A state senator from Cumming said federal red tape likely will continue to hold up Lake Lanier Association's primary goal of raising the lake's full pool to 1,073 feet.Sen. Jack Murphy, who represents District 27, gave the keynote address at the group's annual meeting Thursday night at the Lanier Technical College Forsyth Conference Center.The association, founded in 1966, is a group of residents from the counties surrounding Lanier who are committed to a clean and full lake to enhance its economic value. "The problem with Washington is you get something worked with one bunch of people, and then there's another bunch of people in there to take their place with some other issue," Murphy told the crowd of about 200.He was referring to a recent meeting with Capitol leaders to try and persuade them to consider raising the full pool level.Murphy also called the goal "a moving target.""You've got Judge (Paul) Magnuson's ruling, you've got all those suits (in the tri-state water wars) between Georgia, Alabama and Florida, and you're dealing with the federal government and something they own that we don't own," Murphy said.Magnuson ruled in 2009 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been illegally reallocating water from Lake Lanier to meet metro Atlanta's needs, giving leaders until July 2012 to reach an agreement before returning allocation levels to those of the 1970s.Leaders are awaiting a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that may reverse Magnuson's ruling.One positive note in the challenge to raise the level, however, is Gov. Nathan Deal, Murphy said."The governor is absolutely on our side in this," he said.Murphy said Deal has the option of allowing about $3 million for study to determine the effects raising the level would have on the lake and surrounding areas.But Murphy called such a study "ridiculous" since he said Lake Lanier has already reached 1,073 feet "more than 300 times" in its history."Why would we take $3 million to study something that's already in existence?" he asked.