By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In August 2014, authorities told half a million Toledoans “don’t drink the water” because of a harmful bloom of blue-green algae. That’s why on Feb. 26 this year, those residents voted in the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR), an amendment to the city charter, into law during a special election.

“Under the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Toledoans act as a trustee of Lake Erie capable of legally protecting the inalienable rights of Lake Erie and ensuring its health and quality for its beneficiaries (current and future generations that rely on Lake Erie),” according to the Toledoans for Safe Water website at www.lakeerieaction.org

The day after LEBOR passed, northwestern Ohio farmer Mark Drewes filed a lawsuit, part of which requested an injunction that prevents LEBOR from becoming law, said Joe Cornely, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation spokesman.

“The city of Toledo’s Lake Erie Bill of Rights is an unlawful attack on the constitutional rights of family farms like the Dreweses’ throughout the Lake Erie watershed, which purports to impose significant liability as farmers head into planting season,” said Thomas Fusonie, a partner in the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP, which is representing the Drewes family.

“The Drewes (sic) felt compelled to challenge it,” Fusonie said by email. “The Court has preliminarily enjoined the enforcement of LEBOR.  The Drewes are cautiously optimistic that the Court will ultimately determine LEBOR to be unconstitutional and unlawful.”

Further, as of Friday, he reported Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a motion in the lawsuit for the state to intervene as a plaintiff. He argues “the State has a significant interest in the protection of Lake Erie, which is a vital state resource. Further, the State has a vested interest in the continued implementation and enforcement of environmental, agricultural, and natural resources regulatory programs.”

The whole process of what is going to happen with LEBOR is on hold, Cornely said. While that litigation is pending, many of those involved did not want to discuss the situation.

“There are disagreements as to whether or not this injunction prevents citizens from filing lawsuits,” he said. “We believe it does, but others think it does not. We are still looking to see what is going to happen.

“One thing worth noting, it gets reported a lot that LEBOR passed with 61 percent of the vote, which is factual. What isn’t getting reported is that fewer than 9 percent of the registered voters in Toledo actually cast a ballot.”

Since August 2014 farmers have been finding ways to fix their part of the problem through research, in-field testing, and discussing policy, said Cornely. It’s been a top priority for Farm Bureau.

But the Toledoans for Safe Water group isn’t satisfied. “The Lake Erie Bill of Rights does not simply give Lake Erie rights, it recognizes the rights we have long violated and ignored,” its website states. “Communities burdened by environmental harms have been oppressed by a history of weak environmental policies and regulations that legalize and exempt the unsustainable practices.”

That brings up the concept of Rights of Nature. The idea has gained both support and dismissal throughout its earnest attempts to rejuvenate the environmental movement, the website said.

“A Rights of Nature framework prioritizes natural ecosystems as life-supporting systems, rather than mere property,” it said. “This shift acknowledges our dependence on nature and important ecosystems services rather than the rights of an industry to use resources regardless of the negative implications.

“A multitude of factors has left Lake Erie vulnerable to these frequent and intense algal blooms. Toledoans for Safe Water wants to take back the lake and protect the people’s right to access safe and clean water and the Lake’s right to exist and flourish.”

Said Cornely, “I would imagine that the people who pushed through LEBOR have very good intentions. Our disagreement is not what should we do to fix the lake, our disagreement is the right way to do that.”