Opinion: CA voters to decide if clean air, water are human right
In the Golden State, we pride ourselves on our future-facing environmental values and our climate leadership. At the same time, nearly 1 million residents, primarily in disadvantaged communities, are without access to clean drinking water, and California cities such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and Fresno are burdened year after year by some of the dirtiest, most polluted air in the nation. This glaring duality underscores the failure of our current legal framework to ensure the fundamental rights of all Californians to clean air, water and a healthy environment. It’s time for a change. It’s time for California to enshrine this right into our state constitution. The inalienable rights of life, liberty, safety and happiness guaranteed in the state constitution are under threat by a climate crisis that negatively impacts the health and well-being of all Californians.
-Written by Terry Tamminen and James Strock, former secretaries of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Alan Lloyd, who also contributed to this piece, is also a former secretary of the California EPA.