Boyd Hosts River-system Forum

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Publication: Tallahassee Democrat

By Bruce Richie TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

CHATTAHOOCHEE - Seafood workers and local elected officials along the Apalachicola River on Monday pleaded with federal officials to protect water flowing into Florida from Georgia and Alabama.

The three states have battled in federal court since 1990 over water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system.

Amid drought across the Southeast, federal officials in June agreed to allow reduced flow in the Apalachicola River below the historic minimum if the drought continues. Local elected officials and seafood industry representatives said low flows cause the loss of oysters from high salinity and reduced recreational boating in the river.

An emotional Franklin County Commissioner Joseph "Smokey" Parrish said, "We have never seen it like this before. You don't have to be a scientist to see and understand this."

Congressman Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, hosted the forum at the Army Corps of Engineers offices overlooking Lake Seminole, where the Apalachicola River begins at Jim Woodruff Dam on the Georgia state line. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C. and chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship, joined Boyd.

The Corps has begun the yearslong process of updating its water control manual for the river, said Brigadier Gen. Joseph Schroedel, the Corps' South Atlantic Division commander.

The Corps will launch an "aggressive" outreach campaign to encourage public involvement, Schroedel said. But he also said his agency doesn't have the power to consider individual issues involving the river system, such as the health of Apalachicola Bay, without specific authority from Congress.

He said the Corps is preparing to ask Congress for authority to consider other issues once it hears from the public.

"I want to make sure all of the issues are on the table," Schroedel said.

Boyd said cooperation among the states is needed to reach a solution.

"I have to tell you, I think this will be an uphill battle," Boyd said. "There have been years of mistrust built up among the three states on this issue. We have to work together to tear down that wall of mistrust that the states have between themselves."