148 carcinogenic and flammable chemicals…heavy metals and radioactive elements''6 into bedrock that residents worried would leak into and contaminate the Little Mahoning watershed — the township's primary source of drinking water”.7 In 2014, residents contacted the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to write a Bill of Rights, that includes the Rights of Nature8 — a concept that stems from Stone’s original claim that “nature holds inalienable rights”.9 The law firm filed appeals against the EPA’s approval of the PGE’s dumpsite “notably, the ordinance provided not only the residents, but also the Little Mahoning Watershed, with the right to ban detrimental environmental activity.”10 It outlined another one of Stone’s proposals, allowing residents of the township to act on behalf of the watershed and enforce its rights. Ultimately, the personhood of the watershed was never recognized. The courts’ denial of the motion allowed PGE to act within the EPA’s approval and inject wastewater concerning close to the residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania.11 This example highlights the methods and circumstances in which a local community might seek a personhood demarcation for a natural entity. In India, the Ganges & Yamuna River runs through the Northeastern edge of India, starting near Delhi and leaving off in the Bay of Bengal. It spans 800 miles and is a major site of the major Hindu festival Kumbh Mela. About 59 million people (about 70% of Delhi’s population) depend on the river as their drinking water supply. Additionally millions use the river for fishing, irrigation, and 6 Justin Nobel, “How a Small Town Is Standing up to Fracking,” Rolling Stone (Rolling Stone, June 25, 2018), https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/how-a-small-town-is-standing-up-to-fracking-117307/. 7 “Indiana County Township Claims Ecosystem Has Legal Rights,” State Impact Pennsylvania (NPR, December 1, 2014), https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/12/01/indiana-county-township-claims-ecosystem-has-legalrights/. 8 Melissa Troutman, “Rights of Nature Report: Pennsylvania Ecosystem Fights Corporation for Rights in Landmark Fracking Lawsuit,” PUBLIC HERALD (Public Herald, September 28, 2020), https://publicherald.org/grant-townshipspeaks-for-the-trees-in-landmark-fracking-lawsuit/. 9 “What Are Rights of Nature?” INVISIBLE HAND - Rights of Nature Documentary (Invisible Hand Film, February 3, 2021), https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com/what-are-rights-of-nature/. 10 Caroline McDonough, Will the River Ever Get a Chance to Speak? Standing Up for the Legal Rights of Nature, 31 Vill. Envtl. L.J. (2020). https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/elj/vol31/iss1/4 11 Id.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjg3OTMy