Tell TVA that our communities are worth the money

It’s been a rocky two weeks here in the Lake Chatuge watershed since the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) published its official public notice about the Chatuge Dam Safety Modifications on April 21, with high levels of fear and anxiety on the part of local residents and business owners. Since MountainTrue’s last Lake Chatuge action alert on April 18, TVA has answered the question about why this project is slated to take so long: the risk to people’s lives downstream is very low. It is up to us now to tell TVA that the risk to people’s livelihoods, both upstream and downstream, is very high! This project must be expedited, and no expense spared to ensure that the level of summertime drawdown is minimized. 

Lake Chatuge is unique among the 47 reservoirs TVA owns and manages. In fact, Lake Chatuge is very different from the other five reservoirs in the Southern Blue Ridge in that it’s the lifeblood of Towns County, Georgia. Towns County’s county seat — the City of Hiawassee — is literally “on the lake,” bounded by miles of shoreline on its western side. Also, unlike other mountain reservoirs like Hiwassee, Apalachia, and Fontana, the vast majority of Lake Chatuge’s 132-mile shoreline is privately owned, with many campgrounds, marinas, and tourist lodging. For better or worse, our communities’ economies on both sides of the state line are critically tied to having a relatively full lake during the summer months.

The alternatives that TVA initially proposed all involve deep year-round drawdowns that could last four to six years. The proposed very deep drawdown — up to 10 feet lower in winter and up to 20 feet in summer — could jeopardize the City of Hiawassee’s public drinking water supply system by reducing the volume of water available for use. These levels would also leave marinas and docks on dry ground. And the length of the drawdowns would decimate our tourist economy.

Subsequent discussions with TVA by Sole Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw and Towns County’s U.S. Representative, Andrew Clyde, have revealed another alternative that should be added to the Environmental Impact Study (EIS). It involves modifying Alternative E to include building a cofferdam around the spillway repair area. A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to create a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. TVA would still build a new gate-controlled concrete chute spillway and rehabilitate the existing spillway. While this proposal will no doubt be the most expensive alternative, MountainTrue believes that the cost to our communities far exceeds the project cost. TVA must consider this action to sustain reasonable summer lake levels!

Even if you have already submitted comments on this project, you can submit more if you have new and different substantive concerns or suggestions to express. You are also encouraged to participate in one of the public meetings being held in early May. Click here for the most updated information about when and where these will be held.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that TVA also consider social and economic impacts, not just impacts to the lake itself. Tell TVA that the currently proposed alternatives will cost our communities too much and ask that a modified Alternative E be analyzed in the EIS.

Resources: links & diagrams

a) Map/links to all TVA reservoirs: https://lakeinfo.tva.com/web/sites/sites_ie2_map_only.htm

b) Guidelines for writing substantive comments: Citizens’ Guide to NEPA

c) TVA’s Project page: https://www.tva.com/newsroom/regional-mountain-dams-safety-initiative/chatuge-dam-safety-modifications

d) TVA project NEPA timeline: 

e) Modified Alternative E:

Public Open House Opportunities

Virtual Meeting on May 6, 2025, from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET

Format: Dam Safety and NEPA presenters with a Q&A session. Register here.

May 8, 2025, in Clay County, North Carolina, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. ET 

Location: Clay County Schools Cafeteria (Behind Hayesville Middle School Gym/adjacent to Hayesville High School) – 205 Yellow Jacket Drive, Hayesville, NC 28904

Format: Informational booths and materials. Access to subject matter experts. No formal presentation.

May 13, 2025, in Towns County, Georgia, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. ET 

Location: Towns County Recreation Center, 150 Foster Park Rd. Young Harris, GA 30582.

Format: Informational booths and materials. Access to subject matter experts. No formal presentation.

Virtual Meeting on May 15, 2025, from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET

Format: Dam Safety and NEPA presenters with a Q&A session. Register here.

Sample comments:

We welcome you to copy and paste the text below as a basis for your comments, but we also encourage you to personalize your comments to make them unique to you. You can do this by adding a paragraph about why Lake Chatuge is important to you.

Dear TVA,

Lake Chatuge is unique among the many reservoirs your organization operates, even when compared to other mountain reservoirs. It is the lifeblood of Towns County, Georgia. Hiawassee, Georgia, is literally “on the lake,” bounded by miles of shoreline on its western side. Also, the vast majority of Lake Chatuge’s 132-mile shoreline is privately owned, with many campgrounds, marinas, and tourist lodging. Our communities’ economies on both sides of the state line are critically tied to having a relatively full lake during the summer months. While I understand that these repairs are needed, I am concerned that we cannot survive a years-long deep drawdown.

Please consider a modified Alternative E that includes building a cofferdam around the spillway repair area to keep workers safe while allowing for more reasonable summer water levels. While this proposal will no doubt be the most expensive alternative, I believe that the cost to our communities without it justifies the expense.

Other concerns that I have about an extended deep drawdown include:

• Impacts to the City of Hiawassee’s drinking water supply, which not only serves Hiawassee residents and businesses, but a majority of businesses in the Hwy 76 corridor and some around other parts of the lake, as well.
• Impacts to water quality and aquatic life in the lake.
• Impacts to wildlife, including wading birds and waterfowl, as well as threatened and endangered species like bald eagles, bog turtles & green pitcher plants, the latter two of which are found in marshy shallows that could be negatively impacted by an extensive drawdown.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

This action has expired

Let Macon County Commissioners know that you oppose weakening Macon County’s Watershed Protection and Flood Damage Prevention ordinances by allowing higher density for recreational vehicle parks in public water supply watersheds and removing restrictions on the use of fill dirt to elevate new houses or expand development in high-risk flood areas.

Commissioners may vote on changes to one or both of these ordinances at their upcoming meeting set for Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Commission Boardroom on the third floor of the Macon County Courthouse, located at 5 West Main Street, Franklin, NC, 28734.

Eighteen years ago, to better protect public safety and the environment in a region with steep mountain slopes and a higher risk of flooding, Macon County adopted an ordinance that is stricter than the state’s minimum standards. A natural floodplain allows water to spread out during a flood event, soak into the soil, and reduce a river’s speed and destructive power. 

Now, Macon County Commissioners are considering weakening the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance to allow property owners to use fill material in these areas — decreasing safety and increasing public and private losses due to flooding, including potential loss of life. Using fill dirt to build homes and other buildings in flood-prone areas reduces the amount of floodplain area we have to mitigate flooding. Allowing this activity without requiring a permit puts more people at risk of floods by encouraging more homebuilding and development in floodplains. It also adds to development pressure on large agricultural properties currently in the floodplain, leading to an increase in loss of farmland. 

Using fill dirt and materials in the floodplain will also increase costs for residents and taxpayers by raising insurance premiums and creating the need for the government to update floodplain maps more often. The increased risk to life and property from accelerated flooding will also demand costly county resources and put county emergency personnel and volunteer rescuers at risk.

Eleven years ago, county commissioners amended Macon County’s Watershed Protection Ordinance to make Recreational Vehicle (RV) parks ineligible for Special Nonresidential Intensity Allocations. Similarly to the changes to the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, allowing increased density for RV parks would encourage their development in public drinking water supply watersheds. Most of the large tracts of land in these watersheds are currently in floodplains and in agricultural production.

Former county leaders recognized that because of Macon County’s steep slopes, narrow floodplains, and fast-flowing streams, the standard state ordinance wasn’t good enough and adopted stronger water supply watershed protections and floodplain restrictions that have served the county well for more than a decade. Tell our current leaders to maintain this legacy for Macon County’s future.