Mel Martin, Campaign Coordinator of the Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights Amendment (OCERA), posed a weighty question to an audience gathered in the Mountain Meadows clubroom in Ashland on Tuesday, March 31: “Does Oregon need a constitutional right to a healthy environment?” The roughly 20 locals seated before Martin seemed near universal in answering in the affirmative.

Martin began a statewide “listening tour” in the Rogue Valley, with two events in Ashland — one at Mountain Meadows and another at Southern Oregon University — one at the Medford Public Library, and a last gathering at Troon Vineyard and Farm, outside of Grants Pass.

From here, Martin will spend much of April through June traveling the state, gauging support for the concept of a ballot initiative to protect Oregon’s land, air, and water.

Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, or SOCAN, sponsored Martin’s appearance. SOCAN, with more than 1,500 members, focuses on local education and advocacy efforts towards addressing the climate crisis.

SOCAN co-founder Alan Journet introduced Martin. Journet, Martin, and partners throughout the state have worked the last two years toward the goal of a constitutional framework for governmental actions impacting the natural world.

OCERA aims to bring a statewide ballot measure to Oregonians in 2028. The measure would declare that Oregon residents have a right to a clean and healthy environment. If passed, it would be up to the state’s politicians and especially the judicial branch to work out over time what exactly a safe and healthy environment entails, much as the United State Supreme Court interprets the Constitution and its amendments at the federal level.

OCERA and its allies across the state first tried to place the amendment on the ballot through the legislative referral process, where a simple majority vote of Oregon’s House and Senate can place a measure before the people. That effort failed in 2025. Now, Journet says, “We’re in it for the long haul.”

To be enacted, the healthy environment amendment would first need to submit preliminary language and 1,000 signatures (to show “a credible effort,” according to Journet) to the Secretary of State. The draft amendment would then go to Oregon’s Attorney General to write final language, a title, and basic arguments for and against the measure. The language and arguments are then subject to potential litigation from supporters or opponents, and Martin expects industry representatives to fight the amendment legally.

If the amendment survives this state process and potential lawsuits, OCERA and its partners would then have to collect valid signatures equal to 8% of votes for Governor in the most recent election, or about 150,000, to qualify for a statewide ballot.

In an interview after the Tuesday event, Journet said he hopes to begin gathering signatures late this year to qualify for the November 2028 election.

OCERA’s Mel Martin, currently a resident of Eugene, grew up near Orlando, Florida, learning from her father to fish with poles and nets, “Almost all of my quality time was spent outdoors.” She then joined the Marines in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). She brings both perspectives – pure enjoyment of the natural world and a lawyer’s eye – to her current efforts, as well as a profound skepticism for politicians and government agencies.

“We have a captured political system … designed by the polluters and special interests,” Martin said. She described the constitutional amendment’s intent as, “Putting the government on notice about how they could do better.”

Martin described likely opponents as, “polluting industries that are harming people for profit.”

Both Martin and Journet highlighted the work of Our Children’s Trust, a legal nonprofit organization which filed the 2015 landmark climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, arguing that federal government actions exacerbating climate change violated constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. In 2024, Our Children’s Trust triumphed in front of the Montana Supreme Court in a case brought by 16 young people based on the state’s constitutional obligation to maintain a clean and healthful environment.

Journet and Martin hope that a specific constitutional right to a safe and healthy environment will bolster Oregon citizens’ efforts to enforce environmental values. In the later interview, Journet emphasized that the courts need, “something to hang a judicial decision on.” With constitutional language behind them, “the courts are more sympathetic to [the people’s] efforts,” allowing judges to resist the tendency to defer to public agencies in decision making affecting natural resources.

Journet said he had attended last Saturday’s “No Kings” rally in Medford, asking protesters if they had heard of the idea of a constitutional amendment for a healthy environment and gauging support for the idea. Noting the responses to his questions, Journet said, “People think, well. this is Oregon. Certainly, we already have that, don’t we?”

Email Jackson County resident, consultant and former environmental law instructor Craig Breon at ckbtravel@earthlink.net. This story first appeared at www.Ashland.news.