In The News

The historic New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam is now one step closer to being taken off the demolition list for good.

According to Congressman Rick Allen, S. 4367, the Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, which passed the House Dec. 10 with a two-thirds majority, closes the final loopholes to keep the dam standing and the pool maintained in perpetuity.

Allen said he shifted his arguments in support of the lock and dam from historic considerations and nostalgia for the 1937, New Deal-era, facility and focused on the vital benefits of having the downtown pool remain at 114.5 feet over sea level.

It was Allen who noticed the remaining loopholes and stepped in to make sure that the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam did not suffer from yet another round of shrugged shoulders and court delays. 

“I was proud to draft this language with our local stakeholders and push it through the legislative process. We are one step closer to the finish line and I have no doubt that our district shares my excitement,” Allen said. 

The late Congressman Charlie Norwood first raised the alarm that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to demolish the dam decades ago; the dam maintains the large pool that winds around downtown Augusta and North Augusta and provides potable water to both cities.

After plans to deepen the port of Savannah introduced the plight of the endangered sturgeon fish into the discussion, the battle over the dam spilled into the courts. Eventually, multiple government agencies, along with the Corps of Engineers, affected municipalities and environmental groups were all ensnared in what became a tedious court process, with writs, stays and appeals flying, but seemingly little progress ever happened over the span of a decade.

During the ongoing legal sparring, the Corp of Engineers conducted two draw-downs on the Savannah River to simulate having a rock weir in place, which would allegedly solve the problem of sturgeon breeding.

However, the draw-downs did not help the Corps to sway public opinion in their favor. A giant mudflat emerged right in the area where regatta rowers train for their competitions, riverbanks collapsed and pipes that siphon off river water for drinking sat high and dry.

To make matters worse, the Covid pandemic brought the judicial system to a halt, leaving many to wonder if the dam would succumb to the forces of gravity and crumble to the ground before the courts ever made a final ruling.

In January,  H.R. 8812, the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (WRDA), a bi-partisan bill, was passed in the House. The clever authors for the bill chose not to make the historic dam itself the primary issue, but rather, maintaining the pool at present levels for economic, as well as public health concerns. 

The language of the bill did not specifically force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep or maintain the current structure, which was built in 1937 when Augusta was an in-land port. 

The locks on the structure have not been fully operational in years, and the Corps of Engineers have long favored demolishing the dam and replacing it with a rock weir that would lower the pool by several feet. The weir, according to the Corps of Engineers, would also allow the threatened sturgeon to swim upstream to what was once the species spawning grounds.

There would be one final snag to emerge after the presentation and adoption of the WRDA, and Allen found himself lobbying colleagues from both sides of the aisles in the Senate to keep the original language pertaining to Augusta’s dam in the Senate’s version of the bill. Allen says he worried it might be an uphill battle since companion bills from each chamber must be identical to make the final sprint to the president’s desk and become law. 

However, just in time for Christmas, the two houses have come to an agreement that Allen says is workable for everyone involved, as well as the fish.

Speaking by phone from Washington, D.C., where he recently announced he will be joining the Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency caucus, Allen says that saving the downtown pool dovetails with his other thoughts on government efficiency and for Congress to mind how money is spent using the people’s purse.

“If the Corps still wants to build a fish ladder or rock weir, then they can. If they want to demolish the dam, they can do that. But no matter what their future plans involve, they must keep the downtown pool at 114.5 feet,” Allen said.