For the second time this year, a Florida appellate court has ruled against environmentalists fighting to enact a widely supported local clean water measure.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal, which hears appeals four circuits and 14 counties, including Flagler County, ruled Thursday that although 83% of voters in Titusville approved a 2022 initiative establishing the right to clean water, the city in Brevard County couldn’t enact it because of a 2020 state law preventing local government from giving rights to bodies of water, plants, and animals.
The City of Titusville had appealed a lower court’s ruling siding with Speak Up Titusville, the group behind the local ballot measure. The three-judge appellate panel reversed the lower court’s order to codify the clean water amendment allowing residents to sue, on behalf of the “Waters of Titusville,” any entities that violate the measure.
“Although it is an admirable goal, we know of no provision that is authorized in either general law or specifically granted in the State Constitution, nor has one been provided by Speak Up, which specifically provides a citizen the right to have a body of water that ‘flows, exists in its natural form, is free of pollution, and which maintains a healthy ecosystem,’” the judges wrote.
Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia spearheaded the preemption when he was a member of the Florida House in 2020. Another appellate court cited that preemptive clause in Florida law to block an Orange County clean water measure in January.
Throughout the opinion, the judges appeared sympathetic to the environmentalists’ cause and placed the reasoning for the decision entirely on the Republican-led Legislature’s actions.
“We recognize the overwhelming support of this charter amendment by the residents of the City of Titusville and the admirable policies of the amendment,” the judges wrote. “However, the Legislature in drafting section 403.412(9)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act has not authorized the types of rights provided for in the charter amendment. As such, an appellate court has no power to change or alter what the Legislature mandated.”
–Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix
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