November, 08 2010, 03:37pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jenny Hoffner, Director, Water Supply, American Rivers, 404-373-3602
Groups Challenge Creation of Costly, Harmful and Unnecessary Lake
On behalf of the Georgia River Network and American Rivers, the Southern Environmental Law Center challenged in federal court the flawed basis for the Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) decision to permit a $17 million, 960-acre recreational fishing lake in Grady County, Georgia near the Florida state line. The legal challenge focuses on a flawed study underlying the permit that overestimates the number of people that would use the lake.
ATLANTA
On behalf of the Georgia River Network and American Rivers, the Southern Environmental Law Center challenged in federal court the flawed basis for the Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) decision to permit a $17 million, 960-acre recreational fishing lake in Grady County, Georgia near the Florida state line. The legal challenge focuses on a flawed study underlying the permit that overestimates the number of people that would use the lake. The challenge also asserts that the project would destroy over 9 miles of streams and could destroy up to 518 acres of valuable wetlands -- significantly more than the 129 acres of wetlands estimated by the Corps.
"With so much at risk--millions of dollars in public expenditures and the destruction of hundreds of acres of wetlands and miles of streams--the Corps failed its responsibility to ensure that there is a legitimate need for the proposed project," said Bill Sapp, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "In failing to do so, the Corps has violated federal law and jeopardized the financial future of Grady County citizens."
Commissioner Bobby Burns in a Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this year expressed concern when he said that after the reserve fund is exhausted and all the trees on the site have been sold, property owners are going to have to pay a 1.5 mill tax increase to pay off the bonds. Echoing this concern, April Ingle, Executive Director of Georgia River Network, said "Grady County homeowners should know that their property taxes are going to be raised significantly to pay for this lake even if they don't live near the lake or use it at all."
"This is the wrong project at the wrong time," said Jenny Hoffner, Director of Water Supply for American Rivers. "Instead of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on this destructive proposal, the County could focus on reaping more immediate economic and recreational benefits from its existing streams and natural resources. The Ochlockonee River could draw anglers, paddlers and other visitors to the County for less cost."
When the County originally sought a Corps permit for the lake, it proposed an "amenity" lake for a high-end residential-golf development. The Corps said it could not permit such a lake and the county proceeded with plans for a "fishing lake" instead and commissioned a fishing demand study. Without any meaningful restrictions on development, the Corps approved the permit for the second project, which would allow the County to construct the lake and build its luxury development.
A study of fishing demand used to support the Corps permit contains multiple flaws that inflate the alleged demand for the project. For example, the study assumes that 0-5 year olds would fish at the same rates as adults. Another significant flaw in the study is that it assumes that Florida anglers will fish in Grady County at the same rate as Georgia anglers, which disregards the dampening effect of having to secure a second fishing license.
American Rivers is the only national organization standing up for healthy rivers so our communities can thrive. Through national advocacy, innovative solutions and our growing network of strategic partners, we protect and promote our rivers as valuable assets that are vital to our health, safety and quality of life. Founded in 1973, American Rivers has more than 65,000 members and supporters nationwide, with offices in Washington, DC and the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, California and Northwest regions.
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57 House Dems Call On Biden to Prevent Israeli Assault on Rafah
"An offensive invasion into Rafah by Israel in the upcoming days is wholly unacceptable."
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Dozens of U.S. House Democrats on Wednesday joined Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal and Madeleine Dean in pressuring President Joe Biden to prevent a full-scale Israeli assault on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip that's now full of over a million displaced Palestinians.
"We write with urgency to say: an offensive invasion into Rafah by Israel in the upcoming days is wholly unacceptable," states the letter from Jayapal (D-Wash.), Dean (D-Pa.), and 55 other members of Congress. "We welcome your administration's efforts to dissuade the Israeli government from this military operation, which would deepen both the humanitarian catastrophe for people in Gaza and the strategic challenges that regional and global stakeholders face in this conflict."
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The Democrats highlighted how Israel's retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7 attack has impacted the city:
Rafah has become one of the most overcrowded places in the world. With shelters too full and insufficient, many families now live on the streets. The collapsed health infrastructure, in addition to sewage overflow and the scarcity of food, water, and medicine, has accelerated the onset of severe malnutrition and the spread of communicable diseases. Acute food insecurity is endemic in Rafah, even as the international community circulates credible reports that famine is setting in elsewhere in Gaza—all as a result of six months of military operations that you have described as "indiscriminate." In addition, we know in fact that Israeli strikes on Rafah have already occurred, including one on April 20th that killed 18 people, including 14 children.
Across the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces have killed 34,568 people and wounded another 77,765—mostly women and children—while leaving thousands more missing in the rubble of bombed buildings, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Biden has resisted mounting global pressure to limit or fully cut off military aid to Israel, which the International Court of Justice in January concluded is "plausibly" committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. That case is ongoing.
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