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Rights of Nature lawsuit pits 2 lakes, 2 creeks and marsh against developer in Lake Nona
Orlando Sentinel
5/3/2021
Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel
© Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel
Longtime advocate for clean water and black bears, Chuck O’Neal, at his home which sits on the edge of Wekiwa Springs State Park on Monday, January 11 2021. O’Neal’s “rights of nature” initiative, intended largely to protect the Wekiva and Econlockhatchee rivers, won an astounding 89% of the vote in Orange County in the 2020 election.
Wielding for the first time the voter-approved Orange County charter amendment intended to protect county waterways, environmentalists recently sued to stop a developer from filling in 115 acres of wetlands for a mammoth project near Lake Nona. ....

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