Georgia, SC Governors to Attend Joint Summit in Hartwell Next Week
State lawmakers from Georgia and South Carolina, including both Governors, will be attending a Joint State Legislative Caucus Summit next week at the Big Oaks Recreation Center in Hartwell to begin talks on how to improve the managing of the Savannah River waters.
Both Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will be attending the caucus on September 18th.
They, along with state, federal, municipal and county officials will be meeting with officials from the Georgia and South Carolina Departments of Natural Resources and Colonel Thomas J. Tickner, head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah River District.
Georgia State Representative Alan Powell (R., 32), is hosting the event next week. Powell, who started the Georgia Savannah River Caucus earlier this year, said he hopes much will be accomplished at the one-day session.
“What we’re hoping for is what has been the original purpose of forming these caucuses and that is for the states to work together across state lines on a commonality of interests, whether it be water, whether it be natural resources, whether it be tourism, whatever affects the lives of our citizens. That’s what the goal is,” Powell said.
At the federal level, Representatives from the offices of U.S. Representative Doug Collins from Georgia’s 9th District, which includes Hart and Franklin counties, along with U.S. Representative Jeff Duncan from South Carolina will also be attending.
In response to the Georgia Savannah River Caucus, South Carolina lawmakers also formed their own caucus this year and Rep. Collins started a similar caucus at the federal level to study how the Corps manages all of its waterways nationwide.
At a recent luncheon in Lavonia, Collins said the Corps does not seem to have one overall management strategy.
“You get one policy set up on one side and one policy operating in another district and they actually operate completely differently,” Collins said.
Collins said because of the efforts of Rep. Powell, the Savannah River District of the Corps is doing a better job of communicating with lawmakers and the public than other districts, such as Lake Lanier and Chattahoochee in Georgia.
The seminar next week will begin with an intergovernmental session in the morning, followed by a joint signing of the Savannah River Water Compact. Powell said Deal and Haley are expected to sign the agreement that authorizes a study on how the Savannah River Water Basin is currently managed.
Plans for the study have been in the works for over four years, but only recently have both State lawmakers agreed to kick in their share of the million-dollar study.
Georgia and South Carolina have each agreed to pay $250,000 for their share of the study’s cost. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will contribute another $500,000.