The group is fighting for resident-oversight of industrial water projects.
A press release issued by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on June 6th, 2019.
TACOMA, WA: On June 4, 2019, a grassroots community group in Tacoma, Washington, filed a First Amendment petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge Washington state courts’ continued denial of ballot access for duly qualified local citizen initiatives. The group, Save Tacoma Water, gathered signatures to secure a citizen vote process for all new large industrial water projects. Washington state courts removed their qualified citizen initiative from the ballot in 2016. The group argues this is a violation of First Amendment rights to political speech and to petition the government.
Save Tacoma Water organized in 2016 in opposition to a proposed fossil fuel methanol plant in the city, which was projected to consume over 14 million gallons of water per day. City and state officials supported the project, including Washington State Governor (and now presidential candidate) Jay Inslee. Seeing that their elected officials would not protect them, Save Tacoma Water used the initiative process to qualify two ballot measures that required citizen approval for all industrial water projects using over one million gallons per day. With only volunteers, they gathered nearly 17,000 signatures in less than three months with a total budget less than $5,000.
The Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and the Port of Tacoma brought a lawsuit to block the initiatives from the ballot. The City of Tacoma sided with the industry groups and the Port. The lower court (July 2016) and appellate court (October 2018) ruled the initiatives were “beyond the scope” of local authority to enact, and therefore local voters should not be allowed to vote on the matter. The courts rested on a 2016 Washington State Supreme Court decision denying the right to citizen initiative. This spring, the state supreme court refused to hear the Tacoma case.
To read the rest of this press release at its original source please click HERE.