Resources

Susquehanna, Vol. 24, Issue 1

Our newsletter, the Susquehanna, comes out 2 – 3 times annually.  If you are interested in receiving the newsletter – either electronically or by mail – sign up here.

A New Phase

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
was founded as a conventional environmental law firm
(phase one). As it discovered how regulatory law is
fixed to disempower people, communities and ecosystems, it pivoted—towards “rights based” law making.

Observing Revolution

In the midst of historic Black Lives Matter uprisings, critics say: “but what is it really accomplishing?” not
realizing that the protests are shifting the conditions of political action itself. Indeed, when movements are so
structural—as to seek transformations of “public safety” and self-governance—it may be hard to observe their
immediate impact.

Living in the COVID Era

Since a national emergency was called in the United States in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate interests—and politicians doing their bidding—have engaged in aggressive
action to save the status quo. They want nothing more than to return to “normal.”

Susquehanna, Vol. 22, Issue 1

CELDF, our partner communities, and allies made remarkable advancements
in Community Rights and Rights of Nature this year. Together—despite corporate and state level efforts to stop this work—we made history.

Susquehanna, Vol. 21, Issue 2

As the busiest year ever for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
comes to a close, here’s how Alternet recently described our work: “It’s about the community having the right to protect themselves from
legalized harm…it’s about communities passing laws to create a society
you want your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to
live in.”

Susquehanna, Vol. 21, Issue 1

It all started, as most of these things do, with a company’s application for a permit.
In May of 2013, Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) applied for a permit from
the Environmental Protection Agency to convert one of its gas extraction wells in
Grant Township, Indiana County, PA, into an injection well.

Susquehanna, Vol. 20, Issue 2

It’s not every day that a public interest law firm and the communities it serves
begin a movement! But what began over twenty years ago as an effort to help
communities enforce the nation’s environmental laws, has now fully evolved into
a resistance movement focused on driving rights for local self-determination and
nature into the highest levels of law.

Susquehanna, Vol. 20, Issue 1

CELDF filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in federal district court in Spokane, WA,
on January 31st. The lawsuit contends that the rail transportation of coal and oil
through the City violates the right of the people of Spokane to a livable climate.

Susquehanna, Vol. 19, Issue 3

What an amazing year! Working with CELDF, the people of Grant and Highland
Township in rural Pennsylvania became the first communities in the nation to
draft and adopt home rule charters that enshrine local bills of rights.

Susquehanna, Vol. 19, Issue 2

Nearly 13,000 signatures were submitted in five counties to place rights-based
initiatives on the November ballot. The measures ban shale gas drilling, fracking,
pipelines, and frack wastewater injection wells.

Susquehanna, Vol. 19, Issue 1

At Town Meeting in March, Barnstead, NH, adopted the first-in-the-nation law
protecting residents from political and civil persecution based on their religious
beliefs. The Community Bill of Rights law establishes the right to be free from
religious identification requirements.

Susquehanna, Vol. 18, Issue 2

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund turned
twenty years old this month! Launched by two people in November 1995 in a small, rural township in Pennsylvania,
CELDF has grown into ten staff, a dozen attorneys, and countless volunteers working in ten states.

Susquehanna, Vol. 18, Issue 1