Georgia’s Senate passed a resolution by a vote of 48-2 Monday that would “correct” a portion of the state’s northern border in order to claim valuable water rights from the Tennessee river.
“The Tennessee Valley Authority has identified the Tennessee River as a likely source of water for North Georgia,” said Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, in a prepared statement. “Yet the state of Tennessee has used mismarked boundary lines to block our access to this important waterway.”
To settle the cross-state dispute, the bill proposes a solution based on 200-year-old survey errors that would clarify Georgia’s access to the river water, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. If no settlement is reached, the Attorney General would be directed to sue the state of Tennessee for the entire area of land south of the 35th parallel.
“Georgia’s streams and creeks feed the Tennessee River,” Shafer added. “In fact, over six percent of the water of the Tennessee River originates in Georgia.”
The resolution now moves back to the House, where it originated, in order to hash out amendments to bill.
(AP Photo)
