The Environmental Rights Provisions of U.S. State Constitutions PDF Download
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Author: John C. Dernbach
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Nearly every U.S. state has environmental provisions in its constitution. These provisions cover a wide range of issues concerning the manner in which the environment and natural resources are to be governed (e.g., public funding, eminent domain, public trust, access to water, legislative responsibility). But only six declare a right to a quality environment. These are Hawai'i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania. This chapter provides a detailed examination of the constitutional text and case law in each of these states, and analyzes the similarities and differences among them. This analysis shows the wide variety of ways in which even similar provisions have been interpreted and applied at the state level. It shows that while four of these states treat their right to a certain quality environment as judicially enforceable, two (Illinois and Massachusetts) do not. Among the states with a judicially enforceable right, Hawai'i and Montana have the most well developed bodies of case law. This analysis also shows similarities and differences in the ways that these constitutional provisions both guide and constrain state authority under statutes and regulations. Perhaps the most basic issue is whether environmental rights should have actual parity with other constitutionally protected rights. These states have answered that question in varying ways.
Author: John C. Dernbach
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Nearly every U.S. state has environmental provisions in its constitution. These provisions cover a wide range of issues concerning the manner in which the environment and natural resources are to be governed (e.g., public funding, eminent domain, public trust, access to water, legislative responsibility). But only six declare a right to a quality environment. These are Hawai'i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania. This chapter provides a detailed examination of the constitutional text and case law in each of these states, and analyzes the similarities and differences among them. This analysis shows the wide variety of ways in which even similar provisions have been interpreted and applied at the state level. It shows that while four of these states treat their right to a certain quality environment as judicially enforceable, two (Illinois and Massachusetts) do not. Among the states with a judicially enforceable right, Hawai'i and Montana have the most well developed bodies of case law. This analysis also shows similarities and differences in the ways that these constitutional provisions both guide and constrain state authority under statutes and regulations. Perhaps the most basic issue is whether environmental rights should have actual parity with other constitutionally protected rights. These states have answered that question in varying ways.
Author: Maya K. Van Rossum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781633310216
Category : Environmental policy
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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2017 INDIE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALIST "A rallying cry . . . Everyone who is concerned about the welfare of all species, including human beings. Please read this important book." --Richard Louv, chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network and author of LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS and THE NATURE PRINCIPLE The Constitutional Change We Need to Protect Our Priceless Natural Resources For decades, activists have relied on federal and state legislation to fight for a cleaner environment. And for decades, they've been fighting a losing battle. The sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. It's no wonder people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces. But there is a solution, argues veteran environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority--our state and federal constitutions. In 2013, van Rossum and her team won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment. Following this victory, van Rossum inaugurated the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change. Now, with The Green Amendment, van Rossum lays out an inspiring new agenda for environmental advocacy, one that will finally empower people, level the playing field, and provide real hope for communities everywhere. Readers will discover how legislative environmentalism has failed communities across America, the transformational difference environmental constitutionalism can make, the economic imperative of environmental constitutionalism, and how to take action in their communities. We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It's time to claim that right--for our own sake and that of future generations.
Author: James R. May
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107022258
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 427
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Book Description
Reflecting a global trend, scores of countries have affirmed that their citizens are entitled to healthy air, water, and land and that their constitution should guarantee certain environmental rights. This book examines the increasing recognition that the environment is a proper subject for protection in constitutional texts and for vindication by constitutional courts. This phenomenon, which the authors call environmental constitutionalism, represents the confluence of constitutional law, international law, human rights, and environmental law. National apex and constitutional courts are exhibiting a growing interest in environmental rights, and as courts become more aware of what their peers are doing, this momentum is likely to increase. This book explains why such provisions came into being, how they are expressed, and the extent to which they have been, and might be, enforced judicially. It is a singular resource for evaluating the content of and hope for constitutional environmental rights.
Author: Roland M. Frye
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental law
Languages : en
Pages : 14
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Book Description
Author: David R. Boyd
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774821639
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 470
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Book Description
The right to a healthy environment has been the subject of extensive philosophical debates that revolve around the question: Should rights to clean air, water, and soil be entrenched in law? David Boyd answers this by moving beyond theoretical debates to measure the practical effects of enshrining the right in constitutions. His pioneering analysis of 193 constitutions and the laws and court decisions of more than 100 nations in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa reveals a positive correlation between constitutional protection and stronger environmental laws, smaller ecological footprints, superior environmental performance, and improved quality of life.
