Summary
On 10 March 2025, a bill was introduced in the 2025-2026 session of the North Carolina General Assembly to amend Chapter 77 of the General Statutes by adding a new Article to recognize and protect the rights of the Dan and Haw River ecosystems. The bill has been referred to committee.
The Rights of the Rivers Act recognizes and protects the rights of certain human-impacted river ecosystems and the right of the people of North Carolina to a healthy, thriving ecosystem for those rivers. These rights include, but are not limited to: The right to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve; To full restoration, recovery, and preservation; To abundant, pure, clean, unpolluted water; To a healthy natural environment and natural biodiversity; To carry on all natural ecosystem functions; To be free of activities, practices, and any other man-made obstructions that interfere with or infringe upon these rights.
The bill mandates the State to protect the rights secured in this act by providing that natural resource management agencies of the State take action to ensure these rights are guaranteed and upheld. This includes a provision mandating that the state, no later than 30 June 2030, complete full restoration of all areas of river ecosystems protected in this act.
Enforcement and Burden of Proof
The human-impacted river ecosystems protected in this Article may enforce or defend their rights through legal action in the North Carolina courts as the party in interest.
The Attorney General is authorized to enforce and defend these rights by filing actions in the NC courts to stop rights violations and collect damages for impacts to river ecosystems. Likewise, any resident of the State has standing to enforce or defend these rights through a legal action brought in any appropriate court, in the name of the ecosystem itself, and to intervene in any litigation in order to enforce or defend this act.
Where probable violations of the rights protected in this act are shown to exist, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for denying or postponing enforcement or defense of these rights. The burden of proving the violation of rights shall lie with the persons responsible and not with the party enforcing or defending the rights protected in this Article.
Indigenous Knowledge
The bill emphasizes the ancestral relationship of the Indigenous peoples of North Carolina and the river ecosystems, as well as the stewardship and knowledge that serves as an example for reimagining environmental protection laws.
“Whereas, from time immemorial, rivers and streams of North Carolina, including the Haw and Dan Rivers, have supported abundant life. American Indians have inhabited these lands, living in harmony with Nature, for over a thousand years; and Whereas, by 1710, the impacts of colonization forced the Saura tribe to abandon its last known settlement along the Dan River, but other tribes along the Haw and Dan Rivers, such as the Saponi, remained and continue to live in the region; and Whereas, today, American Indians of the Piedmont region are reconnecting with their ancestral homeland and culture; and guiding growing efforts to better conserve and protect the rivers and river lands and the life they support”
It notes that “communities, states, and nations around the globe have begun realigning laws and policies with the growing understandings, long held by Indigenous societies, that we are part of the natural world and we must respect and care for Nature to care for ourselves and protect our future through an understanding that nature – the community of life on Earth – has rights, including the right to exist”
Ecosystem Context
The bill notes that “the Haw River has been identified as one of America’s most endangered rivers because of unsafe pollution levels, including sewage leaking from aging pipes and toxic runoff from roadways and parking lots. The State has issued warnings and severe restrictions on eating fish from the Haw and the Dan Rivers. Both have been determined to contain toxic chemicals dangerous to humans, including the “forever chemicals,” such as PFAS, which never decompose, increase cancer and other health risks to humans”. Whereas governments have responded with efforts to protect the environment over the last 60 years, the bill states that those environmental protection laws have helped, but still proven to be insufficient.
Author: Cat Haas
Related Initiatives
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/north-carolina-usa-state-law-rights-of-nature-certain-river-basins-2025/.
When using our data, please follow the FAIR and CARE Principles for data governance outlined in our Ethics Statement. We are doing our best to be correct in the information we provide, but if you notice any omission or inaccuracy, please report this to us immediately at info@ecojurisprudence.org so we can correct it.
Eco Jurisprudence Tracker is licensed under CC BY 4.0
