The war over water among three southern states and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is heating up again, with a complaint by Alabama that federal officials are illegally storing water upstream, which is causing harm downstream. "It is abundantly clear that the Corps curtails hydropower production to protect recreation and water supply interests," the state says in its complaint. Corps officials declined to comment.
The states third amended complaint, filed Jan. 7 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, follows the collapse of settlement talks between Alabama and Georgia, which put the issue back in court. Alabama first filed a lawsuit over the water rights in 1990. "We hope to get this issue to the forefront again," said Trey Glenn, director of the Alabama Office of Water Resources, who takes over Feb. 1 as director of Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management.