Charles Norwood: “we need to pass the Deal amendment. We need to strike section 110 of this bill that has been put in the bill at the last…”

“we need to pass the Deal amendment. We need to strike section 110 of this bill that has been put in the bill at the last minute. That section is very, very simple that needs to be stricken. It prohibits the Corps of Engineers from updating the amount of water that counties in Georgia, Alabama and Florida can draw from the Corps of Engineers' lakes. Now, the Corps of Engineers is simply doing what the Federal courts have told them. Someone says this is in court now. No, this is not in court now. It is very clear. The corps will have to complete this NEPA process and was ordered to do so by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia as late as January 6, 2006, and it says do this as quickly as possible. The problem is we have not been able to work this out in the three States. The second part of the problem is Alabama and Florida do not want the Corps of Engineers to work this out. Well, maybe they will be and maybe they will not, but we have to have a master plan. So says the law. So support the Deal amendment.”