Water Wars Round Two
Jul 8, 2011 Updates
On June 28, 2011, a three judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2009 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson. Magnuson’s order ruled that it was illegal for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from Lake Lanier for Gwinnett County, Forsyth County, and the City of Atlanta water systems. His ruling also required Atlanta and the two counties that draw water from Lake Lanier to terminate their withdrawals from the lake by 2012. This deadline has now been vacated by a three judge panel of the appellate court.
The 11th Circuit went back to common sense in its legal ruling. The City of Atlanta originally drew its water from the Chattahoochee River before the Buford Dam was built, so the court ruled that Atlanta and the two counties naturally had the right to draw water from Lake Lanier. The court also ruled that the language of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which authorized the construction of Buford Dam “clearly indicates that water supply was an authorized purpose. . .” of the project.
The court also ruled, in a 95 page opinion, that diversion of water for municipal water service was not a “major operational change” under the Water Supply Act of 1958. The panel also ruled that “such reallocations to water supply arguably do not actually constitute ‘change’ in operations at all. . .”
The court remanded the case back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and gave the Corps one year to determine the proper amount of water allocation from Lake Lanier. Conditions had changed somewhat since Judge Magnuson’s draconian order of 2009. Since the date of Judge Magnuson’s ruling, Gwinnett County has completed a new water treatment plant, which now discharges 40 million of gallons of highly treated wastewater into the bottom of Lake Lanier daily. Gwinnett County in essence replaces over 45% of the water it withdraws from the lake with highly treated wastewater. It normally draws 40 to 70 million gallons of water per day from Lake Lanier, the only source of municipal water service for the entire county.
The governor of Alabama has indicated that his state will appeal this ruling to the full panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Florida’s governor is in the process of making the same decision. That will be the third round in the tri-state water wars. Round two is now over. Georgia and Atlanta and Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties appear to have won this round of the fight.
Steven Harrell has practiced law in Perry, Georgia since 1989.
He is the author of The Unionist, A Novel of the Civil War and The Rifle Captain, A Novel of World War I. Both are available at Amazon.com. You may email him at sharrell@comsouth.net.
First Bull Run
Jul 8, 2011 Updates
The Confederate Congress was scheduled to meet around the 25th of July, 1861, in Richmond. Pressure mounted on the commander of the Union Army in Virginia, General Irvin McDowell, to launch an attack on Confederate forces in the area. Two small armies defended northern Virginia at the time. General P.T. Beauregard had command of 20,000 Confederate troops near Manassas. General Joe Johnston had command of 12,000 Confederate troops near Winchester, Virginia.
On July 20, 1861, General McDowell’s army of 30,000 men marched to Centreville, Virginia. Alarmed that superior Union forces were gathering at his front, General Beauregard sent for help from General Johnston. General Johnston loaded his men onto the cars of the Manassas Gap Railroad, and his men arrived on the night of the 20th to reinforce Beauregard’s men.
On the morning of the 21st, 20,000 Union soldiers began a flank attack on the Confederate left flank. Captain Edward P. Alexander, from his wig-wag station, sent Colonel Nathan ”Shanks” Evans a wig wag message that his left flank was about to be turned. This was the first use of the new wig-wag system in combat. Steady attacks by the troops of Colonel William T. Sherman and Major George Sykes forced the Confederate troops back, where they gathered in defense of Henry House Hill.
Confederate General Bernard Bee saw the Virginia brigade of Colonel Thomas J. Jackson standing at the crest of Henry House Hill. He then uttered the words that would immortalize Jackson. “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. . .Rally behind the Virginians.” Bee soon received a mortal wound, but his brigade and other Confederate troops rallied around T.J. Jackson’s brigade. Jackson’s men soon fixed their bayonets and charged down the slope of the hill, yelling like furies.
As the Union troops were pushed off Henry House Hill, they began a disorganized retreat that turned into a panic. Guns and wagons were abandoned in the Federal flight back to Washington. Members of the U.S. Congress and their wives and ladies had traveled with the army to view a Union victory. They were also caught up in the disorganized retreat, and the confusion and panic of the Union soldiers that were fleeing north.
The only unit left on the field that retreated in any order was the regular army brigade of Colonel William T. Sherman. The day was lost for the Union. Union casualties totaled 460 killed, 1124 wounded, and 1312 missing or captured. The Confederates lost 387 killed, 1582 wounded, and 13 missing. This Confederate victory guaranteed a protracted war and a bloody struggle with larger numbers of troops over battlefields around the South.
