Living in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, 18-year-old Jasmine Williams has seen firsthand how climate change is not only affecting her city, but also her historically Black neighborhood in particular. Set on a rare rise in otherwise low-lying Miami, Overtown has become a case study in climate gentrification as sea-level rise increasingly leaves what have long been more expensive and sought-after parts of the South Florida coast routinely underwater — sending whiter, wealthier residents uphill.
But like so many Black neighborhoods, Overtown has little tree cover and plenty of pavement, making it hotter there than other parts of the increasingly hot city. Instead of going to the beach, playing sports, or being out in nature, Williams “often must choose indoor activities or reschedule her planned outdoor activities because of the extreme heat,” according to a new lawsuit in which she is one of six plaintiffs.
With the suit, Reynolds vs. Florida Public Service Commission, Williams and five other Miami-Dade County residents between 18 and 25 years old are trying to put a stop to the state’s growing reliance on natural gas for electricity.
The plaintiffs allege that the commission, which is responsible for regulating the long-range plans for public utilities, continues to approve plans heavily reliant on natural gas — despite Florida law saying that the state should “reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by promoting an increased use of renewable energy resources and low-carbon-emitting electric power plants.”
Williams and the others say that by continuing to approve carbon-heavy energy plans, and the power plants that they rely on, the Public Service Commission is violating their “fundamental and inalienable right to enjoy and defend life,” as enshrined in the state constitution.
Youth-Centered Legal Challenges
The suit — which was first filed in October before being resubmitted in December with five additional plaintiffs, including Williams — is the latest youth-centered legal challenge spearheaded by Our Children’s Trust. The organization has filed similar lawsuits alleging that climate change is infringing on the inalienable rights of youth in jurisdictions across the country, and recently won a landmark ruling in Montana. In that case, the state Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the state’s fossil fuel emissions violate the right to a clean and healthful environment that’s enshrined in the state constitution.
But while the Miami-Dade lawsuit is framed around Florida’s own state constitution, it takes a more narrow legal approach than most complaints filed by Our Children’s Trust — including another suit it helped file in the state in 2018, Reynolds vs. Florida. That challenge, which had the same lead plaintiff, climate activist Delaney Reynolds, broadly argued that by contributing to climate change, the state was violating the plaintiff’s fundamental right to a stable climate. Reynolds vs. Florida was dismissed in 2020, with State Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll saying that while he believed the concerns of the plaintiffs to be legitimate, “This is not a matter for the court.”
In the new suit, the focus on both the Public Service Commission and the actual statutes of the state constitution is more targeted. As lead attorney Andrea Rodgers told the Associated Press, “We’re not asking them to recognize any new constitutional rights. This is clearly established Florida law. We simply want to ask them to review the commission’s conduct and tell us whether or not it’s constitutional.”