Author: Emily Zackin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400846277
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251
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Book Description
Unlike many national constitutions, which contain explicit positive rights to such things as education, a living wage, and a healthful environment, the U.S. Bill of Rights appears to contain only a long list of prohibitions on government. American constitutional rights, we are often told, protect people only from an overbearing government, but give no explicit guarantees of governmental help. Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places argues that we have fundamentally misunderstood the American rights tradition. The United States actually has a long history of enshrining positive rights in its constitutional law, but these rights have been overlooked simply because they are not in the federal Constitution. Emily Zackin shows how they instead have been included in America's state constitutions, in large part because state governments, not the federal government, have long been primarily responsible for crafting American social policy. Although state constitutions, seemingly mired in trivial detail, can look like pale imitations of their federal counterpart, they have been sites of serious debate, reflect national concerns, and enshrine choices about fundamental values. Zackin looks in depth at the history of education, labor, and environmental reform, explaining why America's activists targeted state constitutions in their struggles for government protection from the hazards of life under capitalism. Shedding much-needed light on the variety of reasons that activists pursued the creation of new state-level rights, Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places challenges us to rethink our most basic assumptions about the American constitutional tradition.
Author: Robert Maddex
Publisher: CQ Press
ISBN: 1452267375
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 574
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Book Description
Newly updated and reflecting the diversity of state policies and the issues that are important to them, State Constitutions of the United States collects, explains, and offers comparison of each of the fifty state constitutions. Its in-depth explorations and easy-to-follow structure reveal individual state priorities, the significance of state constitutions and their impact on issues that affect the day-to-day lives of citizens. This major revision incorporates specific details and describes trends and patterns in state constitutions, drawing on over 380 amendments passed since the first edition of this resource was published in 1998. These amendments address, at the state level, important issues that are also being debated on the national level, such as freedom of religion (Alabama), tobacco (Arizona), death penalty (Florida), and same-sex marriage in a number of states. The new edition addresses all of these issues and more, in well-organized state-by-state chapters-including a new chapter on Washington, DC. Beyond the extensive state-by-state coverage, this resource provides further insights through supplemental materials, including an overview of state constitutions, comparative tables, "new rights" such as privacy and victim′s rights, "special provisions" such as the environment and home rule, and much more. This is the only one-volume resource on state constitutions designed to inform non-specialists, including students, non-constitutional scholars, and interested citizens, about the variety, influence, and continual revision and innovation that define state constitutions in the U.S. A wide range of libraries, including those that serve college students, AP high school students, and the general public, will want to update their collections with this unique and essential reference work.
Author: G. Alan Tarr
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791481980
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
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Book Description
This third and final volume in a series devoted to state constitutions analyzes how these documents address major constitutional issues such as the protection of rights; voting and elections; constitutional change; the legislature; the executive; the judiciary; taxing, spending, and borrowing; local government; education; and the environment. Contributors identify the strengths and weaknesses of current state constitutions, highlight the major issues confronting the states, and assess various approaches for reform.
Author: Elizabeth F. Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Western experts have extensively counseled East European constitution drafters regarding the dangers of including various social and economic rights within their constitutions. These advisors often criticize provisions that guarantee a right to a clean environment or make the protection of the environment a duty of the state. Such provisions are condemned as holdovers from the old communist constitutions and are branded as unenforceable or as luxuries that the bankrupt economies of Eastern Europe cannot afford. Each of these arguments has some grounds for support. However, the environmental provisions within East European constitutions could be both enforceable and effective if the drafters applied the lessons learned from 20 years of experience under U.S. state constitutions' environmental provisions. More than 30 U.S. states have constitutional provisions that deal with either the environment or specific natural resources. The successes and failures of these state constitutions' environmental provisions suggest how to draft such provisions to be self-executing and enforceable. The East Europeans should implement enforceable environmental laws, both constitutional and statutory; for them, environmental protection is a necessity, not a luxury. Eastern Europe is an environmental disaster area. Forty-five years of communism resulted in lives significantly shortened by exposure to pollution, forests destroyed by acid rain, waters polluted with industrial waste and sewage, and air unbreathable in many places. The transformation of Eastern Europe's economies to capitalism will have a significant impact on the environment, unless Eastern Europe undertakes sustainable development. The right mix of policies and assistance will promote economic growth while protecting and cleaning up the environment. Unfortunately, much of the current advice and aid to Eastern Europe fails to accomplish either. As Dr. Karolyi Kiss, a leading economist at the Institute for World Economics in Hungary, commented, [w]hat we would really like is for just one Western country to step forward as a patron saint of sustainable development.
Author: Robert Meltz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental law
Languages : en
Pages : 6
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Book Description
