The $22.81 billion list of Corps of Engineers building and maintenance projects for the year does not include any funding for the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam.
The funding comes through two recent acts of Congress which provide a substantial amount of money to be spent on waterway maintenance in Georgia and South Carolina, but nothing for the embattled lock and dam.
While $161,000 has been allotted for work on the Savannah River below Augusta, that funding is not earmarked for the Lock and Dam, which maintains the pool in downtown Augusta.
According to District 12 Congressman Rick W. Allen’s office, the monetary snub by the Corps is not surprising.
Currently, the Corps is still in mitigation with Georgia and South Carolina after years of litigation. The mitigation centers on bringing the Corps into compliance with the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act which states that the pool created by the aging dam must stay at its current depth, according to the congressman’s office.
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“The congressman is watching the mediation efforts with the Corps of Engineers closely and is prepared to introduce further legislation if needed,” according to Allen’s office.
The Corps has long favored removing the dam, which was constructed in 1937, and replacing it with a rock weir that would allow the endangered sturgeon access to the fish’s historic spawning grounds.
Because the Lock and Dam is no longer used for commercial navigation, the Corps has twice lowered the downtown pool to the level a rock weir would provide, causing public outcries from both sides of the river.
Each time, the draw-downs left docks on dry land and bank collapses leading residents to complain about the mudflats created along the river area downtown making the waterway only suitable for canoe or kayak traffic.
In August of 2021, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster indicated that some of the funding from the recent $525 million settlement with Savannah River Site could be allocated to repairs and stabilization of the Lock and Dam.
That settlement stemmed from the Department of Energy’s failed mixed oxide fuel fabrication that was to be built at SRS along with the weapons grade plutonium that was brought to the state to be converted into fuel pellets for reactor fuel assemblies.
However, McMaster’s office has not provided any updates on that possible funding source since last year.
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According to a 48-page list, the Corps plans to direct funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to waterway projects around the country, including in Georgia and South Carolina. President Joe Biden signed that act into law in November 2021. Other funding is coming through the 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.
The report states the bulk of the federal funding will be allocated towards port, waterway and “climate mitigation” infrastructure projects.
The port of Savannah will receive $ 32.2 million for continued dredging within a 32-mile stretch of water, including the Savannah Harbor. According to a report by the University of Georgia Marine Extension Georgia Sea Grant, the Infrastructure Act, that funding is on top of the $706 million set aside to deepen the lower Savannah River’s to 47 feet. The deeper river bed will allow massive cargo ships to enter the port at Savannah, which is the nation’s second largest port on the Eastern seaboard.
J. Strom Thurmond Dam and Clarks Hill Lake are set to receive $10.5 million for on-going maintenance, replacement of the potable water system and significant upgrades to the Petersburg Campground.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
