Florida asks Supreme Court to send more Chattahoochee water… | www.myajc.com

Florida, as promised, asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to order Georgia to let more Chattahoochee River water flow into the Panhandle to keep the state’s oyster industry afloat.

Gov. Rick Scott, sidestepping the traditional, up-through-the-courts legal process, requested that the justices ultimately decide the thorny and protracted interstate dispute that, of late, has broken Georgia’s way. He wants to cap Georgia’s withdrawals from the Chattahoochee at 1992 levels, according to a brief filed Tuesday.

The Supreme Court hasn’t determined an apportionment of water between competing states since 1945. Yet a variety of water rulings and environmental laws promulgated over the last half century give Florida a fighting chance, water-resource experts say.

One thing is clear: The 23-year-long “water war” between Georgia, Florida and Alabama is set to enter yet another costly, lengthy phase.

Scott, in a statement released Tuesday, vowed “to stop Georgia’s unmitigated consumption of water.”

“After 20 years of failed negotiations with Georgia, this is our only way forward in securing the economic future of northwest Florida,” he added.

A spokesman for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal labeled the proposed lawsuit “frivolous” and “political theater” and vowed to fight for the state’s water rights.

“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,” Brian Robinson said.

via Florida asks Supreme Court to send more Chattahoochee water… | www.myajc.com.