Regional Civil War Threatens The United States
Things are spinning out of control here in America. I grew up thinking that the boundaries of the states were set and assumed that the fifty states would remain unchanged for my lifetime. I may have thought wrong.
Recently, the severe drought in Georgia has caused the state legislature to bring up an old boundary dispute with Tennessee. Georgia wishes to move the state line north by 1.1 miles thereby giving them water rights to the Tennessee River—liquid gold to Atlanta residents. In 1796 Congress set the southern border of Tennessee at the 35th Parallel. Inaccurate surveying at the time period put the border 1.1 miles further south than it should have been.
Should the border be moved, Not only would Georgia have access to the Tennessee River, they would get a sizable chunk of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Likewise, some residents of Memphis may find themselves in Mississippi.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen reacted to news of the Georgia land grab with disbelief calling Georgia’s land grab a complete joke. After being publicly ridiculed, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill creating a commission that would redraw the border and the Georgia Governor has put the state’s National Guard on standby in the event they need to be deployed to protect Georgian territory. Outraged, the Tennessee General Assembly was called back into session and House Speaker James Naifeh declared that any attempt by Georgia to alter the border would be illegal and that only that both legislatures of Tennessee and Georgia and the U.S. Congress could alter the border. Georgia shot back saying that there is no contest in regards to the border since Congress has already declared the 35th Parallel to be the proper border.
A standoff occurred and not much headway was made into the issue until a few days ago involving another group of states.
In the annual meeting of Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resource Compact, representatives of the U.S. States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec met. Together these states and provinces control access to the Great Lakes and under the compact, there are strict rules on diversion of Great Lakes water to areas outside the basin. This is a frustration to states such as Arizona, and New Mexico who wish to buy water. Every time they meet, they discuss prospects of water diversion which would require the consent of all the Governors and Premiers. Aside from minor instances involving very limited amounts of water, getting a unanimous agreement for diversion is rare.
What was interesting about this meeting was that the representatives of the U.S. States met and while they were discussing water access rights, the Georgia-Tennessee dispute came up. Almost all representatives sided with Tennessee and expressed their support for that state to keep Georgia from accessing their water. Oddly, the state that has the most access to Great Lakes water, and would seem to be most protective about states keeping control over their water—Michigan—saw things differently. Michigan is siding with Georgia.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said that the state is considering sending some of the state’s employed engineers to help Georgia in the event that Georgia gets access to the river. During that same question and answer session but off the record, the spokesman said that perhaps Michigan should press for the return of Toledo and the strip of land that went to Ohio. Also, maybe pressing the border to the same parallel as the most southern tip of Lake Michigan and depriving Indiana access to the Great Lakes. And that again, raised up a hornets nest in Ohio and Indiana.
I mean really, are we going to start another series of border disputes. Are we going to have regional civil wars because of water? Probably not anytime soon since most of this post is made up bull shit, but it does raise some interesting questions about the future and how access to water is already becoming a major issue between the states.
Article here.
Recently, the severe drought in Georgia has caused the state legislature to bring up an old boundary dispute with Tennessee. Georgia wishes to move the state line north by 1.1 miles thereby giving them water rights to the Tennessee River—liquid gold to Atlanta residents. In 1796 Congress set the southern border of Tennessee at the 35th Parallel. Inaccurate surveying at the time period put the border 1.1 miles further south than it should have been.
Should the border be moved, Not only would Georgia have access to the Tennessee River, they would get a sizable chunk of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Likewise, some residents of Memphis may find themselves in Mississippi.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen reacted to news of the Georgia land grab with disbelief calling Georgia’s land grab a complete joke. After being publicly ridiculed, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill creating a commission that would redraw the border and the Georgia Governor has put the state’s National Guard on standby in the event they need to be deployed to protect Georgian territory. Outraged, the Tennessee General Assembly was called back into session and House Speaker James Naifeh declared that any attempt by Georgia to alter the border would be illegal and that only that both legislatures of Tennessee and Georgia and the U.S. Congress could alter the border. Georgia shot back saying that there is no contest in regards to the border since Congress has already declared the 35th Parallel to be the proper border.
A standoff occurred and not much headway was made into the issue until a few days ago involving another group of states.
In the annual meeting of Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resource Compact, representatives of the U.S. States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec met. Together these states and provinces control access to the Great Lakes and under the compact, there are strict rules on diversion of Great Lakes water to areas outside the basin. This is a frustration to states such as Arizona, and New Mexico who wish to buy water. Every time they meet, they discuss prospects of water diversion which would require the consent of all the Governors and Premiers. Aside from minor instances involving very limited amounts of water, getting a unanimous agreement for diversion is rare.
What was interesting about this meeting was that the representatives of the U.S. States met and while they were discussing water access rights, the Georgia-Tennessee dispute came up. Almost all representatives sided with Tennessee and expressed their support for that state to keep Georgia from accessing their water. Oddly, the state that has the most access to Great Lakes water, and would seem to be most protective about states keeping control over their water—Michigan—saw things differently. Michigan is siding with Georgia.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said that the state is considering sending some of the state’s employed engineers to help Georgia in the event that Georgia gets access to the river. During that same question and answer session but off the record, the spokesman said that perhaps Michigan should press for the return of Toledo and the strip of land that went to Ohio. Also, maybe pressing the border to the same parallel as the most southern tip of Lake Michigan and depriving Indiana access to the Great Lakes. And that again, raised up a hornets nest in Ohio and Indiana.
I mean really, are we going to start another series of border disputes. Are we going to have regional civil wars because of water? Probably not anytime soon since most of this post is made up bull shit, but it does raise some interesting questions about the future and how access to water is already becoming a major issue between the states.
Article here.
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