Toledo (USA) Charter Amendment: Lake Erie Bill of Rights

Summary

In 2019, residents of Toledo, Ohio approved a ballot measure adopting the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR), which declared that Lake Erie and its watershed possess the rights to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve. The initiative was spearheaded by the grassroots group Toledoans for Safe Water, which worked with attorneys from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to draft the measure and secure its placement on the ballot.

On 26 February 2019, Toledo voters approved the proposal, and the LEBOR was incorporated into the city’s municipal charter, becoming the first law in the United States to recognize the rights of a specific ecosystem.

Legal Challenge
After Toledo voters adopted the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the Ohio State Legislature passed a budget bill in July 2019 prohibiting communities from enacting “rights of nature” laws. The legislation explicitly stated that “nature… does not have standing to participate in or bring an action in any court.”

In 2020, the state expanded these restrictions by passing a broader preemption law: higher-level government laws (federal or state) override conflicting lower-level laws (local). It prevents local governments from regulating specific issues —in this case, rights of nature laws.

Subsequently, the LEBOR law was struck down by a federal judge in 2020 (Drewes Farm Partnership v. City of Toledo), declaring it unconstitutional. Although a panel of judges from Ohio’s Sixth District Court of Appeals later indicated that aspects of the ruling were flawed, the law remains invalidated.

Political and Ecological Context
Lake Erie is the eleventh largest lake in the world. It sits along the international boundary between Canada and the United States, bordering the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. Major cities along the lake include Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toledo.

For decades, Lake Erie’s ecological health has been threatened by overfishing, pollution, and invasive species. One of the most significant ongoing challenges is severe annual cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) blooms caused by eutrophication. Large quantities of fertilizers, agricultural runoff, and human and animal waste enter the lake, and with the loss of wetlands having reduced the ecosystem’s ability to filter these pollutants, the excess nutrients in the water fuel rapid algae growth, producing toxins and creating low-oxygen “dead zones.”

Historically, eutrophication was driven by industrial waste, municipal sewage, and agricultural runoff. Improved farming practices in the 1970s helped the lake recover significantly, but many of these voluntary conservation measures were not sustained or monitored, and ecological conditions began deteriorating again in the 1990s.

Impact Statement

Efforts to challenge state preemption and restore local decision-making continue. In Columbus, Ohio residents are looking to re-establish self-governance. On 15 May 2025, advocates submitted a city charter amendment petition seeking to place a measure on the November 2027 ballot that would reject state preemption and reaffirm the right of municipalities to legislate on local matters.

Involved Organizations

Related Initiatives