From Georgia's Oct. 1 filing with the U.S. Supreme Court: "The situation is dire and the need for relief immediate. Florida has a right to its equitable share of the waters that have flowed historically to it from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. Florida cannot and should not suffer injury in order to satiate Georgia's unrelenting thirst."
“At present, the Apalachicola Region’s ecosystem and economy are suffering serious harm because of Georgia’s increasing storage and consumption of water from both the Chattahoochee and Flint river basins. Large, and ever-increasing, amounts of water … are withdrawn, impounded and consumed upstream for municipal, industrial, recreational, and agricultural uses permitted by Georgia. These uses are forcing Floridians to shoulder the heavy burden of Georgia’s growth.”
From an Oct. 1 press release by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office: "I am proud to join Gov. (Rick) Scott in this fight to protect Florida's fair share of water from Georgia's over-consumption, which is devastating Apalachicola Bay's ecosystem."
Gov. Rick Scott: "Georgia has refused to fairly share the waters that flow between our two states, so to stop Georgia's unmitigated consumption of water we have brought the matter before the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia's over-consumption of water threatens the existence of Apalachicola Bay and the future economic development of the region."
“After 20 years of failed negotiations with Georgia, this is our only way forward in securing the economic future of Northwest Florida.”
From Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's Oct. 1 response to Florida's lawsuit: "The only 'unmitigated consumption' going on around here is Florida's waste of our tax dollars on a frivolous lawsuit," said Deal's communications director, Brian Robinson. "Florida is receiving historically high water flows at the state line this year, but it needs a bogeyman to blame for its poor management of Apalachicola Bay. Our conservation efforts have decreased metro Atlanta's water use even as our population has grown substantially, and Georgia offered a framework for an agreement which never received a response from Florida. This lawsuit is political theater and nothing more. We've won consistently in court and will defend Georgia's water rights vigorously in the Supreme Court, because our case is the only one with any merit."
