This recent Opinion letter in the Augusta Chronicle represents a refreshingly well articulated position from an elected official on the Augusta, GA side of the issue.
By Brandon Garrett
Posted Sep 5, 2020 at 6:30 PM
For 25 years Savannah has been trying to deepen its harbor. For 25 years they’ve needed some way to lessen the harbor project’s impact on sturgeon. Removing the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam was the price for environmental groups and agencies. Starting in 1995 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tried, but instead then-U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood got a law passed requiring the federal government to maintain the lock and dam, repair it and then turn it over to locals.
But the harbor still needed dredging, and the lock and dam was still the price.
So despite the law that was on the books, the lock and dam was never repaired or turned over to locals. And it hasn’t been maintained.
The Norwood law was repealed in 2016, but Augusta-area officials are currently supporting a return to it. Honestly, the Corps-induced drawdown of the river last year left us no option. And it wasn’t just that the pool was way lower than the Corps predicted, either. Folks understood the pool would be worse. But few anticipated the constant and drastic pool fluctuations and quickness of the current. All of a sudden the pool looked way less safe and harder to access. It looked way uglier with the mudflats.
The drawdown really brought into focus the beauty of the system put in place by the Corps and Congress more than 80 years ago. The lock and dam lifts the pool in drought and allows access to 200 miles of river and the sea, all while passing debris, sediment and floodwaters harmlessly downstream. Maybe we took for granted the fact that federal law requires the Corps to operate gates at Thurmond Lake and the lock and dam to maintain the pool at a steady, safe and predictable water level of about 114.5 feet.
But with the drawdown, our water supply — along with events such as the Ironman triathlon and the regatta, and hundreds of millions in recent economic riverfront investment — suddenly flashed before our eyes. And losing our access to the river and the sea is a tough pill to swallow.
Compromises suggested by Augusta and North Augusta were declined and we sued. I can’t say much about the lawsuits or the negotiations, but I can say that our approach all along has been science- and solutions-oriented. We’ve learned a lot.
Apparently there’s a movement in this country called “dam-busting,” and removing structures such as the lock and dam from rivers is a very big deal. That’s all fine and good but we don’t think these folks understood the impacts it would have on our communities. Anyway, it really doesn’t address the sturgeon issue the harbor has.
We literally can’t find a single rock weir anywhere in the world that has been successful for passing these sturgeon. In 2018, government fisheries biologist Fritz Rohde was in town, and The Augusta Chronicle reported that he pointed to a weir in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River as a successful example. But the Nature Conservancy says even the Cape Fear weir has been a failure.
Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the expert panel hired by the Corps tell us the rock weir could actually injure or kill sturgeon. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and others are very concerned about this and other ways the weir could actually do more harm than good for the sturgeon.
Our experts say the habitat above the lock and dam is likely not even any good for sturgeon anymore because of the Augusta Canal and the lakes above. There’s probably nothing for sturgeon to eat above the lock and dam, and the flows, temperature and water quality may not be good for sturgeon. Groups such as the Savannah Riverkeeper and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also concerned about these things.
And even if everything goes just right, there are only about 15 miles of habitat above the lock and dam. Meanwhile, below the lock and dam, there’s hundreds of miles and thousands of coastal acres that could be improved to actually help the sturgeon that are affected by harbor dredging. Years ago, Congress authorized this approach. In addition to repairing the lock and dam and turning it over to locals, the legislation we’re after in Congress now would add to this effort.
The Corps has given the lock and dam a very safe rating, but we need to know about the condition of the lock and dam, which hasn’t been maintained during the entire 25 years of the harbor deepening process. The Consortium of the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam — composed of the governments of Augusta, North Augusta and Aiken County — has funded a dive team and an inspection and we are expecting a report in October, assuming the Corps continues to cooperate.
Nothing’s easy with the Corps. It has prohibited an inspection until very recently and has even refused to share the info it has from inspections regarding the lock and dam’s condition.
The inspection will show which direction is the most fiscally responsible course of action moving on. It may be that the feds should fund much-needed repairs after they allowed it to get in the current condition. Or, if the inspection shows it is in much more dire condition, we will have to accept that and move forward with the best possible solution for salvaging the river we know and love and keeping as much water in the pool as possible.
Looking ahead to the next few months, we are encouraged by the work of our legislative bodies and by the legal efforts to reach a positive solution.
Please continue to reach out to Georgia and South Carolina state and federal elected officials to voice your support for saving our river pool.
The writer represents District 8 on the Augusta Commission.