Summary
On November 5, 2024, voters in the city of Everett, Washington approved a ballot initiative that gives the Snohomish River the legally enforceable right to “exist, regenerate, and flourish”. This new municipal law aims to ensure that the Snohomish River Watershed is able to perform its vital functions of filtering and cleaning water, providing healthy ecosystem habitats, flood reduction, supporting economic benefits, and ensuring a sustainable future.
The City of Everett Initiative No. 24-03 was a citizen-led proposal to enact an ordinance that would recognize the rights of the Snohomish River Watershed (within the city of Everett) to exist, regenerate, and flourish, and give it legal standing to enforce those rights in court. This ordinance puts the stewardship of the Snohomish River Watershed in the hands of the Everett community, which means anyone from individuals to nonprofits, city agencies, and corporations are able to go to court on behalf of the River if they have sufficient proof of harm, such as polluting or causing serious damage to it. Those found in violation of the watershed’s rights would have to pay for restoration costs.
“Standing for the Snoho” campaign says that “the ordinance is intentionally broad in its scope to provide flexibility in addressing the complexities of protecting a watershed, which is a dynamic and interconnected ecosystem.”
A resident of Everett spearheaded the “Standing for the Snoho” campaign, inspired by the efforts in Olympia, WA that had recently launched an initiative to grant legal standing to the Deschutes River Watershed.
Although there are tremendous restoration efforts happening around the Snohomish River Watershed, there are still major problems: the Snohomish River Watershed in Everett is currently seeing major damage to local species due to chemical pollution that currently have no regulatory requirements around monitoring or limiting. The Snohomish River system is one of the last remaining strongholds for Chinook, Coho, Pink, and Chum salmon in the Puget Sound region.