By Scott Wright

CENTRE – A quiet group of 35-40 concerned boaters and lakefront property owners converged on the offices of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Thursday night to attend the quarterly meeting of the Weiss Lake Improvement Association. The group heard from a representative of Alabama Power Company who spoke about several topics of concern to WLIA members.

Vice President of Environmental Affairs Willard Bowers said he feels the issue most important to Weiss-area residents is the re-licensing process Alabama Power must complete in order to receive permission to operate Weiss Dam for another 50 years.

Bowers said the process has hit a snag that will affect the future water level of the reservoir.

Bowers said as part of the re-licensing process, Alabama Power proposed a three-foot increase in the winter water level of Weiss Lake that met with no objections from any of the parties involved over the five-year negotiating process, including the Army Corps of Engineers (COE), which is still responsible for ensuring adequate flood control in the Coosa-Tallapoosa River basin, including Weiss Lake.

“We supported it, you supported it, all the people around the negotiating table were for it,” Bowers said of the proposed wintertime water level increase. “But the Corps of Engineers is responsible for flood control and now they are saying that changes in the lake level require changes in the flood control procedures.”

Bowers said the COE is not mandating that any changes in flood control procedures, which it considers the plan to increase the lake level to be, must be reflected in a workbook compiled by the COE called the Master Manual for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River System.

According to a letter to Alabama Power Hydro General Manager R. M. Akridge written by COE Col. Peter F. Taylor, Jr. on Feb. 27, “the Corps believes it is necessary to process the proposed changes as part of an update to the Corps water control manual and plans for the ACT Basin.”

Bowers pointed out that the manual the COE suddenly insists it must revise immediately in order for Alabama Power to receive a new operating license is 55 years old.

“It was written in 1951, before there was a Weiss Lake,” Bowers said. “And now, suddenly, they are telling us it has to be revised before they can approve the license.”

Bowers said this unexpected and unorthodox request by the COE will effectively delay any changes in the water level of Weiss Lake beyond 2008.

“We intend to fight this with everything we have,” Bowers said, referring to his employer. “I just want you to know what is going on.”

Bowers also explained that, just after the COE letter arrived, Alabama Power received a letter from the state of Georgia which claimed the company’s five-year process of requesting the new license to operate the dam system in Alabama was “not adequate.”

“They said we didn’t give them the opportunity to participate, and that’s just not true,” Bowers said. “We met with representatives from the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources in 2000 and we sent them copies of all the notices of all our re-licensing meetings.”

The COE letter appears to blame the decades-long water war for the delays their ability to process the applications.

“As you are aware,” Taylor stated in his letter to Akridge, “the Corps is currently involved in ongoing litigation with the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia and other entities, including Alabama Power, regarding our regulation and operation of the ACT … River System.”

Bowers wouldn’t directly answer questions from the crowd about whether the COE’s sudden about-face was politically motivated or conducted in collusion with officials from the state of Georgia, but he did show his disdain for the political process that has consumed the re-licensing debate.

“We thought we would be able to raise the winter pool in Weiss by three feet, but right now that is not the case,” he said. “The Corps of Engineers now says that if everything goes according to their plan, they will have this manual done in 2008. I won’t comment on the federal government’s ability to do anything according to plan.”

Carolyn Landrem, president of the Weiss Lake Improvement Association, said it’s time for the people of Cherokee County to get involved in this process.

“The WLIA has known for about a month that there could be a problem with the lake level going up and that’s one of the reasons why we wanted Mr. Bowers to come and speak to us,” Landrem said. “People should contact the Corps of Engineers and let them know we are not happy about the delay. And, I think, contact our representatives in Montgomery and let them know we aren’t happy."