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Newsletters
Jul 27, 2016
Lane County, OR, residents turn out in high numbers to their County Commissioners meeting, stating clearly their indignation at the Commissioners’ consideration of a law removing direct democracy from the hands of the people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents begin drafting a Home Rule Charter. They consult with Grant Township, where last November residents overwhelmingly adopted a new, rights-based charter that included a ban on frack wastewater injection wells.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents protest the Board of Elections attempt to keep their rights-based County Charter initiative off the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 26, 2016
Lane County, OR, residents make clear their displeasure with the County Commissioners, who are considering a measure to restrict the people’s access to direct democracy.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 26, 2016
Residents of Athens County submit their protest against the County Board of Elections’ refusal to place their duly qualified County Charter on the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 26, 2016
While we may expect to see powerbrokers in both major political parties drown out grassroots voices, it’s happening at the local level as well. Local government officials and the judiciary act as corporate allies, killing the right to initiative across the U.S.
Read More | Community WiresJul 25, 2016
Coloradans advancing the Colorado Community Rights Amendment set sites on 2018 for the state ballot, and commit to building Community Rights at the local, state, and national levels.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 25, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents worked with CELDF to file a protest today against their Board of Elections. The Board blocked their qualified County Charter initiative banning fracking wastewater injection wells from the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJul 24, 2016
More than thirty U.S. mayors from fourteen states call on state legislatures to recognize the right of localities to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their communities from fracking – a right CELDF has been working with communities to advance since 2010.
Read More | Community WiresJul 21, 2016
Local elected officials in Lane County, OR, attempt to pander to corporate interests and work to block the right to citizen initiative. Lane residents are advancing three rights-based measures to protect their County from GMOs and toxic aerial spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 18, 2016
Says Portage County, OH, resident: The people who live in a community should make the governing decisions impacting that community. Portage County residents are advancing a County Charter recognizing that right, and protecting against fracking activities.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 18, 2016
The Ohio Community Rights Network comes to Johnstown, OH. Member of the Network will share with residents rights-based strategies to protect communities – including their rights to local self-government, clean air and water, and banning fracking as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 17, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents face oil and gas industry allies blocking their rights-based County Charter measure from the November ballot, despite meeting initiative requirements. Supporters will challenge the decision, asserting their right to citizen initiative.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 17, 2016
Ohio Gas Association President JImmy Stewart sees no conflict of interest in his appointment to the Meigs County Board of Elections, as he leads the charge to block a rights-based County Charter measure banning fracking. Residents disagree; consider next steps.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 15, 2016
Efforts in Ohio by local Boards of Elections to block rights-based County Charter initiatives banning fracking fail to disempower We the People.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJul 15, 2016
Coloradans advance a rights-based state constitutional amendment, empowering communities to strengthen protections set at the state and federal level for fracking – including banning it. In response, the oil and gas industry funnels over $6 million to defeat it.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 14, 2016
Thank you Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for your support of CELDF’s work! LDF is helping us empower communities and build Rights of Nature legal frameworks.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJul 14, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents intend to challenge the Board of Elections vote to keep their County Charter initiative off the November ballot. Residents are advancing the right to local self-government, including banning fracking activities, to protect themselves from harm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 13, 2016
What once was a national park in New Zealand is now recognized as having personhood. A river is expected to receive the same status. Both are part of an agreement with Maori groups, and reflect the growing recognition of the rights of nature.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJul 10, 2016
An Athens County, OH, resident calls out an oil & gas industry representative who attempted to belittle Community Rights supporters as they spoke out against fracking harms.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 10, 2016
Lane County Commissioners jump to do bidding of corporate forestry and attempt to strip Lane residents of their right to initiative. Residents are advancing Community Rights to protect themselves from toxic aerial spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 10, 2016
The Athens County, OH, Board of Elections exerts power of residents, refusing to certify their Community Rights Charter initiative banning fracking – despite having the required number of signatures.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 10, 2016
Portage County, OH, residents have found no remedy in their local or state government as they are inundated with frack wastewater injection wells. They are advancing a Community Rights Charter initiative for the November ballot to ban the wells.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 9, 2016
In Medina County, OH, residents insist on their right to alter their government when their representatives refuse to protect them from harm. Medina County residents are advancing a rights-based County Charter initiative banning fracking activities as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 9, 2016
Highland Township, PA’s, government study commission issues its report: their existing governing structure allows a few people to make decisions that belong to the many. It’s time for a Home Rule form of government, allowing the community to make the governing decisions.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 7, 2016
