June 27, 2018
www.gfb.org
Vol. 36 No. 13
SUPREME COURT GIVES VERDICT IN FLORIDA-GEORGIA WATER LAWSUIT In a 5-4 decision made public on June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the Florida-Georgia water lawsuit back to Special Master Ralph Lancaster to reconsider his recommendation. In the majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court found that the special master applied too strict a standard in concluding Florida failed to demonstrate that the Court can reach a fair ruling. The court also reserved judgment for the ultimate disposition of the case, addressing only the narrow “threshold” question the special master addressed - whether Florida has shown that its injury can “effectively be redressed by limiting Georgia’s consumptive use of water from the Basin without a decree binding the Corps.” The court found Florida showed that an effective remedy is possible. “Georgia Farm Bureau had hoped that the Supreme Court would accept the recommendation to reject Florida’s request to have limits placed on Georgia’s use of water from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. This long-standing dispute deserves a resolution. It is our hope that the continued litigation will serve to demonstrate that Georgia’s farmers practice responsible water use and continue to pursue efficient application of this most valuable of our natural resources.” Florida filed the suit in 2013, claiming that excessive water withdrawals from Georgia users, including farmers, caused insufficient stream flows that resulted in harm to the oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay on the Florida’s coast on the Gulf of Mexico. The case, referred to as an equitable apportionment case, fell into the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction because it was a suit between states. Florida asserted that excessive withdrawals from Lake Lanier to meet Metro Atlanta’s civic water needs combined with withdrawals from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers by farmers to irrigate their crops, caused diminished stream flows. The Chattahoochee and Flint flow into Lake Seminole, which feeds into the Apalachicola River in Northwest Florida. The lower stream flows, Florida claimed, caused increased salinity in the Apalachicola Bay, harming the oyster populations there. Georgia argued that the oyster issues in the bay were the result of Florida’s oyster industry overharvesting the oysters in the bay. The suit is the latest development in the decades-long water dispute between Georgia and Florida. Alabama, which was not a party in the suit, also has complained that Georgia takes -continued on next page