Preemption of Communities—from Coronavirus to Clean Water
Photo: John Moran
March 26, 2020 · State preemption of what communities can and cannot do is a gift that keeps on giving.
As coronavirus cases rise across the United States, this week the State of Mississippi overrode requirements imposed by Tupelo and other cities for people to stay home to stop the spread of the virus.
More often we see preemption wielded by states to stop communities from interfering with corporations seeking to frack and conduct other activities that will pollute the air and water.
Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to follow Mississippi’s lead by signing the state legislature’s ill-named “Clean Waterways Act” into law. Supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, the Act fails to address the primary cause of the state’s water quality problems – pollution from large agricultural operations.
In a nod to the growing movement across the state to recognize the legal rights of rivers and bays to not be polluted, the Act also explicitly prohibits Florida communities from adopting local laws that would recognize those rights. Such laws are currently being considered by over a dozen Florida counties, with Orange County – the fifth largest county in the state – having voted this month to place a “rights of waterways” initiative onto the November 2020 ballot.
The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is proud to be partnering with communities and grassroots groups across Florida – including Speak Up Wekiva in Orange County – to advance the rights of waterways.
These rights of nature laws represent a new frontier of environmental law – one pioneered by communities, tribal nations, elected officials, and courts in countries around the globe – in which ecosystems and species are recognized as possessing rights that can be directly enforced by people and environmental advocates.
While the title of the law swayed Florida legislators, it didn’t sway the state’s environmental groups.
On Tuesday, a coalition of fifty clean water organizations in the state called on the Florida governor to veto the law, declaring that the bill “will only make our water quality problems worse in the long run. It provides political cover for a Legislature that refuses to make the tough choices necessary to address this crisis.” The coalition includes Sierra Club Florida, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the League of Women Voters.
The Governor’s signature buys a lawsuit.
The Florida Rights of Nature Network (FRONN) intends to sue to overturn part of the law – contending that the attempt to preempt home rule localities from adopting rights of nature laws violates the constitutional right of those communities to govern themselves. They will be seeking an injunction to stop that provision from becoming law.
Stay tuned as the battle over clean water - between Florida’s corporate interests and communities - continues to heat up.
