Water War: Florida Sues Army Corps of Engineers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida officials have notified the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they plan to sue the federal
agency for violating the Endangered Species Act.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection sent a
seven-page letter dated Thursday outlining its concerns that the
Corps' management of reservoirs in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin jeopardizes wildlife
in those areas.

The suit cites concerns by biologists and environmentalists
about the impact on the Gulf sturgeon fish, and three mussels: the
fat threeridge mussel, the purple bankclimber and the Chipola
slabshell.

Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been in a long battle about
reducing flows as part of the Corps' drought management plans to
keep more water upstream in Georgia. That's largely to meet the
enormous needs in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)