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A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
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Newsletters
Jan 4, 2021
Coverage on the ongoing Rights of Nature efforts in Grant Township – see the full original article by the Indiana Gazette.
Read More | Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, News from the GrassrootsDec 15, 2020
Gas company PGE sues Grant Township over democratically enacted law. The PA Department of Environmental Protection also sued Grant in 2017, making this filing the third lawsuit against the Township (pop. 700) for trying to protect its drinking water.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, Press Releases & Blogs, Rights of NatureSep 24, 2020
Despite recognizing the Grant Townships local law to ban injection wells the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection continues to sue the township. CELDF files motion to dismiss on behalf of the community.
Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsAug 27, 2020
From Executive Producer Mark Ruffalo comes the world’s first documentary film on the Rights of Nature Movement. Attend the virtual world premiere followed by a panel discussion around the Rights of Nature Movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 8, 2020
Ben Price discusses Rights of Nature and how the concepts of preemption, claimed corporate rights, and property rights challenge local democracy and ecosystem rights.
Read More | Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Rights of NatureJun 29, 2020
Chad Nicholson joins Thom Hartmann to discuss how the 1% are effectively, suing the 99% for their own benefit, citing the findings of our June 2020 Report.
Read More | Corporate 'Rights', News from the GrassrootsApr 13, 2020
Pennsylvania organizer, Chad Nicholson, discusses the Rights of Nature victory in Grant Township despite the ongoing rollback of environmental protections across the country.
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Resource LinksApr 9, 2020
Pacific Northwest organizer, Kai Huschke, details how COVID-19 has opens timely conversation about the Rights of Nature as a legal framework for protecting Nature.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource LinksApr 6, 2020
In this interview, Kai speaks on the current state of community rights, gives an explanation of the events taking place in Grant Township, and talks about how we must take this time during Covid-19 to progress forward in the movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureApr 2, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit for a toxic frack waste injection well in Grant Township. The DEP cited the Township’s Home Rule Charter, which includes a “Community Bill of Rights,” in their decision. Through the Charter that residents adopted in 2015, they banned injections wells as a violation of the rights of the community and the ecosystems that sustain them. CELDF assisted in drafting and defending the law.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, Success StoryMar 25, 2020
PRESS RELEASE: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection enforces local Rights of Nature law. Allows Grant Township to protect vital waterways in revoking permit for dangerous frack waste injection well.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesMar 6, 2020
As the Pennsylvania DEP attempts to block Grant Township’s defense of their ban on fracking injection wells, the court rules that the case can move forward. Grant argues they have the right to local governing authority to protect against corporate harm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryMar 4, 2020
A decision fro a judge in Grant Township argues that local governing authority is necessary to protect the community’s constitutional rights in the face of harmful state oil and gas policies.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesDec 17, 2019
The epic story of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, fighting for their community’s water in the face of PGE’s proposed fracking wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryNov 11, 2019
Following settlement of one of the lawsuits against Grant Township, PA, for daring to protect its water from a frack wastewater injection well, the township continues to stand up to the oil and gas industry.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 5, 2019
Grant Township, Pennsylvania, argued for their environmental rights in court as they defend themselves against their own Department of Protection to stop a fracking injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJun 7, 2019
Grant Township, PA, resident speaks out on criticism aimed at Township’s efforts to protect the community from a toxic fracking wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 2, 2019
GRANT TOWNSHIP, INDIANA COUNTY, PA: On April 1, federal Judge Susan Paradise Baxter issued an order that was not a joke: Grant Township (pop. 741), Baxter declared, owes Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) over $100,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMay 21, 2018
PGE continues to harass Grant Township, a small community in rural Pennsylvania, by attempting to force the Township to pay attorney’s fees. Grant residents are protecting their water by fighting PGE’s proposed fracking wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsFeb 5, 2018
From ThinkProgress on the efforts of the oil and gas industry to stop Community Rights and Rights of Nature, the courageous communities who refuse to fold, and the growing momentum of this new legal paradigm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 22, 2018
Sanctioning public interest attorneys for defending Grant Township, PA’s, ban on fracking wastewater injection wells is the next step in efforts to stop communities from refusing harmful corporate projects.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 17, 2018
Community Rights is growing, and this is the corporate state’s punitive response.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 10, 2018
The people of Grant Township, PA, are fiercely defending their right to clean air and water. A federal judge sanctions two attorneys for standing with Grant and fighting for their rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 5, 2018
