November 2008

U.S. Water News Online

MIAMI — Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue looks at his state's pristine coastline and then at the development Florida allows on its shores and said he wonders how Florida officials can preach about the environment.

Talking about the long war about sharing water that flows down from Georgia, Perdue questioned some of Florida's arguments as it tries to get more water to cross its border.

In Georgia, “you have a ... pristine undeveloped coastline with marshes there that people love to look out on,” he said. “And then I come to Florida and I see the developed coastline all the way around from Jacksonville all the way up to Tallahassee, I really wonder how we can be preached at as Georgians over environmentalism and water.”

The Atlanta area's main water supply is Lake Lanier, which also provides flow into the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin.

For years, Florida and Alabama have accused Georgia of withholding too much water from Lanier, drying up river flows into their states that support power plants, industrial users like paper mills and the oyster and shrimp industries in Florida's Apalachicola Bay.

As a record drought threatened drinking water supplies last year, Georgia pressed the federal government for more, arguing that its needs are more pressing than the other states'. Florida, however, has fought Georgia and argues that the water withdrawals are also hurting the environment, including rare mussels and sturgeon.

Perdue, who was attending a Republican Governors Association conference, also said Florida should just say what there argument is really all about: answering to the area's commercial fishing industry.

“Utilizing the endangered species act as a weapon in this battle is somewhat disingenuous. We know what this is about, we know its about the bay and the quality of the bay and the oysters and that very powerful, very loud political constituency,” Perdue said. “Let's don't try to make it about a federal law that really it's not all about, about mussels or about sturgeons.”

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wouldn't comment on Perdue's remarks, saying he would wait to see the outcome of a federal lawsuit on the issue.

“Water's important. It's in federal court and we ought to let that branch of government deal with it for now,” Crist said.