R.I. lawmakers consider constitutional right to a clean environment

Rhode Island lawmakers are considering putting before voters a so-called green amendment that would make it the fourth state to provide a right to a clean environment.

The amendment provides for an “inherent, inalienable, indefeasible, and self-executing” constitutional right “to clean air, clean water, healthy and uncontaminated soil, a life-supporting climate, and the preservation of the environment’s natural, scenic, and recreational values.”