Skip to main content
Friday, July 4, 2025
Home
Omaha Daily Record
  • Login
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • Calendar
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • Podcasts
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • Profiles
    • Real Estate
    • Small Business
    • Non-Profit
    • Political
    • Legal
  • E-Edition
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
  • Real Estate News
    • Market Trends
  • Business News
  • Non-Profit News
  • Political News
  • Legal News
  • Editorial
    • Empower You
    • The Serial Entrepreneur
    • Tom Becka
  • Other News
  • Public Records
    • Wreck Permits
    • Building Permits
    • Electrical Permits
    • Mechanical Permits
    • Plumbing Permits
  • Real Estate Leads
    • Notice of Default
    • Active Property Sales
    • Active Probates
    • Deeds
  • Public Notices
    • State of Nebraska
    • City of Bennington
    • City of Gretna
    • City of Valley
    • Douglas County West Community Schools
    • Gretna Public Schools
    • Omaha Airport Authority
    • Omaha Housing Authority
    • Plattsmouth Community Schools
    • City of Omaha
    • Douglas County
      • Tax Delinqueny 2025
    • City/County Notice of Bids
    • City of Ralston
    • Omaha Public Schools
    • Millard Public Schools
    • Ralston Public Schools
    • Westside Community Schools
    • Bennington Public Schools
    • Learning Community
    • MAPA
    • MECA
    • Omaha Airport Authority
    • Village of Boys Town
    • Village of Waterloo
    • Sarpy County
      • Tax Delinquency 2025
    • City of Bellevue
  • Advertise
    • Place a Legal Notice
    • Place a Print Ad
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • Place an Online Ad
    • Place Sponsored Content
  • Available For Hire
    • Real Estate
      • Contractors
      • Clerical
    • Legal
      • Paralegal
      • Clerical
  • About
    • Our History
    • Our Office
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us

You are here

Home » Supreme Court Gives Georgia Win in Water War in Florida

Supreme Court Gives Georgia Win in Water War in Florida

Published by Nikki Palmer on Tue, 04/06/2021 - 3:00am
By 
Mark Sherman
The Associated Press

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Florida’s water lawsuit against Georgia last Thursday, ending the long-running legal fight between the two states.

The court rejected Florida’s claim that Georgia uses too much of the water that flows from the Atlanta suburbs to the Gulf of Mexico. Florida said its neighbor’s overconsumption is to blame for the decimation of Florida’s oyster industry.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court that Florida failed to prove its case, which had been before the court twice in the past three years.

“Considering the record as a whole, Florida has not shown that it is ‘highly probable’ that Georgia’s alleged overconsumption played more than a trivial role in the collapse of Florida’s oyster fisheries,” Barrett wrote.

The court’s newest justice cautioned that she and her colleagues were not equipped to say what accounts for the steep decline in oysters from Apalachicola Bay.

“Of course, the precise causes of the Bay’s oyster collapse remain a subject of ongoing scientific debate. As judges, we lack the expertise to settle that debate and do not purport to do so here,” Barrett wrote.

She also noted that, even with its high-court victory, “Georgia has an obligation to make reasonable use of Basin waters in order to help conserve that increasingly scarce resource.”

Georgia officials called the decision a vindication of their water management.

“Today the Supreme Court of the United States, in a unanimous decision, affirmed what we have long known to be true: Georgia’s water use has been fair and reasonable,” Attorney General Chris Carr said.

In a statement, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said officials there were disappointed and in the process of reviewing the ruling. The statement noted that the court’s opinion says Georgia has an obligation to help conserve water. The department said Florida “will be evaluating all available options to ensure Georgia fulfills this obligation.”

The case involved the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers in Georgia, which join to form the Apalachicola River at the Florida line.

Florida had sought a court order forcing Georgia to limit its use of water from the Flint. When the justices first heard the dispute three years ago, Florida also was claiming that the Atlanta area’s consumption of water from the Chattahoochee River played a big role in the reduced flows in Florida, but that claim fell out of the case by the time it reached the court again in February.

Last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously to shut down oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay through the end of 2025 because of a dwindling oyster population.

Florida’s lawsuit against Georgia was filed in 2013 directly in the Supreme Court, which is mainly an appellate court but hears disputes between states. The court appointed a special master to evaluate the case, who initially recommended Georgia should prevail.

User login

  • Request new password

            

Latest Podcasts

  • Real Estate
  • Political
  • Political
  • Real Estate

Nebraska Landlord

Betches Sup - A Liberal News Commentary

Ruthless - A Conservative News Commentary

REIA Radio Show

Omaha Daily Record

The Daily Record
222 South 72nd Street, Suite 302
Omaha, Nebraska
68114
United States

Tele (402) 345-1303
Fax (402) 345-2351
 

The Daily Record
222 South 72nd Street, Suite 302 | Omaha, Nebraska 68114 | United States | Tele (402) 345-1303 | Fax (402) 345-2351 | Sitemap
Site Design, Programming & Development by Surf New Media