Dear Editor:

Over the past few years in the Midcoast and across Maine, we have witnessed citizens and their communities rise up to assert local control over proposed and old industrial developments that they deem are or will be harmful to their health and environment. Industrial-size fish farms, fracked gas pipelines, electricity power lines, and fossil fuel tank farms have all been the targets of recent citizen mobilization. Intuitively people know that protecting the air they breathe, the water they drink and recreate in, and the soils that produce their food and livelihoods is key to maintaining a healthy community and economy for today and long into the future. They assume they have the right to these life-sustaining natural resources.

What I have learned recently is that here in Maine, and in all but two states, Pennsylvania and Montana, we don’t have the basic right to a healthy environment. These rights are not laid out in our Maine Constitution where we find other rights we hold dear, such as the right to free speech, to free assembly, and to bear arms.

But that could change if the Maine legislature passes an amendment to the state Constitution Bill of Rights that would enshrine the right to a clean and healthy environment for all Maine people, including generations to come. A bi-partisan bill for such an amendment has been proposed by our own state Senator Chloe Maxmin, with sponsoring support from Rep. Bill Pluecker (I-Warren) and Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford). LD 489 is currently under consideration by the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

I’m writing today to urge my neighbors to learn more about the Pine Tree Amendment for a healthy environment and spread the word to others. You can read the proposed environmental rights amendment at legislature.maine.gov/bills

Guaranteeing our environmental rights in the Maine Constitution would help to secure a livable future for all Maine people.

Anne D. (Andy) Burt

Edgecomb