Governor's dredging in Lake Jackson questioned by some

S. Heather Duncan

Nov. 7, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Gov. Sonny Perdue recently dredged soil from Lake Jackson without a permit, dumping it into the lake and angering some neighbors and environmental advocates.

Georgia Power (NYSE:GAH) officials said the activity at Perdue's vacation home was not a violation, although a Georgia Power permit should have been obtained first. They said Perdue stopped digging as soon as he was informed that a permit was needed.

State and federal environmental regulations generally forbid property owners from dumping silt in a waterway or even allowing erosion off their property. The Ocmulgee River flows out of Lake Jackson and through Macon.

Perdue's communications director, Bert Brantley, said Perdue will obtain a proper permit in the future if he needs to do work at the lake, but he has no immediate plans to do so. Perdue's boat slip, like many at the lake after heavy rains this fall, had become clogged with mud.

"The amount (dredged) was so small I don't think there was any thought that there would be any environmental damage," Brantley said. "With the investment he's made there, he loves the lake and only wants what's best for it."

Neighbor Fonnette Harris, who lives directly across from Perdue on the lake, reported the dredging to Georgia Power when she saw it happening Oct. 3. She said she and her husband rode to Perdue's dock in their pontoon boat to take pictures of a trackhoe sitting in the lake and scooping dirt out of Perdue's boat slip, then dumping it further into the lake.

According to Harris, she and her husband asked a man standing on the dock if he had a permit and whether he knew there were environmental regulations about dredging, and he said no.

"We asked, 'Does the governor know you're doing this on his property?' and he said, 'I am the governor,'" Harris said.

All lake residents are provided the Georgia Power Shoreline Management Guidelines, which list activities that require a permit, said Harris, whose husband's family has leased their lakefront land for more than 60 years.

After seeing pictures of the dredging, Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland said they appear to depict a Clean Water Act violation. Holland's environmental advocacy group keeps tabs on the health of the watershed that drains to the Altamaha, including Lake Jackson.

But the amount of dredging may have been small enough that no laws were broken. Lynn Wallace, a Georgia Power spokeswoman, said the company estimates that Perdue dredged about 5 cubic yards of dirt.

Such activity could fall under a nationwide permit that allows dredging of less than 10 cubic yards without notifying anyone first, said David Crosby, deputy regulatory division chief for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Savannah district. Otherwise, he said the circumstances described would constitute a Clean Water Act violation.

Georgia Power has a permit from the corps that gives it the authority to permit dredging within certain limits. Among them: No more than 500 cubic yards can be moved, and the silt dug out must be deposited in a confined upland area, Crosby said. He said the corps generally doesn't want to see heavy equipment in a waterway, either, although that's not explicitly forbidden.

But Wallace said Georgia Power prefers to see dredging equipment in the lake rather than in the shoreline buffer zone.

Crosby said Georgia Power has the authority to make someone remove silt dumped in the lake, but there is no agreement requiring Georgia Power to report a violation to the corps.

Holland said Perdue's actions, in his opinion, were an abuse of power and bad for the environment. "There are two different enforcements in Georgia, one for some and one for others," Holland said, noting that Perdue appoints the chief of the state Environmental Protection Division.

Kevin Chambers, the EPD communications director, said no complaints seem to have been filed or investigations conducted into the dredging at Perdue's property.

Wallace said Georgia Power handled the situation as it would for any property owner, adding that dredging permits are almost always approved.

Perdue has not applied for a permit since the incident, Wallace said, "but of course if he wants to dredge, we'll issue him a permit," she said.

However, Harris contended that this treatment is different from what her family has received.

"Just a few months ago, Georgia Power told us under no circumstances can you put equipment within 25 feet" of the shoreline, she said.

Harris said when she recently erected a temporary cover over her boat slip without written permission, Georgia Power sent her a letter threatening to revoke her family's lease and destroy the structures.

Butts County tax assessment records show Perdue bought his house and an adjacent lot at 196 Andrea Circle, assessed at almost $465,000 altogether, in 2007.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0118-39531108