Posted on July 26, 2020
Augusta and others suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over plans for New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam will get a chance to inspect it themselves.
The deepening of the Savannah harbor is about 70 percent complete, but upstream, a major mitigation effort continues to hits snags.
It’s the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam in Augusta. To make up for endangered fish habitat that is expected to be lost from dredging downstream, the Army Corps of Engineers planned to replace the lock and dam with a rock weir so endangered sturgeon could again swim to their spawning grounds.
South Carolina and the city of Augusta sued over the plans to remove the lock and dam, which creates a pool of water valued for recreation.
In a motion granted Monday in federal court, those two plaintiffs joined with defendants U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Ports Authority to agree to pause the lawsuit until Oct. 1. The pause allows Congress time to consider legislation that might settle the matter.
The agreement that halted a lawsuit also gives plaintiffs a chance to make their own inspection of the structure.
U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., and the Georgia and South Carolina delegations are working on an amendment that would allocate $53 million for repair of the lock and dam and then turn it over to Augusta, North Augusts and Aiken County. It would also require the ports authority to provide $22 million to create a spawning habitat in the Savannah River below the lock and dam for migrating endangered sturgeon.
The Corps’ current plan of replacing the lock and dam with a rock weir fish passage would allow the fish to spawn but it would also drop the pool of water in the river between downtown Augusta and North Augusta significantly. A demonstration of that level last year provoked outrage on both shores and in both state delegations.
The delay allows the plaintiffs time to do their own inspection, although the Corps has to sign off on any experts they use and anything observed can’t be used as part of the lawsuit. Augusta Commissioner Brandon Garrett is among those who have been skeptical of the Corps’ assessment and have been pushing for inspection reports.
“That’s one of the reasons we wanted to do our own inspections,” Garrett said. “And also it helps to give a basis for what we should be expecting from the federal government in regards to repairs, or if we even need to be having that conversation going forward. If the dam does turn out to be in need of repair or replacement, the inspection should show that. To me, having an up-to-date inspection is the only way to make sure that the decision is able to be made logically.”
The city has reached out to some engineering firms to get an idea of what it would take to do those inspections, Garrett said, but so far there was no timetable for when it would be done.
The Corps has assigned a much higher cost to repairing the lock and dam and in its assessment its plan is the only one that would allow for adequate fish passage.
“The current structure is in very poor condition,” said Russell Wicke, spokesman for the Savannah District. And part of the problem with even that assessment is “we can’t get access to the entire structure,” he said. “A large portion of it is underwater.”
If the legislation is going to transfer the structure to the local entities, they “would like to know what it is they are getting,” said North Augusta Mayor Bob Pettit. The $53 million in the legislation is also supposed to provide funds for operations and maintenance so “is that a reasonable number and that would I think entail an inspection of the Lock and Dam by engineers and maybe underwater experts,” he said.
The legislation is part of the two-pronged approach Augusta has pursued for the lock and dam, along with the lawsuit challenging the Corp’ right to put in place a plan that is opposed by city and state leaders, Garrett said.
? It is good to see that both are moving in a good direction for saving the pool (in the river) for Augusta,” he said. “The pool is vital for Augusta and that is the ultimate goal is to protect the pool for Augusta.”
Source: savannahnow
