It is the intent and purpose of this chapter to provide for the construction and maintenance by the United States government of the intracoastal waterway and its salt-water tributaries, hereinafter referred to as the intracoastal waterway, from the state boundary line in the Savannah River to the state boundary line in Cumberland Sound, as authorized by the Congress of the United States by the River and Harbor Act approved June 20, 1938, authorizing the construction of the intracoastal waterway to a depth of 12 feet from the Savannah River, Georgia, to Cumberland Sound, Georgia, in accordance with the project described in House Document No. 618, Seventy-fifth Congress, third session, and subject to the conditions set forth in said document, and by the River and Harbor Act approved August 26, 1937, authorizing the construction of a protected route as part of the intracoastal waterway, around St. Andrew Sound, Georgia, to a depth of seven feet in accordance with the project described in Senate Committee Print, Seventy-fourth Congress, first session, and subject to the conditions set forth in that document. The Governor and the Secretary of State are authorized to issue to the United States of America a grant or grants of a perpetual right and easement to enter upon, cut away, and remove any and all of the land, including submerged lands, composing a part of the channel rights of way, anchorage areas, and turning basins as may be required at any time for construction and maintenance of the intracoastal waterway and to maintain the portions excavated, thereby created as a part of the navigable waters of the United States. The Governor and the Secretary of State are authorized to issue to the United States of America a further perpetual right and easement to enter upon, occupy, and use any portion of the land, including submerged land, composing a part of the spoil disposal area not so cut away and converted into public navigable waters described in this Code section, for the deposit of dredged material and for such other purposes as may be needed in the construction, maintenance, and improvement of the intracoastal waterway, insofar as such lands, including submerged lands, are subject to grant by the State of Georgia. The grant is to be issued upon a certificate showing the location and description of the rights of way and spoil disposal areas furnished to the Governor by the secretary of the army or by any authorized officer of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army or by any other authorized official exercising control over the construction or maintenance of the projects.
(Ga. L. 1939, p. 331, § 1.)