News

Write for CELDF

Sep 15, 2012

Position Paper on Sustainable Energy

Position Paper on Sustainable Energy

Currently, most development of wind energy resources is carried out by a handful of large corporations…. The corporation…controls the land, production of energy from the wind resource, and the distribution of that energy to the grid.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs

Sep 8, 2012

Akron Beacon Journal: Communities seek ways to override state control of oil and gas drilling boom

Akron Beacon Journal: Communities seek ways to override state control of oil and gas drilling boom

Two activists are involved in grass-roots campaigns … pushing [for] what’s called limited home rule in Ohio townships and a community bill of rights in cities and villages, both aimed at increased protection for air, water, health, property values and public safety.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 7, 2012

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

SPOKANE: In late July, citizens from Washington communities gathered in Spokane to launch the Washington Community Rights Network (WCRN). Network members released The Spokane Declaration, calling upon communities across the state to join together in a movement to elevate the rights of people, their communities, and nature above the claimed rights of corporations….The creation of the Washington Community Rights Network comes out of active community campaigns on both sides of the Cascades.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jul 12, 2012

Alliance for Sustainable Communities: The Importance of Being Radical

Alliance for Sustainable Communities: The Importance of Being Radical

As an activist in Easton, there is one crucial challenge I have encountered in trying to engage residents in any cause, regardless of the issue. Whether it’s fighting fracking for natural gas, sewage sludge fertilization, landfills—the challenge is fragmentation. People—good people—are very busy, working hard to sustain themselves and their families, and they have little free time to divide among additional pursuits. When they do commit to carving out time for meetings, there tend to be so many issues facing any given community, that each community will be fragmented in their efforts….But there is good news—a possible silver bullet that can streamline our efforts to eradicate the root of the disease, rather than wasting scarce time and precious energy running around fighting symptoms wherever they crop up. That silver bullet is to declare and establish local self-governance at the municipal level according to state constitutional rights, including the right to deny corporations the ability to invade communities and run roughshod over The People.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Apr 23, 2012

Gloucester, MA Part 2

Gloucester, MA Part 2

Gloucester residents celebrate legislation putting control of their municipal water system in community hands – Part 2

Read More | Community Wires

Apr 23, 2012

Gloucester, MA Part 1

Gloucester, MA Part 1

Gloucester residents celebrate legislation putting control of their municipal water system in community hands – Part 1

Read More | Community Wires

Apr 15, 2012

CELDF Press Release: Las Vegas, New Mexico, Adopts Community Bill of Rights; Bans Corporations from Fracking for Shale Gas

CELDF Press Release: Las Vegas, New Mexico, Adopts Community Bill of Rights; Bans Corporations from Fracking for Shale Gas

In front of a standing-room only crowd of residents, by a vote of 3-1, the City Council, Las Vegas, New Mexico enacted the Las Vegas Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Apr 3, 2012

Las Vegas Optic: Anti-fracking law adopted

Las Vegas Optic: Anti-fracking law adopted

The Las Vegas, NM, City Council adopted a Community Bill of Rights ordinance establishing rights to clean water and to local self-government, banning fracking as a violation of those rights. Residents filled council chambers in support of the measure.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Mar 29, 2012

Las Vegas Optic: Support for city’s ‘rights’ ordinance

Las Vegas Optic: Support for city’s ‘rights’ ordinance

Community members in Las Vegas, NM, urge support for their Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance, which bans fracking.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 23, 2012

Philadelphia Inquirer: Op/Ed by CELDF’s Ben Price – Fracking spurs a municipal mutiny in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Inquirer: Op/Ed by CELDF’s Ben Price – Fracking spurs a municipal mutiny in Pennsylvania

Not content to leave Pennsylvania communities with any control over gas drilling within their borders, state legislators have stripped municipalities of their zoning authority under Act 13, choosing energy corporations over the people who elected them….It’s time we…stopped expecting any other outcome from Harrisburg. It’s time for a grassroots revolt aimed at enshrining the right to community self-government in the Pennsylvania Constitution, protecting local authority from the state. The work begins in our communities, with the adoption of local laws and home-rule charters directly challenging the legal doctrines that subordinate communities to the legislature, as well as the privileges that protect corporations from democracy. More than 100 municipalities across Pennsylvania have begun this journey, elevating the rights of people and communities above the rights of corporations and commerce. These municipalities recognize the need for community rights independent of the legislature and are coming together to form the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2012

