22 of Florida’s 29
members of congress have signed a letter to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing their concern for the Apalachicola
River and Bay.
The 22
federal representatives, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats,
wrote Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy this week urging the Army Corps of Engineers to address
the lack of freshwater flow to the Apalachicola Bay in its draft Master Water
Control Manual for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin.
The
draft document was released t the public on October the 2nd.
The
Master Water Control Manual is the guide used by Corps of Engineers to operate
the five reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River – which impacts residents from
North Georgia to the Apalachicola Bay.
The
updated manual includes updates to account for a 2011 federal court decision
allowing Lake Lanier to supply drinking water for the Atlanta area.
The
representatives said the Corps’ recommended changes to the Master Water Control
Manual will do nothing to protect the health of the full river system adding
that they are deeply troubled by the Corps’ consistent mismanagement of the
system.
They also pointed out that the
Apalachicola Bay’s oyster populations totally collapsed in 2012 and “many more
Bay residents may lose their way of life” if federal inaction persists.
The
public has a about 60 days to comment updated Master Water Control Manual.
The
updated manual can be downloaded – we’ve posted the link on this story at
oysterradio.com and on the Oyster Radio facebook page.
There
will also be a number of public meetings on the updated Master Water Control
Manual where you can also make public comments.
The
closest to our area will be on Monday, November 9th at the
Apalachicola National Estuarine Research reserve Nature Center at 08 Island
Drive in Eastpoint.
FIND THE
MANUAL ONLINE AT
http://www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/PlanningEnvironmental/ACFMasterWaterControlManualUpdate/ACFDocumentLibrary.aspx
http://live.oysterradio.com/
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