TO: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist
FROM: Alabama residents
Gov. Crist,
You better get a move on it.
In case you didn't know, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and his hand-picked water-war negotiator, Georgia Power Co. President Michael Garrett, are setting you up and you are playing right into their hands.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Karon Bowdre put on hold the Alabama suit against Georgia's use of water from Lake Allatoona, told the states to work something out and gave them until mid-November to do it. Because Georgia feared, and rightly so, that the court would rule as it did in the case of Lake Lanier — that withdrawals from Allatoona were illegal — Peach State partisans were giddy at the prospect of having time to work out a deal with Alabama.
As you surely know, Gov. Crist, the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) river basin fills up the heart of our state. Alabama's interest in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) basin is small potatoes in comparison. Georgia knows this and even believes, according to negotiator Garrett, that Alabama "entered into that lawsuit [with Florida] … to get attention on the ACT."
Nice theory, no evidence.
But if it is true, putting Garrett in charge of the Georgia negotiating team was a smart move. Before becoming head of Georgia Power, Garrett worked for Alabama Power Co. for more than a decade, and there is no company more concerned with the outcome of the ACT negotiations than Alabama Power, whose hydroelectric dams are scattered all along the Coosa and Tallapoosa.
Garrett understands Alabama Power's needs, and anyone who knows the history of this state knows that what Alabama Power needs, Alabama Power usually gets. If Garrett comes to the table with an offer Alabama Power can't refuse, the state of Alabama can't refuse it, either.
This offer may be made soon, maybe in Atlanta, where Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has agreed to meet with Perdue to discuss the Lake Lanier situation. You have been invited to that meeting, but we haven't heard if you have accepted.
If you continue to hold out, Riley and Perdue may, and should, go ahead with Allatoona negotiations, leaving you to wait and eventually piggy-back the ACF solution on the one reached for the ACT.
Riley has indicated that "Alabama is interested in protecting all the water that Alabamians depend on," and you should take him at his word. But the fact remains that Alabamians depend less on the Chattahoochee than on the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa.
Gov. Crist, if you want to make sure Florida's interests are protected, you should accept that invitation. Together, you and Gov. Riley can hammer out an agreement that is good for residents and interests in both river basins. Georgia is playing "divide and conquer." Don't let it do it.