Santa Monica Patch: Council Moves Toward Making ‘Green’ Goals Mandatory

Santa Monica Patch: Council Moves Toward Making ‘Green’ Goals Mandatory

Santa Monica City Council members unanimously passed a resolution backing a bill of rights for the environment, which would give legal standing to city officials to protect the environment within Santa Monica’s borders if passed as a law in the future.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 1, 2012

Statement on Efforts to Amend the U.S. Constitution following Citizens United

Statement on Efforts to Amend the U.S. Constitution following Citizens United

A great deal of activism has emerged in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC. In that case, the Court declared that corporate First Amendment “free speech” rights were violated by federal law which limited corporate spending in elections. Following the ruling, several groups began working to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United. CELDF was invited to participate in those efforts based on our ongoing legislative work on corporate “rights.”… As the Legal Defense Fund has observed the national activism following the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, we’ve declined to participate in proposed efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution for two main reasons.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs

Nov 18, 2011

Marcellus Protest 2011: November 18th – Power to the People, Not the Corporations

Marcellus Protest 2011: November 18th – Power to the People, Not the Corporations

Be part of something big. Something really big! Plan to join us on November 18th in State College, PA at the Penn State University campus for Marcellus Protest 2011: “Power To The People, Not The Corporations” rally.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 15, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Peters council opposes proposed drilling regulations

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Peters council opposes proposed drilling regulations

Less than a week after residents in Peters overwhelmingly voted to reject a ban on Marcellus Shale gas drilling, council members passed a resolution opposing legislation that would further restrict the zoning powers of municipalities. Council members unanimously voted Monday night to pass the resolution in response to a state House bill that would eliminate local zoning regulations in favor of new statewide rules governing gas well drilling operations.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 13, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Election showed fracking’s key role in region

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Election showed fracking’s key role in region

Right up to Election Day, Peters residents were receiving sleek fliers in the mail encouraging them to vote against a referendum to ban gas drilling in the Washington County community. The mailers weren’t coming from local opposition, but from Houston-based industry group Consumer Energy Alliance.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 10, 2011

Philly.com: Pittsburgh suburb: No to drill ban

Philly.com: Pittsburgh suburb: No to drill ban

By a ratio of more than 4-1, voters in an affluent Pittsburgh suburb said natural-gas drilling could go on in their township. In Tuesday’s general election, nearly 5,200 Peters Township voters rejected a referendum proposal that would have barred drilling, compared with a little more than 1,100 who voted for a ban.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 9, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Who knows best: On drilling, Republicans sell out on local control

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Who knows best: On drilling, Republicans sell out on local control

Republicans often say they are advocates of local control, repeating bromides such as “the people know better than the politicians or bureaucrats.” But not when it comes to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania. On this subject, the politicians and bureaucrats are poised to tell the people that they know best — and never mind the local concerns of residents of municipalities across the state who will have to live with the results. Harrisburg knows best.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 9, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bid to ban drilling in Peters is defeated; voters in State College succeed

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bid to ban drilling in Peters is defeated; voters in State College succeed

Despite the work of a very determined group of citizens, a referendum banning Marcellus Shale gas drilling was overwhelmingly defeated Tuesday in Peters, Washington County….A similar measure in the city of Warren, Warren County, also was defeated, though one in the borough of State College, in Centre County, was approved by voters there.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 9, 2011

Real Clear Politics: Upscale Pittsburgh suburb rejects drilling ban

Real Clear Politics: Upscale Pittsburgh suburb rejects drilling ban

By a margin of more than four-to-one, voters in an affluent Pittsburgh suburb say natural gas drilling can go on in their township. In Tuesday’s general election, nearly 5,200 Peters Township voters rejected a referendum that would have barred drilling, compared with just over 1,100 who voted for a ban….Jules Lobel, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who represented the anti-drilling group in court, said the issue concerned the “whole question of local control over one’s life, over things that matter.”

