Could rivers have rights just like people?
As Seminole County Commissioner Bob Dallari canoed on the Wekiva River recently, he noticed a growing amount of algae – more than in previous years – on the water’s surface and along the shorelines.
“It’s truly a shame,” Dallari said, wondering if the slimy stuff was made worse by the 1.2 million gallons of raw wastewater spilled last October by Utilities Inc. into a nearby creek that flows into the Wekiva following an equipment malfunction. Utilities Inc, which provides water and sewer service to people in west Seminole, including
the Wekiva area, apologized for the spill last year.
Dallari said his outing on the river led to a question more and more local governments are beginning to ask: Should rivers, lakes, forests and other natural areas have certain legal rights just like people do?
Places such as neighboring Orange County are already contemplating a rule that would allow people to file a lawsuit on behalf of a river or natural lands when those lands are harmed through pollution or other environmental destruction. Lawsuits could also be brought on behalf of animals.
Dallari is now asking county staff to study how such a measure would work in Seminole.
“I think that a ‘rights of nature’ [policy] could provide and give us protection,” Dallari said. “The health and safety of our drinking water is paramount…. Our logo says: ‘Florida’s natural choice.’”
Orange County’s Charter Review Commission in March agreed to put on the November ballot the “Wekiva and Econlockhatchee Rivers Bill of Rights” referendum giving those water bodies legal protections from pollution.
If passed, Orange residents would be able to sue a government agency, organization or company that “intentionally or negligently pollute” the Wekiva or Econlockhatchee rivers. Currently, an individual would not be able to file such a lawsuit unless they were personally harmed.
In November 2010, the Pittsburgh City Council unanimously enacted a “rights of nature” ordinance primarily to protect the area from shale gas drilling and fracking.
According to the nonprofit Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, legal systems and laws have historically treated land and ecosystems as property and therefore have no legal standing in the courts. Environmental laws are written to regulate how much pollution or destruction can occur but do not take into consideration actual harm to an ecosystem, according to the organization.
Chuck O’Neal, an Orange County resident and chair of the Florida Rights of Nature Network, said similar efforts are happening across Florida, including in Escambia and Lee counties.
“There is a growing dissatisfaction with the current regulatory system in that it is insufficient in protecting bodies of water and other ecosystems,” O’Neal said. “Our regulatory systems protect the polluters rather than the public.”
O’Neal added that environmental laws are written with input from lobbyists from big corporations and therefore penalties do not significantly punish big polluters.
“Rights of Nature [legislation] creates a new paradigm,” O’Neal said. “It creates a new rights-based system. It allows citizens to bring suits against polluters for violating the rights of the rivers.”
But some state legislators are saying not so fast.
State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, filed a bill in this year’s legislative session that would prohibit local governments from granting legal rights to the natural environment. The bill was not taken up by the full Legislature.
Ingoglia could not be reached in time for a comment.
Seminole Commissioner Amy Lockhart said she had to “Google” rights of nature after Dallari proposed the initiative at a recent commission meeting, and she now wants to do more research. Commission Chairman Jay Zembower said he supports county staff looking into rights of nature, and he has noticed an increasing amount of wildlife killed by motor vehicles in the county.
Commissioner Lee Constantine said it is “worthwhile to have staff look into it, especially when it comes to our drinking water.”
Still, Dallari said he’s not yet willing to fully endorse a “rights of nature” ordinance, but wants to know more.
“It’s important that we are educated on the legality of it,” he said. “How do we define what those rights are? There’s a lot of pieces to this, and I want to see what we can adopt and use.”
When someone pollutes a water body, he said, “no one is going to end up cleaning that.”