NM House, Senate Members Propose Environmental Rights Initiative
(January 11, 2020) Santa Fe, NM: New Mexico leaders are applauding the Joint Resolution pre-filed Monday, January 4, by Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Senator Bill Soules, and Representative Joanne Ferrary to amend the New Mexico Constitution in order to add enforceable environmental rights. Senator Mimi Stewart, Senator Harold Pope, Jr, Representative Tara Luján and Representative Andrea Romero are signing on as co-sponsors in support. The Joint Resolution proposing the amendment was pre-filed by the sponsors on the first day legislators could pre-file their legislative proposals for the 2021 legislative session.
The Joint Resolution proposes amending the state constitution’s Bill of Rights to recognize and protect the rights of all of the people of New Mexico “to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate, and to the preservation of the natural, cultural, scenic and healthful qualities of the environment”; to ensure these rights are protected for present and future generations; and to designate all the state’s government officials as trustees of the natural resources of the state constitutionally obligated to “conserve, protect, and maintain” them. If passed, the new language would replace the language currently found in Article XX Section 21 which environmental leaders believe has failed to provide the enforceable environmental protections its original supporters had intended.
“New Energy Economy expresses sincere gratitude to our true representative leaders like Senators Sedillo Lopez, Soules, Pope, Senator Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, and Representatives Ferrary, Luján and Romero who are championing the Green Amendment, a self-executing provision in our New Mexico Constitution that will provide individuals and communities with the legal right to protect our water, land and air from contamination. The Green Amendment, like other Constitutional Amendments will grant us inalienable rights, and require the preservation and protection of our beloved home for future generations,” said Mariel Nanasi, Executive Director of New Energy Economy.