We've been dealing with the corps for over 10 years on lake levels trying to get them to act responsibly concerning lake stakeholder interests. Initially they had about 8 issues they would come back to us with as to why they couldn't do what we were requesting. Issues from the sturgeon being an endangered species to oxygen levels in the harbor were used to shut down any conversation about improving the drought plan for the Savannah River Basin. We got past all these only to have the corps stop us with one final issue. They state that congress has given them a list of the issues they need to consider in their work and economics such as real estate values or impact on business interests were not on that list. If one of our congressmen such as Rick Allen were to get that added to the list we would be able to come full circle on the drought plan (almost there but one more change needed to optimize our drought plan).
One of our members who worked for years in Washington with congress has explained to me that such a change (add economics to corps responsibilities with regard to the Savannah River Basin) would be easy to accomplish as a local regulation favoring a few congressmen's needs. Before the climate Trump has generated this might have been problematic but with the new attitude of being reasonable with EPA concerns this should be doable now. Rick Allen is the first congressman connected with the Savannah River Basin to come at this from the standpoint of being willing to do whatever is needed to get this right.
Here is a quick look at how this changes things. Let's say the controlling factor concerning the future of the lock and dam is the sturgeon. No problem. If economics were one of the Corps' responsibilities they would simply be forced to design the fish ladder in a manner that takes care of the sturgeon and does not drop the river below current levels. Right now they are only directed to protect the sturgeon without any responsibility toward business interests. The River Keeper already has a proposal that would accomplish that but the corps has no reason to listen. AND BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE THEY WILL NOT LISTEN.
