{"id":37677,"date":"2025-02-27T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37677"},"modified":"2025-02-27T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T20:10:10","slug":"amendment-to-enshrine-environmental-rights-offered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37677","title":{"rendered":"Amendment to enshrine environmental rights offered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraskans would have the right to a \u201cclean and healthy environment,\u201d including pure water, clean air and a safe climate, under a proposed constitutional amendment considered Feb. 26 by the Natural Resources Committee.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. George Dungan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The amendment also would require the state and each of its political subdivisions to serve as trustee of Nebraska\u2019s natural resources and conserve, protect and maintain those resources for the benefit of all.<\/p>\n

Lincoln Sen. George Dungan, sponsor of LR22CA, said the proposal is modeled after similar \u201cGreen Amendments\u201d adopted by Montana, New York and Pennsylvania. The measure is intended, in part, to ensure that state and local governments protect the environment when creating policy and implementing existing laws and regulations, he said.<\/p>\n

Dungan said the amendment also would protect individuals from government action that infringes on their environmental rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nebraska Green Amendment will allow the people of Nebraska to proactively protect our environment, communities and state economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If approved by the Legislature, LR22CA would place the question on the November 2026 general election ballot.<\/p>\n

Sheridan Macy, an Omaha attorney who helped draft the amendment\u2019s language, testified in support. She said Green Amendments in other states have allowed communities to seek redress for environmental harms caused by improper waste management, fossil fuels and drinking water contamination, an especially important issue for the many Nebraska communities that have high levels of nitrates in their drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the state is not doing its duty \u2026 it is up to the Nebraska people to hold the government to those responsibilities,\u201d Macy said. \u201cThe Green Amendment enables communities to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in support was Evalina Sain, who testified on behalf of Students for Sustainability. If approved by voters, she said, LR22CA could stimulate job growth in green energy and other fields, helping to retain talented young Nebraskans.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreater investment in conservation efforts is not just an environmental necessity,\u201d Sain said. \u201cIt\u2019s a direct investment in Nebraska\u2019s youth and economic vitality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testifying in opposition to LR22CA was Omaha attorney Dave Begley, who called it the \u201cmost extreme and expensive\u201d measure ever offered in the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this legislative resolution becomes the law,\u201d he said, \u201cthe state will be on the hook for millions in attorneys\u2019 fees and billions in damages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraskans would have the right to a \u201cclean and healthy environment,\u201d including pure water, clean air and a safe climate, under a proposed constitutional amendment considered Feb. 26 by the Natural Resources Committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[278],"class_list":["post-37677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-natural-resources","tag-sen-george-dungan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/LR22Dungan2-26-25a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37681,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37677\/revisions\/37681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}