Supreme Court takes up Ga.-Fla. water dispute
In a potentially ominous turn of events, the U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will accept a case filed by the state of Florida that challenges Georgia's use of water drawn from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin, including Lake Lanier. (Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court is the sole court of jurisdiction in legal disputes pitting state against state.)
"For 20 years, Florida has tried to work with Georgia, and families (on Apalachicola Bay) have continued to see their fisheries suffer from the lack of water," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in announcing the decision. "The Supreme Court takes up so few cases, and their willingness to hear Florida’s demonstrates the merits of our case before the Court. We are fighting for the future of this region, and we won’t quit until these resources are restored.”
When the case was filed a year ago, Gov. Nathan Deal dismissed it as "political theater," saying "The only ‘unmitigated consumption’ going on around here is Florida’s waste of our tax dollars on a frivolous lawsuit.” In September, federal officials recommended that the Supreme Court delay filings in the case until the U.S. Corps of Engineers can complete a new watershed-management plan for the ACF. However, the justices have apparently decided that delay isn't warranted.
I still think Georgia has a strong case to make -- the problems with Apalachicola Bay's oyster industry had much more to do with the recent prolonged drought than with water use by metro Atlanta. Then again, I also thought the Georgia Bulldogs would have little trouble with the Gators last week, and we know how that turned out.
At the very least, the court's decision ensures several more years of considerable uncertainty over our water supply, and several more years of a long, drawn-out legal fight, with probably millions of dollars to be spent on attorneys, consultants, experts, testimony, etc.
