Offshoreonly.com - Georgia Boaters should take notice of this BS!!!

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Georgia Boaters should take notice of this BS!!!

And this doesn't even involve the Manatee yet! :eek:

If you live on Lake Lanier, I would be calling my elected officals and B!TCHING up a storm. :mad:

Judge orders Ga. water released to Fla.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release more water from Georgia into Florida, citing the federal Endangered Species Act.

U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre ruled Thursday afternooon that 8,000 cubic feet per second be released from the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam at Georgia's Lake Seminole for 10 days unless future court orders rule otherwise.

Bowdre said in court documents the extra water is necessary to save certain protected mussel species in the Apalachicola River in Florida that are in danger of extinction.

Bowdre also ordered that a hearing on Florida's motion for a temporary restraining order scheduled for this morning be converted to a hearing on whether a preliminary injunction filed by Florida in January is justified.

The Apalachicola is formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee River along the Georgia-Alabama line and the Flint River at Lake Seminole, located along the Florida border.

Prior to the order, the corps had been releasing 5,000 cubic feet per second of water from Georgia reservoirs along the Chattahoochee River to protect Florida mussels and Gulf sturgeon.

Georgia has already protested that too much water had been taken from reservoirs along the Chattahoochee River system and filed on Wednesday a temporary restraining order to limit the amount of water the Corps could take from its lakes.

The corps is required to release the water from the reservoirs to maintain stream levels in the Apalachicola to provide an adequate habitat for both species, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Corps spokesman Pat Robbins said his agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believed that the 5,000 cubic feet per second level was sufficient to protect the mussels but that level of water did "have some exposed mussels." The judge's order makes sure the mussels are submerged in the river, he said.

Georgia's water supply will not be affected by the court order, Robbins said.

"The 8,000 cubic feet per second will not come from any particular lake," he said. "We take a little bit from (Lake) Lanier, West Point Lake, Walter F. George (Reservoir) and we look at what flows come in from the Flint River. As long as the total flow is 8,000 cubic feet per second, then we meet the intent" of the order.

But he said recreation along the reservoirs could be affected if the judge extends the order into the summer.

"Several marinas will not be able to operate. There will be a lot of closed boat ramps and a lot of boat docks will not be able to be used," he said, adding that Georgia's Lake Lanier could drop by as much as six feet in September if the flows are continued.

There you go, the ESA again screws humans FIRST!
Dean