This episode originally aired on May 21, 2024.
Supporters of an effort to get an amendment to Florida's constitution onto the 2026 ballot that would assure citizens a right to clean water are hoping to get a boost from Florida Sportsman Magazine Editor, Blair Wickstrom, in the magazine’s October issue. It will contain an editorial Call to Action seeking 900 volunteer petition gatherers to station themselves at voting sites around the state to collect signatures during early voting that begins on Oct. 21.
The magazine did a similar call to action in 1991 that resulted in creating the Gill Net Ban amendment, which passed with 72% support during the 1994 election.
The 2026 amendment push follows up an effort to get an amendment to Florida's constitution onto the 2024 ballot that would have assured citizens a right to clean water, but its organizers fell short of the required signatures. But FloridaRightToCleanWater.org is not giving up.
If passed, the new proposed amendment titled “Right to Clean and Healthy Waters” would create a fundamental right to clean and healthy waters in Florida. And it would allow citizens to sue state agencies for equitable relief when an agency, by action or inaction, allows harm or threat of harm to Florida waters.
Ballot summary:
"This amendment creates an enforceable, fundamental right to clean and healthy waters, authorizing a person to sue for equitable relief when a State executive agency, by action or inaction, allows harm or threat of harm to Florida waters. This amendment provides for strict judicial scrutiny of such action or inaction; adds to available remedies; identifies affected constitutional provisions; provides for enforcement; defines terms; and requires attorney’s fees and costs to prevailing plaintiffs."
We learn more about the amendment and what exactly it would do, and the issues it aims to address when it comes to regulatory agencies not doing enough to protect the environment.
Guests:
Joe Bonasia, Operations and Communications director for FloridaRightToCleanWater.org
Ray Bearfield, Collier County Waterkeeper
Matt DePaolis, Environmental Policy Director at Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF)
The following links are a few of the shows we did back in 2019 looking at the possible health impacts of blue-green algae/cyanobacteria exposure:
FGCU Researcher Studies Airborne Toxins Produced by Blue-Green Algae on March 25, 2019
New Project to Clean Up Okeechobee Waters on May 1, 2019
Researchers Explore Possible Connections Between BMAA and Neurodegenerative Disorders on July 9, 2019
Public Forum Explores Health Impacts Caused by Harmful Algal Blooms on August 5, 2019
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