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 8, 2011

CELDF Press Release: State College Voters Adopt Community Rights Charter Amendment That Bans Gas Drilling

CELDF Press Release: State College Voters Adopt Community Rights Charter Amendment That Bans Gas Drilling

By a vote of 72% in favor, the people of the Borough of State College, home of Penn State University, adopted an amendment to their home rule charter that constitutionalizes a Local Bill of Rights, and protects those rights by prohibiting natural gas extraction and associated activities.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 8, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gas-drilling ban stalls in Peters

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gas-drilling ban stalls in Peters

Despite the work of a determined group of citizens, a referendum banning Marcellus Shale gas drilling was overwhelmingly defeated in the Washington County township of Peters tonight….The referendum was among one of the first in the nation in which voters had a direct voice in determining whether gas well drilling — and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — should be allowed in their neighborhoods.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 6, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Drilling war in Peters fought on the ballot

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Drilling war in Peters fought on the ballot

Amid the sea of colorful, plastic campaign signs scattered around Peters are angrier, bolder signs flapping in the wind, screaming “VOTE NO!! Protect Your Township,” and “Vote Yes! Protect Our Property Values.” They are part of the battle for the hearts and minds of voters in this affluent municipality of about 21,000 residents. The fight, which has already garnered attention from the national media, pits residents and energy companies who advocate drilling in the Marcellus Shale gas formation against a citizens group that is seeking to ban it in Washington County’s most populous municipality through a voter referendum on Tuesday.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 3, 2011

Peters Patch: Letter to the Editor: A Resident’s Reply

Peters Patch: Letter to the Editor: A Resident’s Reply

Mr. Merrell recently posted an open letter to the people of Peters in which he made several assertions regarding the content of the ballot referendum. Based on the development of the western intellectual tradition in the last century in relation to environmental ethics, environmental law, and human rights, I respectfully disagree with several of his comments and conclusions. Further it is my contention that the referendum is not a meaningless document but the natural outgrowth of the western intellectual tradition that has its origin in the philosophies of the Enlightenment thinkers.

Read More | Community Wires

Nov 1, 2011

StateCollege.com: State College Council Members Fight Environmental Proposal, Cite Procedural Concerns

StateCollege.com: State College Council Members Fight Environmental Proposal, Cite Procedural Concerns

With a week left before Election Day, a State College Borough Council majority has begun lobbying against a proposed borough-charter amendment. The amendment would add an environmental bill of rights and a ban on commercial natural-gas drilling to the borough charter, the municipality’s governing document. Groundswell PA, a local environmental-advocacy group, has led the charge for the amendment.

Read More | Community Wires

Oct 11, 2011

Turning Occupation into Lasting Change

Turning Occupation into Lasting Change

If the Occupy movement is to succeed over time, it must follow the lead of community rights building efforts that have begun work to dismantle the body of law that perpetually subordinates people, communities, and nature to wealthy corporate minorities.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Oct 5, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Natural gas drilling ban remains on Peters ballot

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Natural gas drilling ban remains on Peters ballot

Peters officials do not plan to challenge a judge’s decision to allow a controversial referendum question on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election that, if passed, would prohibit new natural gas extraction and likely spur lawsuits over access to Marcellus Shale deposits…. Washington County Common Pleas Judge Paul Pozonsky Monday dismissed an attempt by the township to block the referendum. In a brief order, the judge wrote that he could not act before the election because there was no “immediate harm caused by the presence of the measure on the ballot.”

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

Apr 22, 2011

Wired: Giving Nature Its Own Rights Might Avert Future Oil Disasters

Wired: Giving Nature Its Own Rights Might Avert Future Oil Disasters

Considering the rights of ecosystems dates to 1972 with Christopher Stone, and has evolved today to local laws establishing Rights of Nature as a means to protect against destructive activities.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success Story

Sep 2, 2008

Los Angeles Times: Ecology in Ecuador

Los Angeles Times: Ecology in Ecuador

Ecuador citizens are poised to vote on the adoption of the world’s first Constitution recognizing the Rights of Nature.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

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.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 9, 2005

A Movement Diverted: How Corporations Neutralized Anti-Chain Store Campaigns Of the 1920s and 1930s

A Movement Diverted: How Corporations Neutralized Anti-Chain Store Campaigns Of the 1920s and 1930s

Early in the 20th Century, giant corporations like Woolworth’s, Sears Roebuck, J.C. Penney, Ligget, and A&P began forcing their chain stores into communities across the nation. The chains were unwelcome. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, people in towns from coast to coast banded together to stop this corporate invasion, only to be beaten back by corporations and the federal government.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs