Community Wires

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Oct 4, 2011

CELDF Press Release: “Peters Township Citizens Prevail: Local Bill of Rights and Fracking Ban to Appear on Ballot”

CELDF Press Release: “Peters Township Citizens Prevail: Local Bill of Rights and Fracking Ban to Appear on Ballot”

Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky turned down a request by Peters Township Council to bar a referendum question from appearing on the ballot in November that, if approved by the voters, would create a local Bill of Rights and ban fracking. Judge Pozonsky ruled that the court lacks jurisdiction to impose an injunction against the proposed home rule charter amendment, and that allowing the voters to approve or deny the adoption of the amendment did not create an immediate harm to the township.

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Sep 14, 2011

Observer-Reporter: Unclear if referendum will make PT ballot in election

Observer-Reporter: Unclear if referendum will make PT ballot in election

With less than two months to go before the Nov. 8 general election, it’s still unclear whether a referendum on a home rule charter amendment will make its way onto the ballot in Peters Township.

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Sep 13, 2011

The Almanac: PT advances gas referendum

The Almanac: PT advances gas referendum

Peters Township Council voted unanimously Monday to let a Washington County Court judge determine whether a referendum on a home rule-charter amendment seeking to ban natural gas drilling in the municipality is legal and can appear on the ballot in November. About 2,400 registered township voters signed a petition presented Aug. 8 to Washington County Director of Elections Larry Spahr seeking the referendum on a home rule-charter amendment.

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Sep 13, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Peters council heads to court to block shale referendum

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Peters council heads to court to block shale referendum

A lawyer representing Peters council is expected to be in Washington County court this morning in an attempt to block a voter referendum on whether to ban natural gas drilling. “In my opinion, it’s patently illegal,” said solicitor William Johnson. The referendum, which is slated to appear on the Nov. 8 ballot, asks Peters voters whether to ban gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — of the Marcellus Shale, and other natural gas extraction activities.

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Sep 13, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Judge to rule on Peters drilling referendum

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Judge to rule on Peters drilling referendum

A Washington County judge has set a Sept. 28 hearing for arguments over whether to block a voter referendum on natural gas drilling in Peters. At a brief hearing this morning, Judge Paul Pozonsky said he will try to make a decision about a petition from Peters Solicitor William Johnson before the first week in October, when absentee ballots for the general election are to be printed and mailed.

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Sep 12, 2011

The Raw Story: Penn. township challenges fracking with ballot initiative

The Raw Story: Penn. township challenges fracking with ballot initiative

A small township in western Pennsylvania is fighting back against fracking and attempting to write a ban on the practice into their local Bill of Rights, but they may be thwarted by their own town council. Peters Township in Washington County, population 21,213, is home to the Peters Township Marcellus Shale Awareness Group, an activism group formed after residents viewed Josh Fox’s anti-fracking documentary “GasLand.” PTMSA collected 2,422 signatures to place their Home Rule Charter amendment on the ballot on November 8 of this year, asking the question below.

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Aug 30, 2011

StateCollege.com: Proposed Gas-Drilling Ban, Environmental-Rights Question Set for State College Ballot

StateCollege.com: Proposed Gas-Drilling Ban, Environmental-Rights Question Set for State College Ballot

State College voters will decide Nov. 8 on a proposed borough-charter amendment — an amendment that would ban commercial gas drilling and establish environmental rights within borough limits. Elections-board members voted 3-0 Friday to include the referendum item as part of the borough’s general-election ballot. Earlier this summer, just more than 1,000 borough residents signed a petition to qualify the proposal for placement as a referendum item.

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Jul 25, 2011

State College: As Anti-Drilling Push Unfolds, Penn State Campus Could Land in No-Drill Zone

State College: As Anti-Drilling Push Unfolds, Penn State Campus Could Land in No-Drill Zone

For generations, Braden Crooks’ family has maintained a farm in Clarion County, in western Pennsylvania. Its lifeblood, as with so many other homesteads in that rural expanse of Pennsylvania, is its well water. “If we don’t have the well water, we can’t live there,” Crooks explained to me last week. “That’s very direct — very personal.” That direct, personal connection is helping to drive his leadership of Groundswell PA, the new environmental-advocacy group that Crooks, a 2011 Penn State landscape-architecture graduate, founded. We’ve written before about Groundswell, whose most immediate goal is to place, on State College general-election ballot for November, a voter referendum on an environmental bill of rights.

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Nov 7, 2010

Blaine Township

Blaine Township

Blaine Township is a small rural township some 45 miles west of Pittsburgh, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania has been mining coal for 250 years, but no mining has occurred in Blaine and its residents and township supervisors aim to keep it that way.

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May 17, 2010

Mt. Shasta Water Rights: Who Decides – A report on the Mt. Shasta Community Water Rights and Self-Government Ordinance

Mt. Shasta Water Rights: Who Decides – A report on the Mt. Shasta Community Water Rights and Self-Government Ordinance

We can disagree on many things as neighbors and residents, but we can ALL come together on one — what happens in Mt. Shasta that affects our health, safety, welfare, quality of life and sustainability of our natural environment should be ours alone to decide.

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Feb 28, 2010

State Bar to Propose Reforms

State Bar to Propose Reforms

The Pennsylvania Bar Association joined the fray last week by announcing the formation of a review commission to offer recommendations on what sort of constitutional changes should be taken up.

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Feb 28, 2010

Constitutional changes not imminent prospect

Constitutional changes not imminent prospect

The Pennsylvania Bar Association joined the fray last week by announcing the formation of a review commission to offer recommendations on what sort of constitutional changes should be taken up.

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Feb 20, 2010

Press Release: Laying the Groundwork for a People’s Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Community Rights Network Launched

Press Release: Laying the Groundwork for a People’s Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Community Rights Network Launched

To organize a people’s convention of delegates, representing municipal communities, who will propose constitutional changes to secure the inalienable right to local, community self-government free of state and corporate preemption.

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Sep 28, 2008

The New York Times: Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature

The New York Times: Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature

Ecuador makes history with the people’s adoption of a new Constitution recognizing the Rights of Nature to exist and flourish.

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Sep 28, 2008

Press Release: Ecuador Approves New Constitution: Voters Approve Rights of Nature

Press Release: Ecuador Approves New Constitution: Voters Approve Rights of Nature

By an overwhelming margin, the people of Ecuador today voted for a new constitution that is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

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Jul 29, 2007

Yes! Magazine: Communities Take Power: The Citizens of Barnstead, New Hampshire, Used Local Law to Keep Corporate Giants Out of Their Water

Yes! Magazine: Communities Take Power: The Citizens of Barnstead, New Hampshire, Used Local Law to Keep Corporate Giants Out of Their Water

Barnstead, NH, residents use community rights to make governing decisions and protect their water from corporations.

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Apr 6, 2006

Barnstead & Nottingham, NH, Live Up To Their State Constitution

Barnstead & Nottingham, NH, Live Up To Their State Constitution

The story of how two communities changed their thinking and their strategies, and became the first to adopt rights-based ordinances banning water privatization.

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