This op-ed by The Blade editorial board was published on February 2nd, 2020.
Lake Erie and those who rely on it need and deserve voices for action in Columbus.
Advocates for the lake, exasperated with years of inaction on the part of state and federal agencies who were supposed to protect the lake from pollution, put a measure on the ballot in Toledo that would grant legal rights to a body of water. And voters approved it.
A federal judge is mulling the fate of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. The state and a Wood County agricultural corporation called Drewes Farms Partnership have asked the court to nullify the successful February, 2019, initiative. They say it is vague, far-reaching, and might drive some northwest Ohio farmers out of business.
“The Ohio Constitution limits their power to the city of Toledo,” the agricultural concern’s lawyer argued in court.
Well, the Ohio Constitution also requires regulators to enforce laws that keep Lake Erie’s water clean enough for drinking, for fishing, and for recreation. Toledoans for Safe Water and Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie sought to give Lake Erie a voice because the people who were supposed to be protecting the quality of Lake Erie’s water weren’t doing their jobs. They still aren’t.
(To read the rest of this editorial at its original source please click HERE.)