The acting director for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gene Pawlik said Friday evening that renaming efforts for Lake Lanier and Buford Dam have been put on hold until further notice.
"The US Army Corps of Engineers is pausing any actions related to project renaming pending further guidance from the Department of the Army," Pawlik said.
Vice President of the Lake Lanier Association Clyde Morrison said the criteria for the potential renaming is supposed to focus on military members who have served to exemplify core values.
"The names selected will honor a person or a subject, such as duty, liberty and honor that exemplifies the core values of the U.S. military and nation," Morrison said. "Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage. So that appears to be the criteria that the Corps of Engineers is intending to use in coming up with a new name."
Morrison went on to address the association's stance on the potential renaming.
"The problem I see with that is that whatever criteria they've got in mind may not be -- may not fit what the people of this area want to see," Morrison said. "I think what we're going to see is a human cry coming up from the people in this region that they don't want these names changed in the first place, because they shouldn't be changed. The attempt by Congress to take a move that would avoid offending people is certainly laudable. But what they have done is they have taken the names of two federal facilities that were not named in any way, shape or form to commemorate either the Confederacy, or anybody who served in the Confederacy, and they're making us change the names."
You can learn more about the association's position by viewing its most recent release.
Prior to the pausing of the renaming initiative, Chief of Public Affairs for the Mobile District Corps of Engineers Dustin Gautney said their goal right now is only to collect possible renaming solutions to provide to those higher in command.
"What we're directed at right now is basically to provide possible renaming solutions to our headquarters level, and from there, they would determine to move forward or not, and that would be subject to what the Department of the Army wants to do," Gautney said. "So as far as the courses right now, our only directive is to supply possible name changes."
Update published Friday at 4:43 p.m. Friday:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District announced Friday it would move forward with the process of developing and submitting a recommendation for a new name for Lake Lanier and Buford Dam following a report from The Naming Commission that suggested the possibility.
On a public comment page listed on the Corps' website, the Corps said Congress has the final authority to select a new name for the project since it established the name Lake Lanier when it first authorized the project in 1946.
"The Naming Commission’s Final Report to Congress dated September 2022 identified two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District projects – Buford Dam and Lake Sidney Lanier - that meet criteria for renaming (assets commemorating the Confederacy or persons who served in the Confederacy be renamed)," the public comment page states.
The page states the Corps will move forward with the process in accordance with the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. That act established the creation of The Naming Commission, which was intended to handle assigning, modifying, or removing of names, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia to assets of the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.
"Buford Dam is named for the town of Buford, Georgia – the namesake of which is LTC Algernon Sidney Buford, who served in the
Virginia Militia during the Civil War," the September report from The Naming Commission reads. "Lake Lanier is named after the poet, Sidney Lanier. Lanier served in the Confederate States Army as a private."
The report mentioned two other civil works projects from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it believes could be renamed: Stonewall Jackson Lake and Dam in West Virginia and Port Allen Lock in Louisiana.
"The Commission believes these assets are within its remit for consideration, but not within its purview to provide a naming recommendation," the report reads.
Update published Friday at 11:03 a.m. Friday:
North Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde voiced concerns Friday morning about the possibility of renaming Lake Lanier and Buford Dam over ties to the Confederate States of America.
Speaking on WDUN's The Martha Zoller Show, the 9th District Congressman said he has been in contact with area leaders following the surfacing of a September report from the Naming Commission that mentions the possibility of renaming the lake and dam.
"Every solitary one of them has said things like, 'it's foolish,'" Clyde said. "They are definitely against it. They are completely against it. It's absolutely ridiculous ... I have asked for input from the community ... and so far what I have heard has been entirely negative."
"When you really think about it, not just the fact that people have referred to this lake ever since it was created as Lake Lanier, and it was named after a famous Georgia native, a poet ... and then you have the Buford Dam named after the City of Buford, these are local issues. We don't need the Department of Army engaging in local issues."
Clyde said he was concerned about the federal spending behind the report.
"We're going to stand against this," Clyde said. "As long as I'm a member of Congress, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure there will be no renaming of Lake Lanier and no renaming of Buford Dam, and that funding is used appropriately for the correct mission of the executive branch of our government. I mean, that's just the way it should be."
You can listen to Clyde's full interview on WDUN's The Martha Zoller Show on the Soundcloud player above.
Original story published Wednesday at 8:55 a.m.:
A September report from a government commission created by the United States Congress mentions the possibility of renaming Lake Lanier and Buford Dam over historical ties.
The Naming Commission was formed in 2021 to analyze military assets with names associated with the Confederacy and formulate recommendations for their renaming or removal. The commission dissolved in October 2022.
The report states Buford Dam and Lake Lanier were listed together due to their conjoining nature.
"Buford Dam is named for the town of Buford, Georgia – the namesake of which is LTC Algernon Sidney Buford, who served in the
Virginia Militia during the Civil War," the report reads. "Lake Lanier is named after the poet, Sidney Lanier. Lanier served in the Confederate States Army as a private."
The report mentioned two other civil works projects from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it believes could be renamed: Stonewall Jackson Lake and Dam in West Virginia and Port Allen Lock in Louisiana.
"The Commission believes these assets are within its remit for consideration, but not within its purview to provide a naming recommendation," the report reads.
"The defense secretary is required to implement a plan to rename, modify or remove Confederacy-related names, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia by Jan. 1, 2024. The work was estimated to cost $62.5 million," reported military news agency Stars & Stripes.
