After oral arguments in Court on May 11, we await a ruling from Federal District Judge Magnuson in Phase 1 of the Tri-State litigation. Phase 1 considers the authorized purposes of Lake Lanier. We expect a decision within 60 days. The judge has indicated that this decision will be longer than any decision he has made in his career (we expect it to be over 100 pages).
We believe that Judge Magnuson’s decision in Phase 1 could influence the Water Control Manual (WCM) update effort being developed by the CORPS of Engineers. That ruling about the authorized purposes of Lake Lanier, without a detailed description of the day-to-day management of water levels, will leave detail decisions in the hands of the Corps, an agency that is charged by Congress with the responsibility for managing facility operations. While working with the Georgia attorneys, your LLA legal team has put forth an excellent case for recreation as an authorized purpose of Lake Lanier. We hope that the Judge will agree that recreation is an authorized purpose of the Lake.
As we anticipate a decision on the purposes of Lanier, we are also preparing for phase 2 of the tri-states litigation. This phase will focus on the Operating Plans for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) including water releases from Lanier. The LLA position is that Lanier must be managed as an entity in addition to being part of the ACF system. In the past major withdrawals from Lanier were triggered by Florida demands in support of the endangered mussels in the Apalachicola bay. We believe that a fair release process would consider the water needs of Georgia in addition to endangered species in Florida.
