Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution called for a new attitude by business and environmentalists on water.  The editorial comes on the heels of  a 13-page letter sent last week to Georgia's director of the Environmental Protection Division by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, along with an alliance of real estate agents, miners, poultry farmers, local governments, water suppliers, home builders and others.  They want EPD to expedite development of a coherent, "fact-based" state water plan.

Treating development vs. the environment as zero sum game, the editorial says, is a false choice.  "Our state's economy is best served by protecting and conserving the natural resources on which it depends.  Preserving river flows, a proposal that alarms some business leaders, may sound like mushy environmentalism that will limit growth.  But it is probably far less costly to the economy in the long run....

"Although it's little discussed, Georgia remains subject to a 1996 court order to curb pollution, and the state is still embroiled in pending lawsuits with Florida and Alabama over whether we're taking more than our fair share of water from river systems that cross state borders."

Atlanta is a city where developers exercise broad influence, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber is one of the most powerful in the nation, so this is one battle to watch.

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