Environmental Group Files Suit to Define Colorado River as a "Person"

If corporations can be considered people, why not rivers? An environmental group has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to establish that the Colorado River is a person with rights of its own to “exist, flourish, regenerate, be restored, and naturally evolve.” The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Colorado by a Denver attorney and a group called Deep Green Resistance. The complaint charges that the current system of law allows ongoing degradation of the natural environment because it views nature and ecosystems as property. The plaintiffs charge that failure can be seen in worsening climate change, continued pollution of ground and surface water, and “the decline of every major ecosystem on the continent.” They ask the court to stipulate that Deep Green be designated guardians for the Colorado River ecosystem; and to find that certain activities may be violating the rights of the river’s natural communities. Two law experts told the New York Times the suit is a long shot. However, the complaint notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has already determined that corporations have rights. Also,  one former justice, William Douglas, stated in a dissent in a case in 1972 that “environmental objects” should have standing to sue for their own preservation. Several other nations, including New Zealand, Ecuador, Colombia, and India, have already recognized rivers or ecosystems as entities with rights similar to people.