The Constitutional Right to a Healthful Environment - New York’s Green Amendment

Description

Residents Forward invites you to a Community Coffee with Jon Brooks, co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Taskforce on Implementation of the Green Amendment (and RF Board Member), to discuss New York’s newest constitutional right. In November 2021, by a margin of more than 2-1, New Yorkers voted to add an “environmental rights amendment” to the state constitution, making New York only the third state to include such a “green amendment” (the other two being Montana and Pennsylvania). The Bill of Rights in the NYS Constitution now includes the following language: “Environmental Rights. Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” The potential impact of the “Green Amendment” is just starting to be seen in recent decisions by courts and regulatory agencies, and not only in New York. Just days ago, a court in Montana issued a ground-breaking decision relying on its Green Amendment to strike down as unconstitutional certain provisions in the Montana Energy Policy Act that authorized and encouraged the development of fossil fuels in that state.