In The News

WASHINGTON (WRDW/WAGT) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced a proposal to keep the current New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam.

The chamber passed the final version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which includes language calling for a full repair of the lock and dam on the Savannah River and requires the pool level to be maintained at 114.5 feet.

The language to keep the lock and dam was proposed by Rep. Rick Allen, R-Augusta.

“The residents of Georgia’s 12th District and the CSRA deserve today’s victory,” he said Tuesday after voting in support of the measure. “We are one step closer to the finish line, and I have no doubt that our district shares my excitement,” he said. “Today’s bipartisan show of support is an encouraging sign that this will soon be the law of the land.”

The measure still has to pass the Senate, “but we are confident,” Allen spokesman Carlton Norwood said.

For years, the lock and dam have been at the center of a controversy — and lawsuits — centered on the people’s needs vs. the needs of fish reportedly impacted by the Army Corps of Engineers’ deepening of Savannah Harbor. The corps wants to replace the lock and dam with a rock weir – a low barrier in the water – to control the flow of the river. That would mean a lower river level in a community that has built much of its economy around the waterway. The corps wants a barrier that would allow certain fish to pass through the river, which the weir would do. If the measure passes through Congress, lawmakers would essentially overrule the corps.