In drought [former NC Gov(D)], Easley's club got water

As a four-year drought parched North Carolina into the middle of 2002, then-Gov. Mike Easley and his administration called it a major disaster. The governor urged people everywhere to save water, and he imposed stiff restrictions.

New records and interviews show that Old Chatham Golf Club pumped millions of gallons from a creek leading to Jordan Lake, diverting water from one of the region's major sources to keep greens alive.

The records show that a state water resources chief questioned the pumping but that higher-level officials -- including at the Governor's Office -- got involved.

It all took place a year after golf club leaders provided Easley with a major benefit: Club directors had voted in 2001 to waive the governor's monthly membership dues. That saved Easley about $50,000 while he was in office, a break he did not reveal on financial disclosure forms.

The pumping for the golf club has not been previously disclosed, officials acknowledged in interviews, and records from the time reflect concern and discussion about what would happen if the public found out.

"This is just a total shock to me that they would give up that water then," said Lynn Featherstone, a board member of the Haw River Assembly, an advocacy group that monitors Jordan Lake issues. "That was a very bad year. ... This is the first we've heard of it."

Easley, a Democrat, finished his second term in January. He is now the subject of state and federal criminal investigations into a range of activities that include his family's use of vehicles, free flights, a job he helped create for his wife at N.C. State University and a deep discount he took on a coastal land purchase.

In spring 2002, the drought deepened, generating headlines and worries about water use across broad areas of the state, including theTriangle. By March, the drought was labeled the worst in half a century. By early June, towns began hunting for water scofflaws. Easley advised residents to turn off the faucet when brushing their teeth.

On June 3, the golf club's president, Stuart Frantz of Raleigh, made a written request to pump water from Northeast Creek.

Their club boasts many prominent businessmen among its 300 members, including Charles Sanders, the former Glaxo chief and state lottery chairman; state Sen. Tony Rand, the majority leader in the Senate; former Department of Transportation secretaryLyndo Tippett; and Frank Daniels Jr., former publisher of The News & Observer.

The club's request for water eventually was considered by local, state and federal agencies that had different oversight roles.

The state owns the water in Jordan Lake. But through a lengthy process, the water is allocated to local governments, such as Cary and Chatham County, which pay for the water and have infrastructure to tap it.

Moreover, the lake is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And the golf club wanted permission to pump from a spot on federal property about a mile from the course.

Frantz, who did not return numerous phone messages, routed the request to the Chatham County commissioners, who unanimously agreed June 3 to let the club pump as much as 450,000 gallons a day for irrigation for up to three months. The water would be counted against the county's daily allocation from Jordan Lake. State law considers pumping more than 100,000 gallons a day to be a major withdrawal.

The county was not drawing all the 4 million gallons per day it was allowed; there was no debate among commissioners about the request, according to minutes of the commisers' meeting County Manager Charlie Horne.

Horne, who brought the item up at the meeting while giving regular updates, and other county officials say they have no correspondence or other detailed records on the golf club's pumping request. Horne said he can barely recall anything about the deal.

When the club contacted the Army Corps for approval, the federal agency immediately wanted guidance from the state, records show.

On June 6, the golf club's engineering consultant contacted the state's river basin management chief, Tom Fransen, saying the Army Corps "indicated that you would need to be involved with the authorization to proceed."

Fransen, now deputy director of the state's Division of Water Resources, called the Chatham County manager the same day, according to the records. He also called the golf club's contact.

Fransen expressed concerns and discouraged both from proceeding, according to the records. Fransen would send a follow-up e-mail message to the Chatham County manager with charts and graphs showing depleting lake levels and record-low stream flows and warning that the "severe extended drought" meant all users of water should be "making the best use of the resource."

"Is using water from Jordan Lake to water a golf course a good use of the water?" Fransen asked. "When we are looking at reducing water quality releases, it does not look good to be supplying a special request for golf course watering."

There was other activity that day regarding Chatham's water, but the timing and specifics aren't clear because the people involved said they can't remember everything.

After Fransen questioned the golf club's request, he was contacted by higher-ups, according to a memo in the state's files. Jim Mead, a state environmental engineer, wrote the memo June 26 and said that the Governor's Office had contacted Dempsey Benton, the No. 2 person at the state environmental agency, about the situation three weeks earlier.

Benton, who is now director of the state Office of Economic Recovery and Investment, was appointed by Easley to the environmental post in January 2001.

Benton heard from someone in the Governor's Office and then called Fransen, according to the memo.

"Dempsey Benton talked with Tom about this in response to a call from the governor's office," Mead wrote. "It was left that the ultimate decision was up to Chatham County since it was their water allocation. You should speak with Tom for more details on this."

Fransen said in an interview that he can't remember those details but that someone on behalf of the club probably appealed directly to the governor or his office and Benton was asked to check on it. He said he talked to Benton frequently then.

"I don't remember any pressure," Fransen said. "There was a lot going on at that time."

"As the saying goes, there's a lot of water gone under the bridge since then," Benton said. "What was going on in 2002? Was that the drought?"

Mead said he doesn't remember the specifics, either. He also wrote in the memo that the golf club's developers "have connections in high places" but that other users of the water would "be very interested in how water is being managed in the Jordan Lake watershed in light of the severe drought."

Both Mead and Fransen said in interviews that the golf club had made it clear that the purpose of the pumping was to save the club members' investment in grass.

All of the officials involved agreed that the state could have taken a policy position at that moment to prevent the club from pumping in a drought. Some said a denial could have given the golf club grounds for a legal fight because state laws are generally limited in regulating withdrawals.

Fransen and others said legislation passed after the 2007 drought has given the state greater powers in a drought, and such a request likely would not be approved in a similar circumstance now. The golf club has also added a 10-million-gallon pond to expand its on-site capacity.

