Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Tuesday that he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the decades-long tri-state “water wars” and slow down Georgia’s water use.
Florida and Alabama have long alleged that Georgia does not allow enough water to flow down the Chattahoochee River, while Georgia has sought — and recently won — the right to draw from Lake Lanier to serve its growing population. Scott cited the plight of oyster farmers in the Apalachicola Bay, at the bottom of the river basin.
“Because Georgia has not negotiated in good faith to fairly share the waters that flow between our two states, we are announcing today that Florida will bring suit in the U.S. Supreme Court next month to stop Georgia’s unchecked consumption of water that threatens the existence of Apalachicola fisheries and the future economic development of this region,” Scott said in a statement.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said Georgia has enacted responsible water conservation measures and the action was politically motivated.
“Gov. Scott’s threat to sue my state in the U.S. Supreme Court greatly disappoints me after I negotiated in good faith for two years,” Deal said. “More than a year ago, I offered a framework for a comprehensive agreement. Florida never responded. It’s absurd to waste taxpayers’ money and prolong this process with a court battle when I’ve proposed a workable solution.”
Last year the Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals allowing metro Atlanta to tap into Lanier. Scott said that the new lawsuit will seek injunctive relief against Georgia’s water consumption, considering the harm to Florida’s oyster industry.
The federal government on Monday designated the Apalachicola Bay a fisheries disaster because of drought in previous years, increased salinity and decreased downstream flows — though the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did not take a position on metro Atlanta’s water use.
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