Floridians have no right to bodies of water 'free of pollution,' appeals court rules

[In It to Win It]

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/12/27/floridians-have-no-right-to-bodies-of-water-free-of-pollution-appeals-court-rules/

For the second time this year, a Florida appellate court has ruled against environmentalists fighting to enact a widely supported local clean water measure.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that although 83% of voters in Titusville approved a 2022 initiative establishing the right to clean water, the city in Brevard County couldn’t enact it because of a 2020 state law preventing local government from giving rights to bodies of water, plants, and animals.

The City of Titusville had appealed a lower court’s ruling siding with Speak Up Titusville, the group behind the local ballot measure. The three-judge appellate panel reversed the lower court’s order to codify the clean water amendment allowing residents to sue, on behalf of the “Waters of Titusville,” any entities that violate the measure.

“Although it is an admirable goal, we know of no provision that is authorized in either general law or specifically granted in the State Constitution, nor has one been provided by Speak Up, which specifically provides a citizen the right to have a body of water that ‘flows, exists in its natural form, is free of pollution, and which maintains a healthy ecosystem,'” the judges wrote.

Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia spearheaded the preemption when he was a member of the Florida House in 2020. Another appellate court cited that preemptive clause in Florida law to block an Orange County clean water measure in January.

[Ferryboat]

1. Voters in Washington state gave legal rights to the

Stillguamish river watershed in the last election cycle.

[Timeflyer]

2. Make the right to clean FL waters enforceable--sign the petition to make it so

FloridaRightToCleanWater.org
13300 S. Cleveland Ave, Suite 56
Fort Myers, FL 33907

Ballot Title:
Amendment Information
Ballot Summary:
Right to Clean and Healthy Waters
This amendment creates an enforceable, fundamental right to clean and healthy waters,
authorizing a person to sue for equitable relief when a State executive agency, by action or
inaction, allows harm or threat of harm to Florida waters. This amendment provides for strict
judicial scrutiny of such action or inaction; adds to available remedies; identifies affected
constitutional provisions; provides for enforcement; defines terms; and requires attorney’s
fees and costs to prevailing plaintiffs.

(From their website, where petition is available)

"It has become clear that the current system of water protection is inadequate. The state executive branch is not enforcing clean water legislation according to environmental laws, legislative intent and constitutional policy. (Link goes to a Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility report on Florida's enforcement.)
"The proof of dysfunction frequently makes national news, with routine harmful algal blooms, fish and wildlife mortality events and public notices of pathogenic or toxic contamination of our waters. It’s not okay. People suffer, wildlife suffers, property values suffer, businesses suffer, communities suffer. Waiting for political solutions in a system that appears to favor pollution industries (financing those politics) – seems to be a fool’s game. We need a clear, simple, legal solution to restore the necessary checks and balances for such a critical necessity to all lives and liberty interests – clean water."

[dickthegrouch]

3. Isn't water a fundamental element to life?

“Although it is an admirable goal, we know of no provision that is authorized in either general law or specifically granted in the State Constitution, nor has one been provided by Speak Up, which specifically provides a citizen the right to have a body of water that ‘flows, exists in its natural form, is free of pollution, and which maintains a healthy ecosystem,'” the judges wrote.

I thought the Declaration of Independence (without which the Constitution can’t exist) guaranteed the right to life among other things.
It seems exceptionally short sighted of those judges not to be able to connect the constitution to a fundamental right to clean water.