A special master in the long-running water wars between Florida and Georgia said in a new report that there is no “clear and convincing evidence” that Georgia’s water use has led to the collapse of Florida’s oyster fishery industry and that Georgia’s water use “is not unreasonable or inequitable.” 

Special Master Paul Kelly, a senior judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in New Mexico, also recommended that the U.S. Supreme Court deny Florida’s request for a decree that would cap Georgia’s use of the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin “because the evidence has not shown harm to Florida caused by Georgia; the evidence has shown that Georgia’s water use is reasonable; and the evidence has not shown that the benefits of apportionment would substantially outweigh the potential harms.” Kelly filed the report with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.