Georgia Senate Passes Measure To Move State Line, Claim Tennessee Water
Source: TPM
Georgia's Senate passed a resolution by a vote of 48-2 Monday that would "correct" a portion of the state's northern border in order to claim valuable water rights from the Tennessee river.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has identified the Tennessee River as a likely source of water for North Georgia, said Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, in a prepared statement. Yet the state of Tennessee has used mismarked boundary lines to block our access to this important waterway.
To settle the cross-state dispute, the bill proposes a solution based on 200-year-old survey errors that would clarify Georgias access to the river water, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. If no settlement is reached, the Attorney General would be directed to sue the state of Tennessee for the entire area of land south of the 35th parallel.
Georgias streams and creeks feed the Tennessee River, Shafer added. In fact, over six percent of the water of the Tennessee River originates in Georgia. The resolution now moves back to the House, where it originated, in order to hash out amendments to bill.
Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/georgia-senate-passes-measure-to-claim-tennessee-water
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Southerns with lots and lots of guns!
onehandle
(51,122 posts)yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)those Tennesseans will just use for making moon shine!
Malik Agar
(102 posts)I'm going to support Tennesee in this argument now. Moonshine is pretty good
appleannie1
(5,067 posts)area along the Mississippi River south of the Ohio River? If their logic flies one would think so.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,941 posts)Come to think of it, I'd rather have Malloy as guv than Kasich, so have at it!
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)The 35th parallel was simply mis-surveyed all those years ago.
Whether this will work however is another question.
LeftInTX
(25,372 posts)wtmusic
(39,166 posts)HeiressofBickworth
(2,682 posts)of the war over water?
Journeyman
(15,036 posts)By the way, the Pacific Institute has an extensive data base (available in a multitude of formats) on the world's water conflicts dating back to 3,000 BC.
http://worldwater.org/chronology.html
AAO
(3,300 posts)uselessobot
(43 posts)part of the State Militia.
So call em all up to defend the state, both TN and GA Militias.
I cant wait to see the video of them mustering on the town green!
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)doeriver
(793 posts)Last edited Mon Mar 25, 2013, 07:47 PM - Edit history (1)
Looks like those Georgia politicians over a period of just a couple of years are switching to praying to God for rain to stealing water resources from the citizens residing within the State of Tennessee...
I am thinking that the Tennessee Valley Authority would rather maintain the Tennessee river and reservoir system for things like providing cold water to cool down TVA nuclear reactors and to maintain the Tennessee River system at safe levels for water barge transportation traffic --- and not necessarily for the benefit of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.
You boys from the Georgia General Assembly can just send all of your water based food and beverage industries up here to the Tennessee River in Northeast Tennessee.
maindawg
(1,151 posts)then Georgia will win. The line is incorrect. The correct line must be respected . The water belongs to Georgia. Tennessee should acknowledge the error and act in good faith.
But Tennessee has a history as do most all red states , of being , unreasonable.
This is not a new issue either. Tennessee has been belligerent for several years.
doeriver
(793 posts)...if we start giving our Tennessee River water to those Georgia boys, the next thing you know they will are start demanding to wear free shoes.
doeriver
(793 posts)Besides, the secessionist State of Georgia gave up the supposed "200 year old boundary claim" by first leaving the Union before Tennessee and being readmitted into the United States after Tennessee:
Tennessee:
-Seceded: May 6, 1861
-Admitted into C.S.: May 16, 1861
-Readmitted into U.S.: July 24, 1866
-Local rule reestablished: Oct. 4, 1869
Georgia:
-Seceded: Jan. 19, 1861
-Admitted into C.S.: Feb 4, 1861
-Readmitted into U.S.: July 15, 1870
-Local rule reestablished: Nov. 1, 1871
antigone382
(3,682 posts)This was Georgia's error over 200 years ago and they didn't have a problem with it. The state has been extremely reckless in its approval of new housing developments and tacky strip malls, no matter what the ecological limits of the land are. The leadership of the state of Georgia is extremely antagonistic towards the idea of incorporating the realities of resource limitations into their planning. It's only since their absolutely thoughtless growth started to have real consequences for them that they started looking for ridiculous alternatives to SLOWING DOWN, like redrawing state lines that have been agreed upon for centuries.
Meanwhile, the town I live in in Tennessee conducted a moratorium on building until sufficient water availability could be assured. Chattanooga (which would face major impacts if Georgia got the rights to this water) has done tremendous work cleaning up the environment and improving its sustainability. Tennessee is not perfect but we are aware that nature has limits. Why should those of us who at least consider the limits of our resources be required to feed the beast that refuses to acknowledge that reality? Georgia should face the consequences of its own recklessness and learn how to conserve.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Fine, I'll just sit way back over here and hope the Canadians don't get any ideas from this...
kiranon
(1,727 posts)need a good old fashioned fight so the red and blue states can realign themselves. Sarcasm alert.
harmonicon
(12,008 posts)Not on the redrawing lines - that's a must - but on how it should be done. Do you think it's best to go with a simple grid system, or some combination of rivers and grid? Of course there are other options, like colour as viewed from space, wind speed, etc.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Coordinates: 34.984476,-85.601399
There is a cemetery there in Tennessee that would suddenly be in Georgia.
forkol
(113 posts)Yeah, the line is wrong, but it was Georgia who messed it up in the first place.
