[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 49 (Monday, December 13, 1999)]
[Page 2557]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing Legislation To Protect a Segment of the 
Chattahoochee River

December 9, 1999

    Today I have signed into law H.R. 2140, a bill that will enhance the 
protection of a 48-mile segment of the Chattahoochee River, a vital 
natural resource for the Atlanta metropolitan area and an important unit 
of the National Park System. This legislation ensures that the natural, 
scenic, recreational, and historic values of one of our Nation's great 
urban rivers will be preserved for the benefit of future generations.
    This Act provides the foundation for a cooperative effort by the 
Federal Government, the State of Georgia, local governments, and private 
entities to link the separate units of the Chattahoochee River National 
Recreation Area through purchases of remaining open space along the 
Chattahoochee River corridor north of Atlanta. It gives the National 
Park Service the authority to expand the land base of the recreation 
area from approximately 6,800 acres to 10,000 acres through a revision 
of the boundary, by adding undeveloped land within the 2,000-foot river 
bank corridors. The National Park Service also will be authorized to 
exclude some properties currently within the boundary that are no longer 
suitable for the park because they have been developed.
    From the time the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area was 
established in 1978, the pace of residential and commercial development 
in the Chattahoochee River corridor has accelerated rapidly. A U.S. 
Census Bureau report issued earlier this year names Forsyth County, 
Georgia, where the recreation area boundary begins, the fastest-growing 
county in the Nation. The three other counties in which the recreation 
area lies are also experiencing a surge in growth. This Act will enable 
the National Park Service to spend funds that were appropriated in the 
105th Congress, as well as funds that have been or will be contributed 
by State and local governments and private interests, to acquire the 
remaining open space in the Chattahoochee River corridor before those 
properties are developed for residential and commercial purposes.
    The Act is strongly supported on a bipartisan basis by Georgia's 
congressional representatives, Georgia State and local government 
officials, the National Park Service, and private organizations, 
including the Trust for Public Land, which has played a key role in 
bringing together the various interests involved and developing a vision 
for the future of this critical area. It is with great respect and 
gratitude for those who made this legislation possible that I sign H.R. 
2140 today.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
December 9, 1999.

Note: H.R. 2140, approved December 9, was assigned Public Law No. 106-
154.