The Kent Environmental Council endorses the Portage Community Rights Group’s rights-based county charter initiative. The county charter would ban frack wastewater injection wells as a violation of the right to clean water.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 7, 2016
Tacoma local government allies with big business interests, using the courts to block Tacomans from voting to protect their water. Undaunted, Tacomans prepare for a statewide initiative, and plan to run Community Rights candidates for local office.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 4, 2016
Tacoma, WA, residents determine next move as a county judge denies their right to protect their local water through initiative.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 1, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents submit signatures to place a Community Rights county charter on the November ballot that would maintain the current governing structure while banning fracking as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 30, 2016
In Medina County, OH, residents gather over 6,500 signatures, qualifying for the November ballot a Community Rights County Charter banning fracking activities. They join six other Ohio cities and counties advancing similar measures.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 30, 2016
Last summer, the corporate state led efforts to keep Ohioans from voting on fracking bans. Ohio communities are back in action, refusing to be deterred, and committed to protecting their communities. Five ballot measures are submitted this week for November.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJun 28, 2016
Youngstown, OH, residents show their grit and commitment as they advance their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking to the ballot for a vote by the people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 27, 2016
Youngstown, OH, residents assert their right to initiative as they advance a rights-based initiative to ban fracking as a violation of their right to clean water and a healthy environment. Residents gathered double the required number of signatures.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 27, 2016
Determined to protect their community and safeguard their water from fracking, Youngstown, OH, residents submit well-over the required number of signatures for a Community Bill of Rights fracking ban initiative. Voters will cast their ballots in November.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 24, 2016
When municipal interests and Home Rule powers come into conflict with state preemption, communities are losing. It will take community rights and a people’s movement to change it.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJun 24, 2016
Local government and corporate interests in Tacoma, WA, collude to stop the City’s residents from their democratic right to initiative. Residents are advancing a rights-based measure to let the people decide when large corporate water uses are allowed.
Read More | Community WiresJun 24, 2016
Youngstown, OH, residents turn in signatures to place their charter amendment on the ballot in November. The measure establishes the rights of residents to clean air and water, the right to local community self-government, and bans fracking as a violation of those rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 24, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents review their governing code, finding it insufficient to meet the needs of the community because it places corporate “rights” over community rights. They are drafting a Home Rule charter that elevates communities over corporations.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 23, 2016
Several communities in three counties face Rover pipelines and a compressor station north of Defiance, OH. Residents gathered at a OEPA hearing to make clear they are unwilling to accept harm, and urged their communities to assert their rights to protect themselves.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 21, 2016
Simon Davis-Cohen’s article on communities in the U.S. learning from indigenous peoples and leveraging community rights to overcome unjust western legal doctrines, is reprinted here in Agua Para Tod@s.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJun 10, 2016
Coal and oil trains passing through Spokane, WA, spark physician Gunnar Holmquist to take action, filing a CELDF-drafted Community Bill of Rights charter amendment banning the shipments as a violation of the right to a healthy climate and public safety.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJun 9, 2016
The corporate state in Tacoma, WA, attempts “…to use the court as a weapon to strangle democracy in Tacoma.” Residents are advancing their right to initiative as they fight to protect their water from large commercial uses.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 9, 2016
Breaking the Planet takes an unflinching look at climate change, the legal and governing structures accelerating our own destruction, and the radical action necessary to cease the sweeping and violent damage being done to the planet, and us.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 7, 2016
Tacoma, WA, residents fight to protect their water while their own local electeds stand against them. Local government and business interests are suing to block a rights-based ballot initiative from a vote by the people. The measure would protect Tacoma water.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 5, 2016
Portage County, OH, residents gather signatures to place a Community Rights County Charter on the November ballot to ban fracking activities. Residents are advancing rights to protect themselves from the oil and gas industry.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 4, 2016
Local communities are using their inalienable right to govern the places where they live to take action against climate change. Truthout highlights them here, including CELDF partners in Columbus, OH; Grant Township, PA; and Colorado.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 1, 2016
Residents in New Hampshire are relieved as Northeast Energy Direct withdraws its pipeline plans. But one resident says there is no win here – simply a respite until the next threat – and urges Granite Staters to continue working for Community Rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 1, 2016
Herbicides are found in Lane County, OR, residents from aerial pesticide spraying. Finding their state government protecting the corporate sprayers rather than the people, Oregon residents advance a Community Bill of Rights banning the spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 25, 2016
As Lane County, OR, voters advance Community Rights, efforts are underway to block them. Community Rights Lane County uses street theater to help fight for the people’s democratic rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 25, 2016
Highland Township, PA’s Home Rule Study Commission was voted in last month. Last night, they held their first meeting to begin consideration of becoming a Home Rule township, retaining CELDF as legal counsel.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots