that and nothing more," said Shafer, who expects all 56 senators to sign on as co-sponsors to the Senate resolution. "A state boundary can only be changed by the legislatures of the states, with the consent of Congress. It cannot be changed by a mathematician with a faulty compass or a skittish surveying party afraid of the Indians."
Bert Brantley, Perdue's spokesman, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has vowed to fight Georgia's attempt to tap the river, said it was "premature to offer comment" until he'd seen the legislation.
The 652-mile-long Tennessee River —- the nation's fifth-largest —- snakes from Knoxville, through Chattanooga, into Northern Alabama and Mississippi, before returning to western Tennessee and joining the Ohio River in Kentucky. The federal Tennessee Valley Authority manages the river.
The resolution requests that six Georgia legislators meet with counterparts in Tennessee and North Carolina to resurvey the border "to establish the definite and true boundary lines."
And if Tennessee refuses to consider a new boundary?
"Then I suspect you have the recourse of the courts," Geisinger said.
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