Announcing CELDF's Proposed Rights of Nature Principles
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
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Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
Pennsylvania
Mar 17, 2021
Clara Township Residents Move to Ban Frack Waste Dumping
Clara Township residents move forward with a Home Rule Charter initiative to protect vital waterways and assert the democratic rights of the community. Nearly half of all registered voters have signed on in support of the measure. Roulette Oil and Gas LLC (ROGC) applied for a Class II Injection Well Permit.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Issues, Press ReleasesJan 8, 2021
Newsletter: Momentum for Constitutional Change in Pennsylvania
In 2020, members of the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network engaged in a statewide support campaign for a state constitutional amendment to place the rights of people over the interests of private corporations – empowering communities to heighten state protections for civil, human and ecosystem rights.
Read More | Blogs, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, Rights of NatureJan 4, 2021
Grant Township sued again over refusal to allow fracking water
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 28, 2020
Observing Revolution: Pennsylvania
Newsletter: CELDF has supported the efforts of Grant Township, PA as they engage in local lawmaking to successfully resist corporate contamination of water. Despite years of legal attacks by the private corporations, PA regulatory agencies, and the oil and gas industry, local residents of Grant Township have reasserted and continued to defend local lawmaking and protect the natural systems that sustain them.
Read More | Blogs, NewsDec 15, 2020
BREAKING: Gas Company Files Federal Lawsuit To Overturn Small Pennsylvania Township’s Rights of Nature Law…Again
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
Press Release: Grant Township Moves to Dismiss PA DEP Lawsuit
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
COMING SOON: World Premiere of ‘Invisible Hand’
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
Staying Home with Josh Fox: Preemption and Property Rights
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
Thom Hartmann Program: State Law Benefits Corporations Against You – You Lose
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 Grassroots
Apr 22, 2020
Common Dreams: Abolish Earth Day
For 50 years, environmentalists have celebrated the illusion that the law is on their side. Earth Day’s laws have systematically failed to guard against mass species die-offs, the climate crisis, deadly air pollution, the corporatization of freshwater, and the largest loss of biodiversity in human history.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 20, 2020
50 Years of Earth Day – What Are We Celebrating?
This year CELDF will be hosting an online Q&A with organizers who have been engaging communities across the country in paradigm-shifting work for decades.
Read More | Community Wires, Events, News from the GrassrootsApr 13, 2020
Podcast Interview: Grant Township Update on Political Misfits
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
Rights of Nature Interview on KB00 Radio!
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
People Power in a Time of Pandemic
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
Rolling Stone: Nature Scores a Big Win Against Fracking in a Small Pennsylvania Town
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
Breaking: Rights of Nature Law Forces Pennsylvania to Revoke Industry Permit
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 17, 2020
Community Stories: Claiming the Law
Bryan Twitchell shares a guest blog about the Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s ongoing resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia, Canada.
Read More | Blogs, Community Wires, NewsMar 6, 2020
The Indiana Gazette: Court sides with Grant Township on injection well
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
Press Release: Grant Township Injection Well Ban Stands, Court Denies ‘Collateral Attack’ from DEP
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 ReleasesFeb 5, 2020
VIDEO: ‘The Transformation from Reformist to Revolutionary’
This 6 minute short explains how, across numerous social issues—from housing, worker rights, environmental protection to gentrification—“the people in the community lack the legal authority to determine their own future, a basic tenet of democracy.”
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Multimedia, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, ResourcesDec 17, 2019
Sierra: Nevertheless, they persisted
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
Media Statement: Settlement Announced with Oil and Gas Industry Seeking Monetary Award: Ban Against Injection Wells Continues
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 10, 2019
Media Statement: Constitutional Amendment Introduced in Pennsylvania
Community Rights advances to the state level as a Pennsylvania legislator introduces the “Local Self-Government Amendment,” elevating people and communities over corporations.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryOct 5, 2019
The Indiana Gazette: Hellbenders have their day in court
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 GrassrootsAug 21, 2019
PennLive: Opinion: The limits of home rule
It’s not enough to have Home Rule as state legislators continue to strip rights of local self-government from communities across the state. It’s time to change state constitutions to recognize the authority of communities to protect their own health, safety, and welfare.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 18, 2019
Vox: This country gave all its rivers their own legal rights
Rights of Nature is gaining traction in the U.S. and around the world – the beginning of a paradigm shift. Here’s what it looks like on the ground.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryAug 12, 2019
Next City: Can Cities Grant Nature the Right to Exist, and Thrive?
More and more cities are taking action to end the commodification and exploitation of people and nature for corporate profit, using Community Rights and Rights of Nature.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJul 10, 2019
Mother Jones: A New Wave of Environmentalists Want to Give Nature Legal Rights
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJun 7, 2019
The Indiana Gazette: Grant Township took proper stance
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 29, 2019
Standard Speaker: Supervisors want to hear from nonprofit about well issue
Community members in North Union Township, Pennsylvania, engage with CELDF and its partner Network to discuss using Community Rights to protect their water from being siphoned off.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 2, 2019
Media Release: Not an April Fools Joke in Grant Township
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 & BlogsJul 27, 2018
The Daily News: Supervisors to defend ordinance
Todd Township, PA, supervisors vote to defend their Community Bill of Rights ordinance banning industrial farm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 20, 2018
The Allegheny Front: Town Raises a Stink Over Factory Hog Farm
Industrial farming threatens air, water, and local economies – and Todd Township, PA, residents work with CELDF to stop it.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJul 10, 2018
The Daily News: Residents rally to halt pig farm
Todd Township, PA, supervisors fulfill on their commitment to protect the health, safety, and welfare of township community members, voting to adopt a Community Bill of Rights prohibiting industrial farming.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJul 10, 2018
Press Release: Pennsylvania Township Bans Corporate Industrial Farming
Todd Township, PA, adopts a Community Rights law prohibiting industrial factory farming to protect their community and preserve local farming operations.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryMay 23, 2018
The Guardian: Our laws make slaves of nature. It’s not just humans who need rights
As the recognition of Rights of Nature grows globally, we must move beyond thinking of nature as having legal personhood rights. We must recognize rights of ecosystems to existence, regeneration and restoration.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 21, 2018
Press Release: PGE Continues Efforts to Bankrupt Grant Township
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
Think Progress: The new legal threat to environmental attorneys: Sanctions from judges and attorneys general
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
Non-Profit Quarterly: Nonprofit Legal Firm Ordered to Pay for its Defense of Anti-Fracking City Ordinance
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
Desmog: Court Orders Nonprofit Law Firm to Pay $52,000 to Oil and Gas Company for Defending Local Fracking Waste Ban
Community Rights is growing, and this is the corporate state’s punitive response.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 10, 2018
Rolling Stone: The Rights of Nature Movement Goes on Trial
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
Press Release: Federal Court Sanctions Lawyers for Defending Community’s Right to Say “No” to Frack Wastewater Injection Wells
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 & BlogsDec 14, 2017
The Pulse: Do Streams Have Rights?
The Rights of Nature is growing, from concept to practice. While regulations don’t protect nature or people, rights do.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsNov 13, 2017
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: ‘No is no is no’: A tiny township’s fight against oil and gas waste disposal
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 GrassrootsOct 2, 2017
Press Release: Judge Strikes Portions of Democratically-Enacted Charter Banning Frack Waste
Highland Township, PA, residents plan enforcement of their Home Rule Charter banning a frack wastewater injection well as judiciary sides with Seneca Resources Corporation.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJul 20, 2017
NexusMedia: Meet the Rural Pennsylvania Town at the Forefront of Environmental Law
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 Grassroots