Latest news with #LegislativeResolution22CA
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Not asking for a perfect world – just a livable one
Evalina Sain, an Omaha Central High School student and executive director of Students for Sustainability in Nebraska, speaks at a rally of mostly young people calling for adoption of a Green Amendment in the state. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) Pure water. Clean air. Healthy soil. A livable environment. These things should be guaranteed as integral to the well-being of our beautiful state, as a well-functioning government or the Earth spinning on its axis. Yet for decades, the workings of fossil fuels and carbon emissions have made things like a clean environment precarious. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change has exacerbated the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to the point at which, in 2024 alone, extreme weather cost Nebraska $2 billion in damages. Climate change is costing Nebraska business. It's costing us health. It's even costing us lives. And it's making countless Nebraskans wonder: What will happen when the droughts keep killing our crops? When the heat waves keep forcing us indoors? When the summer storms keep destroying our homes? That's why we and others want the Nebraska Legislature to consider Legislative Resolution 22CA, also known as the Green Amendment. LR 22CA, introduced by State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, states that 'all people have a right to a clean and healthy environment' and that 'the state, and each subdivision thereof, shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of Nebraska.' The Green Amendment would promote policies to stabilize our climate — stability that Nebraska desperately needs. While Nebraska does have some provisions related to the environment in its constitution, there is no outright affirmation of what we all know to be true: that every Nebraskan deserves access to a safe, healthy environment. The Green Amendment would change that. Additionally, the Green Amendment would unlock actions to protect Nebraska's life-giving natural resources. Three states, New York, Pennsylvania and Montana, have versions of a Green Amendment, and in Montana, a group of young people used this once-symbolic amendment to push for real climate action in their state. In Held v. State of Montana, 16 young plaintiffs sued the Montana state government over its inaction on climate change, stating that not acting on such a crisis restricted access to a clean environment and was therefore unconstitutional. They won. This example from Montana shows what a driving force a Green Amendment can be — legally, politically and socially. Just like in Montana, a Green Amendment in Nebraska would allow young Nebraskans to start uniting around climate action. It would allow us to use the court system to hold corporations and the government accountable for climate action. It would empower Nebraskans of all ages to work with our communities and local governments toward a sustainable future. In fact, we're already starting. The youth environmental group Omaha Students for Sustainability organized a rally on Feb. 26th, along with organizations like the Nebraska Sierra Club, to show our support for LR 22CA. Dozens of proponents testified at the hearing before the Natural Resources Committee that day, and their testimonies made it clear that the Green Amendment would not only promote climate action, but also would demonstrate how much the government cares about the futures of young Nebraskans. Forward-thinking legislation is more crucial now than ever, especially with Nebraska's oft-discussed 'brain drain.' The University of Nebraska at Omaha reported that in 2022, roughly 31,600 people 25 years of age and older migrated out of Nebraska. Young people are consistently leaving our state for reasons ranging from a lack of economic opportunity to political discontent. A Green Amendment would be a major step toward stopping this brain drain. Cementing the legal right to a clean environment would show young Nebraskans that their elected officials, no matter their party, prioritize the future of our state and the people living in it. I don't think anyone disagrees that all Nebraskans deserve a clean and healthy environment. They may disagree on how to achieve that goal. Not everyone, understandably, thinks it should be up to the government to create a perfect world. But we're not asking for a perfect world. We're asking for a livable one, and I think the government has a responsibility to provide at least that. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Young people advocate for state ‘Green Amendment' to protect the environment
Evalina Sain, an Omaha Central High School student and executive director of Students for Sustainability in Nebraska, speaks at a rally Wednesday of mostly young people calling for adoption of a Green Amendment in the state (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN — A group of young people descended on the Capitol on Wednesday in hopes of convincing state lawmakers to support adding a 'Green Amendment' to the Nebraska Constitution. Such an amendment — which would require approval by Nebraska voters — would give citizens a legal right to a 'clean and healthy environment,' including 'pure water,' clean air and 'healthy soils.' Advocates said the language would grant citizens and communities a pathway to sue state regulators if they weren't taking steps to protect the environment, or had taken steps that harm it. Some cited the example of the AltEn ethanol plant in Mead, which had skirted state environmental rules for years before the state eventually shut it down in 2021. 'We are here to fight for the right of a livable environment,' said Sara Holler, a Washington, D.C.-based activist with the youth-led environmental group, Capitol Hill Academy. 'The future for our generation should not be up for debate,' added Lake Liao, the founder and executive director of that organization, who said the younger generation would have to live with the consequences of failing to protect the environment. But detractors of the effort, including Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, indicated such an amendment would empower governmental entities to 'destroy private property rights.' 'Ill-defined constitutional amendments are dangerous to Nebraskans,' said Laura Strimple, the governor's spokeswoman. Holler and Liao were among speakers attending a rally and legislative hearing Wednesday over the proposed constitutional amendment. State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln is the main sponsor of the proposal, Legislative Resolution 22CA. He said Wednesday that he introduced the measure after being inspired by the activism of young people to protect the environment. Three states, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania, currently have green constitutional amendments, with at least nine states, including Iowa, considering similar proposals. On Wednesday, more than 20 high school students with the Nebraska affiliate of the national group, Students for Sustainability, and members of Sustain UNL, a group based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, wore bright-green T-shirts and carried placards reading 'No Nature? No Future' and 'Protect Our Planet.' Mia Perales, a UNL student studying environmental engineering, said a Green Amendment would allow citizens in her home neighborhood of South Omaha a way to force regulators to address odor and wastewater issues associated with meat processing plants there. Evalina Sain, an Omaha Central High School student and executive director of the local Students for Sustainability chapter, said Nebraska loses young college graduates because the state hasn't embraced more progressive steps to protect the environment. Investment in clean energy and the environment, she added, also provides jobs. But the lone opponent to testify in person against LR 22CA during the legislative hearing, predicted that lawsuits spawned by a Green Amendment would cost the state billions in court judgments and legal costs. 'Liberal lawyers,' according to Omaha attorney David Begley, would file dozens of lawsuits claiming that the state had failed to protect citizens from contamination in groundwater and chemicals. 'In my opinion, this is the most extreme and expensive bill that has ever been offered in the Unicameral,' Begley said. 'Our budget deficit will skyrocket.' He said it would be cheaper to ship proponents of the Green Amendment to 'Santa Monica' (California), where they would discover 'mankind can't control the climate.' Proponents said Green Amendments have not opened 'the floodgates' to more lawsuits in other states or inspired frivolous legal action. Dungan said states with such amendments have seen an average of three to 10 new lawsuits a year. Senators on the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee asked several questions about what a Green Amendment would allow. State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, for instance, asked whether it would allow her to sue neighbors if the nitrate levels in her groundwater exceeded safe levels for drinking. Sheridan Macy, an Omaha native and lawyer who drafted the proposed amendment for Nebraska, said it would allow the senator to file a lawsuit against state and local regulators who might have failed to take steps to avoid nitrate contamination in local aquifers. 'Nebraska is a great place to grow up and raise a family,' Macy said. '(But) if we do not take steps to protect our environment, that will change.' The committee took no action on LR 22CA after the hearing. Macy said if the Legislature fails to act, people would consider an initiative petition drive to put the issue on the ballot. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
