The U.S. Supreme Court has appointed a new special master to oversee arguments in the decades old water war between Florida and Georgia

The U.S. Supreme Court has appointed a new special master to oversee arguments in the decades old water war between Florida and Georgia.

The court last week named Paul J. Kelly Jr., a federal appellate judge from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to replace Maine lawyer Ralph Lancaster as special master.
The court did not give a reason for the change.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the Lancaster was too strict when he said the court could not boost water flow into the Apalachicola River and help the Apalachicola Bay oyster industry.

The justices said Florida made a sufficient showing that capping consumption by Georgia would provide a direct benefit to the Apalachicola Bay.

The decision sends the case back to the special master for further arguments – it could take months for that to be complete.

The two states as well as Alabama have been fighting for over two decades over how to share water from the River system.

The State of Florida filed suit in the US Supreme Court in 2014 to try to reduce the amount of water Georgia is taking from the River System.

Florida believes that Georgia’s water consumption has brought historically-low water flows into the Apalachicola Bay and has caused the local oyster industry to collapse because of higher salinity, increased disease and predator intrusion. 

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