Many Lake Lanier Association members participated in late 2008 in public meetings conducted by the Corps as part of the Environmental Impact Statement scoping for the upcoming Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Water Control Manual.

As we reported earlier, the Corps of Engineers re-opened the period for submission of comments on scoping in light of Judge Magnuson’s July ruling.  The Corps had determined it was obliged to revise the project scope due to the anticipated changes in water supply operations at Lake Lanier.  The LLA submitted additional comments as a part of the re-opened scoping process.  Those comments focused on three primary facts;

  1. Unlike water supply – recreation is an authorized purpose of Lanier and therefore must be considered in Corps operations,
  2. The Endangered Species Act does not require augmentation flows in excess of basin inflow,
  3. The Corps and the Fish and Wildlife Service have failed to consider Apalachicola River remediation measures that would alleviate the ACF’s disproportionate dependence on Lanier for augmentation flows in times of drought.