Florida To Sue Georgia, Reigniting Water Wars

Scott charges Georgia’s growing use of water is threatening fisheries and the oyster industry in the Apalachicola Bay. 

Georgia, Florida, and Alabama have been involved for decades in a legal fight over water flow downstream from Lake Lanier, which metro Atlanta uses as its source of drinking water.  Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Florida and Alabama. The states wanted the high court to overturn an appeals court ruling, which allowed metro Atlanta to use Lanier for drinking water. 

In a press release, the Governor’s office charged that Georgia is damaging the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin and threatening Florida’s fish and oyster industries in Apalachicola Bay. To quote from the press release:

Historically low water levels brought about by Georgia’s excessive consumption have caused oysters to die because of higher salinity in the Bay and increased disease and predator intrusion. Oysters in the Bay account for 90 percent of Florida’s oyster supply and 10 percent of the nation’s oyster supply.

So far, calls to the Governors of Georgia and Florida have not been returned. 

WABE will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.

*** Update 3:30 p.m. ***

In a related development, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker yesterday declared a commercial fishery failure for the oyster fishery along the west coast of Florida. This clears the way for Congress to appropriate disaster relief funds if it chooses to do so.

The declaration said that “the fishery resource disaster resulted from excessive drought conditions in Apalachicola Bay and elsewhere in the Florida panhandle during the 2012 – 2013 winter fishing season.”  The statement cited information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to describe the severity of the decline: 

Within the last year, landings on the Florida west coast oyster fishery have declined nearly 60 percent, with a 44 percent reduction in revenues. This decline in revenues is an unusual occurrence in this fishery and is not part of a cyclical downturn in revenues. 

Florida Governor Rick Scott had called for just such a declaration almost a year ago.

You can read Secretary Pritzker’s statement here.

***Update 4:40 p.m.***

Gov. Scott’s office released a video of his statement, which appears below:

***Update 5:15 p.m.***

Deal: Return to Table, Not to Court

Gov. Nathan Deal’s office has released a statement in response to Gov. Rick Scott’s statement about suing the state of Georgia over water usage. 

In the statement, Gov. Deal called for Florida and Georgia to resume direct negotiations over water usage rather than returning to court.  Deal castigated the threatened lawsuit, describing it as ”a frivolous waste of time and money,” adding that “it’s absurd to waste taxpayers’ money.”  Deal also pointed out that Florida is in a weak position because Georgia’s legal arguments “have consistently prevailed in federal court.” 

The following is the complete text of Gov. Deal’s statement:

After Florida Gov. Rick Scott said today that his state will sue Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court over water use, Gov. Nathan Deal called the move a frivolous waste of time and money when Georgia has waited more than a year for Florida to respond to its latest settlement proposal.

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. Georgia has made significant progress on water conservation and has proposed an agreement that would meet the needs of both states. While the timing seems to work for political purposes, it’s ironic this comes at a time when Florida and Georgia are experiencing historically high rainfall.  The fastest and best resolution is an agreement, not a lawsuit going into an election year. On the flip side, the merits of Georgia’s arguments have consistently prevailed in federal court, and a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court would decide this issue in Georgia’s favor once and for all.”