The corporate state’s judiciary punishes attorneys defending Grant Township, PA, residents against the oil and gas industry by imposing sanctions.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsNov 13, 2017
While Grant Township, PA, residents fight to protect themselves from PGE’s frack wastewater injection well, the oil and gas industry admits it wants to bankrupt CELDF.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 20, 2017
Grant Township, PA, digs in deep to fight a frack wastewater injection well, leveraging rights to challenge a legal system stacked against them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 7, 2017
PGE corporation is attempting to force fracking wastewater into Grant Twp, PA. Now they seek sanctions against CELDF attorneys working on behalf of the community.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMay 22, 2017
Rolling Stone Magazine covers the story of Grant Township, PA, where the residents are working with CELDF to protect themselves from PGE’s fracking injection well. In the process, together, we’re pioneering a new legal framework for rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 24, 2017
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection holds “listening hearings” for feedback from communities, while it sues two townships fighting the oil and gas industry.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 17, 2017
The story of one small community’s fierce fight against the oil and gas industry, using community rights with CELDF and spearheading a movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 10, 2017
Residents of Grant and Highland Townships, PA, continue the fight to protect themselves from a frack wastewater injection well. Joining the fight against them: the PA DEP, which has sued the townships for protecting themselves.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 10, 2017
Community rights advocates in Grant Township, PA, continue their stand to protect their water from a frack wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 4, 2017
Environmental activists, leaders, and residents are touring Pennsylvania and Ohio, sharing what they are doing in the face of the corporate state attempting to force fossil fuel harms in their communities.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 31, 2017
It doesn’t get any clearer than this: our own environmental regulatory agencies suing communities who dare to protect the environment by banning fracking activities. Is there any question that we live in a corporate state?
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 30, 2017
Residents of Grant and Highland Townships, PA, are outraged by the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s lawsuits against them for rights-based laws banning frack waste injections wells.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 29, 2017
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sues Townships with Community Rights Home Rule Charters to force in fracking injection wells.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 28, 2017
A state agency charged with protecting the health and safety of communities and the natural environment sues Grant and Highland Townships in Pennsylvania, attempting to force in frack wastewater injection wells against the will of the people.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsFeb 22, 2017
When our government fails to protect us from fracking activities, we must do so ourselves.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 21, 2017
Fiction mirrors reality, and author Lee Ballinger draws the parallels between a novel set in Pennsylvania describing the ravages of fracking, and the reality in Grant Township, where residents are fighting back to protect themselves and assert their rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsDec 29, 2016
Community Bills of Rights are a tool to protect rights at the local level, such as Barnstead, NH’s prohibition on religious identification requirements, and Grant Township, PA’s, ban fracking activities to protect clean air and water.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 5, 2016
Oil and gas industry threatens criminal lawsuits against local elected officials taking a stand to protect their communities’ health, safety, and welfare. In Grant Township, PA, Township Supervisors are undeterred, vowing to continue their fight to protect their water from frack waste.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 4, 2016
As communities seek to protect themselves from toxic drilling, Pennsylvania industry group mulls statute to deter such ordinances.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 3, 2016
Residents in Wilmington, PA, gathered to hear a panel discussion on fracking threats. Panelists included Grant Township Supervisor Stacy Long, describing tactics used by the gas industry to intimidate residents into accepting an injection well. Residents refuse to submit and are fighting back.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 13, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents work with CELDF to push for the recognition of the Rights of Nature in the 3rd Circuit Court.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 6, 2016
Recognizing Rights of Nature is part of the growing discourse on the rights of ecosystems to exist and thrive, based on their own intrinsic value. Under a legal system where property rules, it is a game changer, used by communities like Grant Township, PA, to protect themselves from corporate harms.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 11, 2016
Grant Township, PA, residents and the Little Mahoning Watershed secure wins in motions filed recently by CELDF. Residents are fighting for their rights against PGE as the company tries to force a frack wastewater injection well in the Township.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 8, 2016
CELDF’s Chad Nicholson and Grant Township resident Stacy Long are interviewed on Law and Disorder radio. Grant residents adopted an ordinance legalizing civil disobedience to protect themselves from an injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 23, 2016
State governments block communities’ efforts to stop harmful activities. Corporations sue the communities and are backed by the judiciary. What’s left? Says blogger Mary Geddry: people insisting on their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots