VnExpress: Orange County, FL enforcement case garners Vietnamese media attention-5/26/2021

This month, VnExpress posted an article titled “'River, stream' sues authorities” focusing on the recent April 26th, 2021 lawsuit filed in Orange County, FL. Residents of a local river and lake network, featuring the Wilde Cypress Tributary, the Boggy Tributary, Crosby Island marshes, Lake Hart, and Lake Mary Jane sued the state of Florida and Beachline South Residential, LLC. This is the first enforcement lawsuit in the U.S. utilized under rights of nature based law.

The lawsuit is designed to protect not only the waterways themselves but also the Orange County, FL community from the harmful effects of groundwater loss and pollution. Chuck O’Neal, serving as the plaintiff and member of the CDER campaign team, states: “our river and river system and the wildlife in it have been destroyed by poorly planned suburbs”. Luckily, with the advent of the rights of nature movement, and with enforcement lawsuits such as this, we see a line of guardians who are willing to speak up on behalf of our natural bodies.