If some people in Atlanta have to die to protect the mussels so be it....

That seems to be the message residents of north Georgia are receiving from the states of Florida and Alabama as well as the Corps of Engineers all because of the Endangered Species Act. Our Senators are trying to get the federal goverment to move on this issue so we will have to wait and see which is more important, human lives or fish.

Georgia's congressional delegation proposed legislation Tuesday aimed at replenishing the state's shrinking water supply by suspending Endangered Species Act regulations during periods of extreme drought. Senator Saxby Chambliss said Georgia's drinking water is being restricted to "protect a handful of mussels and sturgeon."
Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been fighting for nearly two decades over water rights from two river basins. The other states say metro Atlanta's booming growth is draining so much water that it threatens not only endangered species but also industries in Alabama and the Appalachicola Bay oyster industry in Florida.

For those who are not aware current projections say that the metro Atlanta area will run out of water in about another 100+ days. There has been a severe lack of rain around here while other parts of the states are suffering they are not in peril. The states of AL and FL have received plenty of rain. This is what happens when we don't have big tropical storms or hurricanes. A high pressure front settled over the south this year and there was nothing to move it out. So the Midwest suffers unbelievable flooding because the storms couldn't move eastward and none of the rain or storm that came up from the Gulf of Mexico had enough punch to make it to the northern parts of Georgia.
So I guess until humans make it onto the Endangered Species List we are just out of luck. I am so glad those dire predictions from Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore about all of these horrible storms, came true. Maybe next year huh?

The Corps plans to continue releasing water from Lake Lanier at an average of 1.9 billion gallons of water a day. The lake level is expected to drop about a foot a week.

And it is not just northern GA which is suffering.

About 26 percent of the Southeast is covered by an "exceptional" drought -- the National Weather Service's worst drought category. The affected area extends like a dark cloud over most of Tennessee, Alabama and the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.
The only spots in the region not suffering from abnormally dry conditions are parts of southern and eastern Florida and southeast Georgia.

You know the same parts of the country which host NASCAR events which some congressional critters recommend you get innoculated before visiting.