Ryan Hutchins reports for Politico:
Several lawmakers in New Jersey want voters to add the right to clean air and water to the state Constitution, a move that supporters admit would create legal uncertainty for both government and industry.
Assemblyman Tim Eustace and two other Democratic colleagues said Thursday that they planned to introduce the proposed ballot measure. It was unclear if they had any support from Democratic leadership in their house, but they said they’d begun to push the proposal with fellow lawmakers.
We’re talking about an environmental bill of rights. We’re talking about a bill that would guarantee every person has a right to a clean and healthy environment here in New Jersey,” Eustace said during a press conference at the statehouse. “Sounds like something that’s absolute common sense and something we’d all want to fight for.”
If the measure were to appear on the ballot and win approval from voters, New Jersey would be just the third state to provide a constitutional guarantee against pollution, after Pennsylvania and Montana.
While the measure itself lacks any sort of enforcement mechanism and does not require any action by the government, supporters say the changes would give environmental protection agencies a legal framework to go after polluters and also allow the public to hold government accountable.
A constitutional amendment would also force governments across the state to think about the environmental impact of their actions, supporters say, and would slowly build into a body of case law.
