Florida told the federal government Wednesday it "strongly opposes" a proposal to store more water in Georgia while limiting flows into Apalachicola Bay, saying to do so would harm oysters and federally protected sturgeon and mussels.

In a letter, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said there is no legitimate or legal reason to keep more water in Lake Lanier, metro Atlanta's main source of drinking water. The lake is more than half full, "and therefore there is no threat to municipal and industrial demands," he wrote.

Sole was responding to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' proposed operations plan, released in March, for five federal dams on the Chattahoochee River. Under the plan, which could take effect June 1, more water would be kept in Lanier and the other reservoirs in Georgia during severe droughts while the minimum flow of water into Florida's Apalachicola River would be reduced.

Sole said the effect would be to "starve the Apalachicola River and Bay of freshwater flows needed to keep the ecosystems, species, and economy alive."

The area produces about 90 percent of Florida's oysters.

Sole sent the letter to the Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is reviewing the Corps' proposal to determine the impact on federally listed animals, including the Gulf sturgeon and three freshwater mussel species.

Georgia officials are still reviewing the plan, though they have called it a step in the right direction to protect the state's water supply during droughts.

In the meantime, Georgia has asked the Corps to continue a six-week operation to limit water released from Lanier through May. Environmentalists and downstream communities oppose the request, saying it threatens the health of the Chattahoochee. The river processes treated wastewater in addition to providing the region's drinking water.

Georgia, Alabama and Florida have fought over water rights to the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin since 1990. Georgia and Alabama are also fighting over the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin, which includes Lake Allatoona, another source of metro Atlanta's drinking water.

The tri-state water war reignited when the drought began in 2006. Last year, with metro Atlanta's water supplies threatened, Georgia officials blamed the Corps for dropping Lanier to an all-time low in order to maintain minimum downstream flows into Florida.

In November, the Corps started reducing the flows into Florida and held more water in Lanier, West Point Lake and other Georgia reservoirs. White House brokered negotiations failed in February, prompting Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to say the federal government would impose its own solution.