Florida Weekly: Amendment would make clean water a legal right

9/01/2021

The proposed Right to Clean Water amendment is the subject of the latest article in Florida Weekly. Mary Wozniak delves into the five Rights of nature Amendments that environmentalist Chuck O’Neal and other clean water supporters are gathering signatures for. These signatures will push forth the initiative to protect aquatic bodies on the 2022 Florida election ballot.

“The amendment would not replace existing water regulations, but enhance them by allowing the legal right to step in when they are not adequately enforced. The amendment is necessary because the water regulations and protections we have now are not working. For us, I think it’s time to stand up and do something,” Chuck O’Neal states, regarding the intention of the first amendment.

The journey of this amendment has been eventful in such a short time: this Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights assisted initiative has resulted in an enforcement lawsuit filed in Orlando listed as Wilde Cypress Branch et al. v. Beachline South Residential, LLC and Noah Valenstein, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Thomas Linzey and Joseph Bonasia of the Florida Rights of Nature Network both spoke to the confidence and passion of these environmentalists to get things done. With the recent 2020 election result in Orange County, FL to protect the rights of local waterways there is precedence that the enforcement of rights of nature legislation will spread to other municipalities and the state as a whole.

The full article can be found here.