I remember reading about this in the AJC. Back when the state of Georgia was to determine it's border, the then Governor at the time commissioned the Engineers at Georgia Tech to do the official surverying that would determine the Georgia state border line.
The engineers reported back to the Govenor, that they would do this, however they really needed new equipment, given that their equipment at the time was quite inaccurate and out of date.
Well, you can now guess what happened. When you present the fact that science should prevail and that at times you need to spend money on it for the common good, our good governor of course, denied the request. Funny thing, that, they still use about the same decision system today.
Subsequently, the inaccurate equipment lead to the border being about 1 mile south of where it should be. I especially love this story since I'm a Tech Grad.
All joking aside, this is a very serious problem for us in the Northern Metro Atlanta area. The part that may not be well know is that even in times of proper rainfall, we still 'technically' have a water shortage. Which means you can't sustain the people we already have here, let alone allow for any growth. The only real options are to reduce water levels back to where they were in 1972, consider building a few more larger reservoirs, or get access to the Tennessee River.
It will be interesting to see how far Georgia pushes this.
harmonicon
(12,008 posts)I'm guessing there are people in the Atlanta area who water their lawns. I can't even imagine why anyone would ever need a lawn.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)groundloop
(11,519 posts)Here's one of several links I found stating that the Georgian on the 3 member team was James Camak, a professor at UGA:
http://www.sitemason.com/files/bqk1XO/gatnbordercolumn.pdf
I'd read about this a couple of years ago and had kind of forgotten about it. As a Tech grad myself, I got a chuckle out of the fact that a UGA prof was part of this. The other mathematician on the team was appointed by Tennessee, so the error was a group effort.
antigone382
(3,682 posts)I left Georgia for Tennessee a decade ago, and one of the things I value most is the awareness of the people here that there are limits to how many people you can shove in one area. Georgia still denies that is a reality. When you pass through a place you grew up and see 8 more subdivisions crammed into a place that you thought only one would fit, it is hard to feel a lot of sympathy for the water issues there. The state's political and economic leadership just absolutely refuses to acknowledge that ecology has limits--and now they want to take our water to make up for their shortsightedness.
No offense to you at all, I am just commenting on what I see based on my own background.
trof
(54,256 posts)And I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Rhiannon12866
(205,467 posts)Like in the Middle East, it's come down to fighting over water!
d_r
(6,907 posts)What they want to do is "trade" the whole area they are claiming to Tenn. for a path to the river:
----------
"Geisinger's resolution in the House offers to relinquish 66.5 square miles of land that Georgia lawmakers claim is rightfully theirs in return for a 1.5-mile strip that would give them access to the Tennessee River at Nickajack Lake. The Peach State could build a pipeline to deliver up to 1 billion gallons of water a day to thirsty Atlanta and other parts of Georgia, Alabama and Florida."
---------
It goes on to say:
-------------------
"If Tennessee does not accept the terms of the compromise, the case will be turned over to the attorney general, who potentially could sue and seek the whole of the disputed territory. And with the territory would come more than 30,000 Tennessee residents, who could wake up one morning in a new state without ever having moved.
"Those folks, I don't think, would be anxious to become Georgians," Geisinger said.
-------------
Of course they wouldn't be anxious to be Georgians, because all of a sudden they would have to pay Georgia state taxes. It is a threat. The Georgia GOP are trying to stir up fear in the residents in that area to pressure their Tennessee representatives to giving up access to the water. Georgia is trying to hold them hostage. It is bullying.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)antigone382
(3,682 posts)(which is about 100 miles)...versus LIMITING their outrageous growth and incorporating conservation into their infrastructure...
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)we have had several situations here in my part of NY state with local and county boundaries that originate back in Royal provincial land patents. The mistake was located and it means thousands of dollar in taxes to the effected parties. In the end the people resding there got to vote. My town and the adjacent town have had a fluid boundary since 1798 in recent years its changed to accomodate residents and utility service. It involved mutual agreements. Georgia is blaming everyone except themselves.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Historic NY
(37,451 posts)would you want to live in Georgia?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)Sancho
(9,070 posts)yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)Potomac River water in Fairfax County VA. VA prevailed.
http://nsglc.olemiss.edu/SandBar/SandBar2/2.4supreme.htm
jpak
(41,758 posts)Fucking idiots...
Samurai_Writer
(2,934 posts)Great, that means Colorado gets to annex Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, as the Arkansas river originates in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Also, the Arkansas is a major tributary to the Mississippi river. So I guess Colorado also gets to annex any states bordering the Mississippi.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)since Minnesota is the source of the Mississippi River, and Montana is the source of the Missouri River, both of which are longer than the Arkansas River. And of course, there"s also the Ohio River, another major tributary of the Mississippi River that begins in Pennsylvania.