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Florida, Georgia Water War Will Enter New Phase Next Year

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Davide Restivo
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Florida and Georgia have until the end of January to file new arguments in the legal fight over water use impacting the Apalachicola River system.

The special master overseeing the long-running water wars case is Paul J. Kelly, a senior judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kelly set a January 31 deadline for initial briefs and a February 28 deadline for replies.

Florida’s request for additional evidence-gathering was denied however.

According to Kelly, “ample evidence” already exists from prior litigation.

Kelly is the second special master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to handle the disagreement.

Florida alleges Georgia’s overconsumption of water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system is harming the state’s Apalachicola Bay oyster industry.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.

Photo used under Creative Commons license.

Copyright 2020 WJCT News 89.9. To see more, visit .

Cyd Hoskinson began working at WJCT on Valentine’s Day 2011.