Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi followed through this week on an August promise to take legal action against their state’s northern neighbor to force it to release more water. But, Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, argued that Florida’s governor is just wasting taxpayer money.
“They are burning a straw man. What has happened in Apalachicola Bay is they have allowed overharvesting and the Corps of Engineers cut a new waterway that increased the salinity of the Apalachicola Bay. It has nothing to do with the actions of Georgia. This is a diversion. That’s all it is and this should not be happening,” Robinson said.
However, according to a 2012 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, drought conditions in Florida were worsened by consumption and poor water management on the part of its northern neighbors. The suit is just the latest battle in a more than 20-year old “water war” between Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
