Lawsuit frozen as officials seek to give dam to local groups

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A legal fight over removing a dam on the Savannah River is on hold while congressional representatives explore giving the dam to local governments that want to keep it.

U.S. District Judge Mark Gergel agreed Friday to stay until Oct. 1 a lawsuit against the federal government by the state of South Carolina and the Georgia city of Augusta.

Both sides agreed to the delay, The Augusta Chronicle reported, as representatives look for a way to improve fish habitat in the Savannah River while keeping river levels in Augusta from falling, hurting governments, industries and private property owners who built around the elevated river level provided by the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has argued that it’s legally required to remove the dam to improve fish habitat. The Corps announced plans earlier this year to remove the dam and build a series of rock weirs across the river to comply with a 2016 law meant to improve fish habitats. The Corps has said removing the dam will help mitigate damage from deepening the ship channel at Savannah and allow endangered sturgeon to reach their historic spawning grounds at the Augusta Shoals.

The Corps has said an earlier proposal to keep the 1937 dam and build a fish passage around it won’t maintain the water level.

But local officials say removing the dam would lower upstream water levels by at least 2 feet. That could be lower than the intakes local governments and industries use to withdraw water from the river and make recreation less attractive. They also say the Corps is legally required to maintain the river at its current level.

U.S. Rep Rick Allen, a Georgia Republican, has proposed legislation to turn the dam over to local cities. The federal government would give $53 million to local entities to repair, maintain and operate the decaying dam. The measure would also require the Georgia Ports Authority to provide $22 million to create a fish habitat for endangered sturgeon and other migratory fish to use as a spawning area below the lock and dam.

The amendment was withdrawn before the bill passed out of a House committee, but Allen said he hopes it will be added in a House-Senate conference committee.

“Because of the Corps’ position and their refusal to do the will of the people, the only way we could deal with this is to go back to the drawing board and do it legislatively,” Allen said.

A similar plan to the current amendment was passed by Congress in the early 2000s but did not include funding. Any new plan would have to come with funding, said Russell Wicke, spokesperson for the Corps’ Savannah district.

“Because of the Corps’ position and their refusal to do the will of the people, the only way we could deal with this is to go back to the drawing board and do it legislatively.” – U.S. REP RICK ALLEN, R-GA.