The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it will hear oral arguments in the water use dispute between Georgia and Florida.
The highest court included the long-running water war on its order list with a brief note: The exceptions to the Special Master Report are set for oral argument in due course.
The order refers to a February report that favored Georgia, to which Florida has objected. The due course will likely be in the current term, which began last week and runs into the summer.
The high court appointed Ralph Lancaster Jr. of Pierce Atwood in Portland, Maine, as a special master in 2014. Lancaster concluded that Florida would have fared better if it had also sued the Army Corps of Engineers, which ultimately controls water flows to the south.
"In sum, the Report recommends that the Court deny Florida's request for relief because the Corps is not a party to this original jurisdiction proceeding," Lancaster wrote. "Without the ability to bind the Corps, I am not persuaded that the Court can assure Florida the relief it seeks. I conclude that Florida has not proven by clear and convincing evidence that its injury can be redressed by an order equitably apportioning the waters."
Lancaster's report 137 pages with attachments delivered on Valentine's Day gives a relatively concise summary of the long-running dispute and the current lawsuit over the use of water from three rivers that come together in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, which encompasses parts of Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
"Florida alleges that it has suffered serious harm to its ecology and economy particularly in Apalachicola Bay because of reduced flows in the Apalachicola River resulting from Georgia's increasing consumption of water from the Basin. Florida therefore seeks an equitable apportionment of the waters of the Basin," Lancaster wrote. Georgia countered that Florida's attempt to cap its use would parch the economy and five million people in metropolitan Atlanta and a multibillion-dollar agriculture industry to the south.
"Both States warn of dire consequences if the Court does not resolve this proceeding in their favor Florida of an ecological and economic disaster in the Apalachicola Region; Georgia of a crippled city and arid farmland," Lancaster wrote.
Georgia s outside counsel for the trial before the special master was Kirkland & Ellis in Washington. The winning team included Craig Primis, K. Winn Allen and Devora Allon. This piece of the war alone covered two years of discovery, 100 depositions, testimony from 30 experts and a five-week trial in Maine.