A Washington city has granted part of the Snohomish River watershed legal rights that can be enforced in court.
Voters in Everett, a community of about 110,000, enshrined the watershed’s rights to exist, regenerate and flourish into municipal law as part of a ballot initiative in November. The measure passed with 57 percent of the vote and follows a series of non-binding resolutions in towns across Washington state recognizing that endangered Southern Resident Orcas have a right to life and to be free from pollution.
Everett’s referendum is part of the fast-growing rights of nature movement that has cemented into law rights of individual species and ecosystems. The laws are aimed at preserving the integrity of the natural world and have been enacted in more than a dozen countries, including Spain, Ecuador, Colombia and New Zealand.
Everett’s new law allows city agencies, residents and organizations to enforce the watershed’s rights through lawsuits, similar to how legal guardians and representatives protect the interests of children and non-human entities like corporations and ships. If a court finds that the Snohomish River watershed’s rights have been violated, the perpetrator could be required to pay damages to the city and the funds would be used to restore the ecosystem to a healthy state.
While the entire watershed encompasses just under 2,000 square miles of land north of Seattle, the new law applies only within Everett city limits.
The referendum is not the first time communities in the United States have attempted to give legally binding rights to nature. For example, in 2006, a rural Pennsylvania town gave legal rights to “natural communities.” In 2019, residents of Toledo, Ohio, passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in response to widespread pollution in the region. And in 2020, 89 percent of voters in Orange County, Florida, recognized the rights of five waterways. In nearly all cases, state legislatures heavily lobbied by commercial industries have preempted the laws, rendering them unenforceable.
But the Everett initiative could be the first to withstand such a challenge. Democrats, typically more open to stronger environmental protections than Republicans, currently control Washington’s Legislature and governorship.
Rights of nature laws tend to provide a higher level of protection than conventional regulations, which typically regulate the pace and amount of pollution allowed. Rights of nature laws flip that concept on its head. They can require that it is better to avoid risks to ecosystems that could lead to irreversible damage, absent scientific evidence that shows the risks are manageable.
The Everett ballot measure was supported by the political action committee Standing for Washington. Abi Ludwig, its spokesperson, called the new law a “game-changer for the environment.”
“By granting legal standing to the watershed, Everett is boldly safeguarding its natural resources,” Ludwig said in a press release. “This critical move empowers nature with both a voice and the legal tools it needs to defend itself.”
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission.
