The Supreme Court has been undermining environmental regulations at the federal level for the last few years. Now more than ever, we need to strengthen protection of our rights to a clean and healthy environment in our Connecticut courts by passing the Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment.
In 2022, in West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court went out of its way to block the Clean Power Plan from the Obama administration, which hadn’t even gone into effect, having been replaced with a weaker plan by the Trump administration. This major ruling blocked the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower greenhouse gas emissions through mandating energy efficiency and shifting to more renewable energy.
In 2023, in Sackett v. EPA, the Supreme Court limited by 50% the inland wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act across the country. Fortunately in Connecticut, we have our own strong Inland Wetlands laws and regulations to protect our wetlands.
On June 27, 2024 in Ohio v. EPA, the Supreme Court again went out of its way to block EPA regulations, this time based on the Good Neighbor policy under the Clean Air Act. Justice Amy Coney Barrett said in dissent, “the Court’s injunction leaves large swaths of upwind States free to keep contributing significantly to their downwind neighbors’ ozone problems for the next several years.”
Here in Connecticut, we are downwind neighbors. The Supreme Court just gave states to the west and southwest of us permission to keep dumping their air pollution on us. Their air pollution turns into our ozone, and recently we have had at least 19 days each year when the air is rated “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” in parts of the state due to ozone. Ozone damages our airways and inflames our lungs, making us — especially our children — more susceptible to asthma attacks and lung infections.
Then the next day, June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court took one more huge step, overturning the principle that Federal courts defer to the expertise of Federal agencies like the EPA when they interpret laws in order to implement them through regulations. This principle, called the “Chevron deference” had been in place for 40 years. This decision opens doors very wide to enormous numbers of challenges to Federal regulations in the courts. Given all the recent decisions against the environment by the Supreme Court, it doesn’t look good for the environment in this country.
What can we do to protect the environment here in our own state? We can’t stop the wind from blowing from the west, but we can build a strong foundation for our state courts to protect the rights of everyone in our state to clean and healthy air, water, soil, ecosystems and environment by passing the Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment. This amendment would explicitly protect the environmental rights of everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. It would also recognize our responsibility to protect the natural resources of the state — and the climate — for current and future generations. The young people of today have a fundamental right to an environment where they and their own children can thrive.
Connecticut has some good state environmental protection statutes: the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act, the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act, the Global Warming Solutions Act, and others. Passing the CT Environmental Rights Amendment would protect those statutes from being undermined by legislators, agencies, or the courts.
Environmental rights are recognized as fundamental human rights in other countries around the world. In other states like Pennsylvania and Montana, strong statements of environmental rights in their state constitutions have been used to block state laws and policies that would have allowed polluting industries like fracking and mining to expand their operations in ways that would directly harm human health.
The CT Environmental Rights Amendment would establish in our constitution that we the people of Connecticut have the fundamental human right to a healthy environment for ourselves and our families, and the government must protect that right. Regardless of what happens on the federal level, we can stand up for our rights here in our own state.
Kimberly Stoner is Director of Advocacy for the CT NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association of CT ).
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Publish date : 2024-08-04 13:01:00
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