WASHINGTON - Barges will stay afloat on the lower Chattahoochee River and a handful of other seldom-used Southern waterways after Congress allocated 90 (m) million dollars for dredging and upkeep.
That's a setback for Lake Lanier interests who are fighting to keep the level of the lake as high as possible. Two years ago, then-Congressman Bob Barr tried unsuccessfully to halt barge traffic on the lower Chattahoochee, saying the ban was needed to help stabilize the levels of Lanier and other reservoirs in North Georgia.
Lawmakers Thursday rejected the Bush administration's cost-cutting efforts and put the money in a catchall spending bill signed into law last week. It is the latest chapter in the sometimes nasty water fight that has pitted state against state, district against district, and almost always, Congress against president.
For many of the nine river systems, the debate is a matter of whether the limited commercial barge traffic warrants the money necessary to keep the rivers deep enough to carry barges.
More complicated, however, is the squabbling over the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint basin, which stretches down the Alabama-Georgia border and into Florida. Lawmakers and environmentalists in Florida claim dredged sand is washing up on the river banks, polluting the Panhandle.
Despite this, Congress is spending the five-point-two (m) million necessary to dredge the river system next year, even though President Bush's proposed budget had sought to virtually zero out funding.
Representative Sanford Bishop, the Democrat who represents the area, says keeping the channel open is extremely important because it has an impact on commerce and recreation.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
Saturday
May 18th, 2024
2:56PM
