Political Quotes

“the locals call it ``God's country.'' The Apalachicola River, beginning at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint River, near the borders of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, was and remains an important waterway in the southeast. The river's purpose as a waterway, however, has changed since its colonial fame. The Apalachicola is the largest river east of the Mississippi. In its heyday, the Apalachicola was an important tributary that served as the largest port on the Gulf of Mexico, harboring ships carrying cotton to Europe and New England. In the 21st century, while no longer an essential route of transport, the Apalachicola River is an important environmental and commercial asset. The history of the Apalachicola River is an Army Corps of Engineers project began in 1945 with the Rivers and Harbors Act, which authorized dredging of navigation channels. Over the past 57 years, millions of taxpayer dollars have been swept down the river in an effort to dredge and maintain the 9 foot deep channel. The Corps has had difficulty maintaining the channel, and combines dredging with water releases in order to raise water levels and provide navigation windows. This system is hopelessly flawed. Dredging is unmanageable and navigation windows are unreliable, making the process a fiscal waste. Add to this fact over the last few years, commercial barge traffic has slowed from an intermittent stream to a virtually non-existent trickle.”