John Morris was then head of the state Division of Water Resources. He said he doesn't recall the memo that was sent to him detailing the interest from higher-ups in state government, or getting pressure to help the golf course.

"You could certainly contest whether that was a good use of water at that point in history," said Morris, who is now retired. "But basically, it was their water that was allocated to them."

On July 10, Morris wrote to the Army Corps official at Jordan Lake, Michael Hosey, that the state had "no objection' to the golf club's use as long as Chatham County approved.

Two days later, Easley issued a controversial directive that local water systems and businesses, including in Chatham County, take quick steps to reduce their water use by 20 percent. Easley spent the next week urging people to save water, including during a visit to a farm in Knightdale onJuly 17 where he called the drought a major disaster and sought federal aid.

But Old Chatham Golf Club's water was not affected by Easley's water-saving directive.

"The Old Chatham water usage is because of the drought, and would not have occurred if the drought had not occurred," wrote John Sutherland, another state water supervisor at the time after considering whether the club should obey the 20 percent restriction. "It is a separate category of use."

The club also got help from another part of Easley's administration: The state Department of Transportation agreed to let Old Chatham run a pipeline along the state's right-of-way to an irrigation pond on the golf course's property.

The pumping at Old Chatham began July 18. Over the next two weeks, the club took about 6 million gallons that otherwise would have gone into Jordan Lake, according to pumping logs the club submitted to state and federal officials.

It rained in that same period, and the lake level barely dropped while the golf course pumped, records show.

The state remained concerned. On Aug. 15, Easley directed all agencies to stop "nonessential" water use, including grass watering, saying the state should "lead by example."

A tropical storm swept up from the gulf coast in September and then more rains came, replenishing lakes and rivers and breaking the drought.

Highlighting of some passages is by me; they were not highlighted in the original article, which is linked. It seems to me, that as bad as the "some of us are more equal than others" attitude indicated by the irrigation of the Gov.'s country club in the middle of a drought was, the bigger story here is the waiving of Gov. Easley's dues, and the lack of reporting thereof, as set forth in ¶5.

Those unfamiliar with the exploits of former Governor Easley and his lovely and gracious wife Mary may wish to check ¶8, which provides a very brief bit of background.

It increasingly appears Mr. Easley may see the inside of a jail cell some day.

I don't see any problem here.
Gov. Easley is a member of the ruling class AND a Democrat.
Nothing here so let's just move on to something more important. Something like how motherly Lady Palosi is. Or how saintly Lord Rangle is.

SARCASM

“It rained in that same period, and the lake level barely dropped while the golf course pumped, records show.”

“A tropical storm swept up from the gulf coast in September and then more rains came, replenishing lakes and rivers and breaking the drought.”

This is a little reminiscent of the whole global warming issue. Cut back on electrical power usage, pay higher taxes on fuel, but give congress more biz jets and the WH more choppers. All the while. the problem is on one of misperception, poor forcasting, and over reaction.

All dems seem to have the “chicken-little complex” coupled with a “Napolean complex”. Maybe there’s a vaccine.

I would submit that the News & Observer is emphasizing the wrong point in this story.

Yes, the image of a posh country club which just happens to count the Gov as a member spewing millions of gallons of water on its lush golf course during a drought even as the Gov advises the "little people" to take such stringent conservation measures as turning off the tap while they brush their teeth is a powerful one, calculated to incite disdain or worse from the readers, but isn't the more important point buried in ¶5?

"It all took place a year after golf club leaders provided Easley with a major benefit: Club directors had voted in 2001 to waive the governor's monthly membership dues. That saved Easley about $50,000 while he was in office, a break he did not reveal on financial disclosure forms."

That, it seems to me, is graft -- a felony. He'll need some pretty sharp and well-connected lawyers to keep him out of jail. John Edwards is available, I understand.

IIRC, the State’s “Jordan Lake Rules” which impose water restrictions in that watershed have to be accepted and agreed to by individual counties affected.

If Chatham county hasn’t implemented the Jordan Lake Rules there was no wrong doing.

That aside, The state’s law against transferring water from one watershed to another makes criminals out of anyone stopping to take a leak when traveling I-40 or 85.

"The golf club has also added a 10-million-gallon pond to expand its on-site capacity."

I haven't studied the topography of the club and its environs, but that pond most probably impounds (withholds) water that would have otherwise run into the aforementioned creek and lake.

Is there a big difference ibetween trapping and pumping? If so, I don't see it...

Thanks for this post. I usu don’t read the N&O (even online unless something gets posted from there)...usually check WRAL news online.

Somehow WRAL missed this story!

I remember that drought. It was horrible.

So the Golf Club members’ investment in grass was at risk? Ha! How many thousands of those in NC saw their yard grass totally dried up to nothing that year - mine did - requiring those who care about such things to invest in re-seeding and watering when the drought ended.

Just one more crime in the long line of crimes committed by the Democrat Easley and his pals.

NC Democrat Party = Totally corrupt.

“It increasingly appears Mr. Easley may see the inside of a jail cell some day. “

I truly hope so. Smug bastard.

Maybe he can get a cell beside Jim Black.

(W)Easley didn’t lift a finger to help our side during the Duke Lacrosse Frame. The Attorney General (Roy Cooper) did what he did without input or help from (W)Easley.

He was nowhere to be found.

It increasingly appears Mr. Easley may see the inside of a jail cell some day.

Democrats own North Carolina precisely because they can get such old boy network deals. The whole state works that way and it ain't changing anytime soon.

The only way Easley or his wife will ever see the inside of a jail cell is if they visit a Republican.

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