Tri-state water dispute
The tri-state water dispute is a 21st-century water-use conflict among the states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida over flows in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has regulated water flow for the entire Chattahoochee River, from Lake Lanier in Forsyth County, Georgia, to Alabama and Florida.
The states filed suit in 1990 in their conflict over the water supply; federal court has affirmed the Corps' authority to negotiate the conflict. As the Lake Lanier project was authorized by Congress, each of the three states is entitled to an equal portion of the water; the project was never envisioned only to benefit metropolitan Atlanta, the closest large city and one that has developed rapidly since the late 20th century, greatly increasing its water consumption. The water flows are also regulated to support a variety of uses by states downriver, including preservation of marine life under the Endangered Species Act, and support for major seafood industries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-state_water_dispute
The Georgia-Florida Water War Reaches Its Boiling Point
By SustainAtlanta on December 11, 2016
“Finally, please settle this blasted thing. I can guarantee at least one of you will be unhappy with my recommendation and, perhaps, both of you. You can’t both be winners. But you can both be losers.”
-Special Master Ralph Lancaster
The US Supreme Court trial between Florida and Georgia over water rights wrapped up this past Friday with some words of wisdom from the special master assigned to the case, Ralph Lancaster. The two states have been locked in a three-decades long battle over rights to the water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin (ACF Basin) that stretches from North Georgia to the Apalachicola Bay in the Florida panhandle.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2011 that under existing federal laws the US Army Corps of Engineers could continue to distribute water from the ACF Basin in a way that favors Atlanta’s interests over Florida’s interests, effectively leaving Florida with one option: to request from the US Supreme Court an equitable apportionment of water between the two states. So Florida did just that, and in 2014 the Court agreed to hear it. Such a dispute between states is one that goes directly to the US Supreme Court, which means the Court must carry out a trial. You may be wondering why this is noteworthy. Since the nine-member (or currently eight-member) court overwhelmingly hears appeals, that makes it generally ill-prepared to conduct a trial. To assist the Court in such an unusual circumstance, a special master is appointed to oversee the process and make a recommendation to the justices.
Special Master Lancaster’s harsh words for the two states are hardly surprising. Months ago when the Court agreed to hear the case, SustainAtlanta posted several articles warning of the near-certain outcome that any apportionment decision would be an inadequate solution for everyone. This is because an equitable apportionment action in the Supreme Court isn’t designed to be a long-term solution to a complex matter involving ever-changing circumstances; it’s designed to immediately halt a squabble between states in an effort to prevent “armed conflict.” These are two very different things.
https://sustainableatlantaga.com/2016/12/11/the-georgia-florida-water-war-reaches-its-boiling-point/
Alabama threatens to sue in tri-state ‘water wars’ involving Georgia, Florida
By Jeff Gill
[email protected]
POSTED: January 16, 2017 3:30 p.m.
LAKE LANIER -- Alabama, long just an interested party in a water-sharing legal dispute between Georgia and Florida, is suggesting it might pursue “further litigation” in a longstanding “water wars” between the three states.
A U.S. Supreme Court order on Jan. 3 urging Georgia and Florida to consider interbasin
transfers in settlement talks has Alabama worried that “interbasin” potentially could involve Alabama waters.
“The practical effect of … authorizing such transfer could prejudice Alabama, and Alabama would, as a result, become a necessary party to further litigation in this case,” Alabama lawyer John C. Neiman Jr. said in a Wednesday letter to Ralph Lancaster, a Maine lawyer tapped by the U.S. Supreme Court to preside over the latest legal battle.
Neiman cited Lancaster’s statement in the 1-page order that Georgia and Florida should
consider as part of an agreement the “importation of water” from outside the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, which includes Lake Lanier, “to supplement streamflow during drought periods.”
http://www.forsythnews.com/section/6/article/31961/
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