(ats) His supporters claimed victory. Despite a low turnout (3.1 million voters for 12.3 million registered), environmental defense associations see it as an important step forward, in the midst of COP26.
“Clean water and air are not a given. For too long, our most vulnerable communities have suffered from high levels of air pollution and water contamination,” AFP told AFP. President of the League of Green Voters of New York, Julie Tighe.
Questions remain about the truly binding nature of this right. The supporters of the “no” have put forward a risk of inflation of lawsuits likely to slow down economic projects.
“The courts are going to have a big job to determine what these rights mean exactly,” Peter Bauer, director of the “Protect the Adirondacks” association, named after the large park in the north of France, told AFP. ‘State, while welcoming a breakthrough.
New York State stretches beyond the eponymous megacity north to the border with Canada and includes vast natural areas, such as the Adirondack Mountains.
The inclusion of environmental rights in fundamental texts is now a recurring issue in many countries. According to the American site Ballotpedia, Pennsylvania was the first American state to include the environment in its constitution in 1971, before five other states (Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana and Rhode Island).
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