TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that the U.S. Supreme Court would take up the case of Florida v. Georgia, a lawsuit filed over Georgia's use of fresh water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basins, which has been as issue of contention for decades in Florida and Alabama.
The complaint brought by Florida alleges that Georgia's increasing use of fresh water decreased flows into the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay, which in 2012 produced 90 percent of Florida's oyster harvest and 10 percent of the nation's oysters.
Over the last two years, the Apalachicola oyster harvest has plummeted to a fraction of 2012 levels, and the suit alleges that the lack of freshwater flowing down the Apalachicola River is the reason. Oysters need a specific mix of salt and fresh water to survive, and Florida contends the lack of fresh water has made the bay too salty.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: AL.com
