Appeals court rejects water settlement

TALLAHASSEE - The Army Corps of Engineers overstepped its authority five years ago when it granted Georgia additional water rights that affected rivers in Florida and Alabama, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Florida experts were elated, saying the decision will "level the playing field" in a multistate tug-of-war over water that spans nearly 20 years.

"It's tremendous, because now we're all back to where we ought to be," said Dan Tonsmeire with the Apalachicola Riverkeeper environmental advocacy group. "Nobody has an advantage."

The water wars are over the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint rivers system, whose flow is controlled by the corps.

For Florida, what's at stake is the Apalachicola River and the nearly $200-million oyster and seafood industry that depends on it. For Georgia, it's the water supply for Atlanta and surrounding industry, like Coca-Cola. For Alabama, it's the ability to turn the lights on throughout most of the state.

In 2003, Florida and Alabama complained Georgia got the upper hand in water negotiations, when the corps, Georgia and other water providers unveiled a settlement agreement, that gave Georgia up to 20 years worth of "temporary" use of reservoir tied into the river system. Florida and Alabama sued to stop the deal, but lost.

On Tuesday, the federal appeals court in Washington said Georgia and the corps, don't have the authority to dedicate that much water to Atlanta without first asking Congress, because such an agreement "constitutes a major operational change," wrote the three-judge panel.

The agreement between the corps and Georgia has never been implemented due to the litigation.

Read the rest at the St. Petersburg Times.

And about time, too.