Tri-state water negotiations won't meet today's deadline

[flashl]

Source: Birmingham News

MONTGOMERY - Alabama, Florida and Georgia will miss a deadline today for settling their decades-long fight over how to divide the region's water. The governors of the three states had agreed to a Feb. 15 deadline imposed by the Bush administration to reach a water sharing pact. But a flurry of talks, ending Wednesday night, failed to produce a treatise.

...

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne was briefed on the talks Wednesday night and said he would wait to get details on how close the parties are before deciding whether to set a new deadline. If they remain far apart, he said, he won't.

...

The tri-state dispute centers on how much water is withheld in north Georgia reservoirs and how much is sent downstream to Florida and Alabama. The disagreement has simmered for years, but the animosity boiled over with new urgency after the record drought threatened water supplies.

Kempthorne in November met with Riley, Perdue and Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida in Washington D.C. The governors announced a temporary truce that would allow Georgia to hold back more water as they worked to get a long-term agreement in place by Feb. 15.

Birmingham News

Read more: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/120306701186760.xml&coll=2

[bemildred]

1. So much for Bush "deadlines".

I guess just stamping your foot doesn't do the job any more.

[Robbien]

2. Weren't the media blaming environmentalists for Georgia's water problem

Didn't all the stories say Atlanta was going thirsty because some nasty environmentalists wanted the water down stream for mussels or clams or somesuch?

I figured the true story would turn out to be water sharing rights between states.