Pennsylvania

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Aug 11, 2015

Community Organizing in Pennsylvania

Community Organizing in Pennsylvania

My phone rings, and a very worried women on the other end tells me that she is outraged that a large energy corporation has applied for permits to drill for natural gas in her Township. She says she and her neighbors don’t want their community transformed the way others have been, from a livable, appealing and safe environment into a poisoned moonscape.

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Aug 11, 2015

Press Release: Ecosystem, Community Group, and Municipal Authority File for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Community from Injection Well

Press Release: Ecosystem, Community Group, and Municipal Authority File for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Community from Injection Well

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, PA: Today, an ecosystem in the United States filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit to defend its own rights to exist and flourish.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

May 1, 2015

PACRN Statement: Conestoga Township, PA, Resident Unjustly Arrested for Speaking Truth at a Public Meeting

PACRN Statement: Conestoga Township, PA, Resident Unjustly Arrested for Speaking Truth at a Public Meeting

The Pennsylvania Community Rights Network stands by Conestoga Township, PA, resident Kim Kann, who was arrested for speaking truth at a public meeting this week. Kann and other residents are tirelessly pursuing community rights to protect themselves from LNG pipelines, despite local government officials’ hostility.

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May 1, 2015

PACRN Statement: Conestoga Township, PA, Resident Unjustly Arrested for Speaking Truth at a Public Meeting

PACRN Statement: Conestoga Township, PA, Resident Unjustly Arrested for Speaking Truth at a Public Meeting

The Pennsylvania Community Rights Network stands by Conestoga Township, PA, resident Kim Kann, who was arrested for speaking truth at a public meeting this week. Kann and other residents are tirelessly pursuing community rights to protect themselves from LNG pipelines, despite local government officials’ hostility.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 25, 2015

The Kane Republican: Seneca now seeks court injunction against Highland Twp.

The Kane Republican: Seneca now seeks court injunction against Highland Twp.

While Seneca Resources insists it has suffered “irreparable harm” from Highland Township, PA’s, Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells, residents assert they have an inalienable right to protect their water, and continue to back their Supervisors to exercise that right.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 3, 2015

Highland Township plans to fight injection well lawsuit in federal court

Highland Township plans to fight injection well lawsuit in federal court

Highland Township, PA, residents urge their Supervisors to defend their community and fight Seneca Resources as the energy corporation files a federal lawsuit to overturn their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells. The ordinance was adopted by the township in 2013 to protect their water.

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Mar 2, 2015

Tiny Township Faces Injection Well Lawsuit

Tiny Township Faces Injection Well Lawsuit

Highland Township, PA, residents and Supervisors determine they are protecting their water through their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells – regardless of any lawsuits.

Read More | Community Wires

Jan 7, 2015

E&E Publishing: Speaking for the trees, lawyer pushes unconventional doctrine

E&E Publishing: Speaking for the trees, lawyer pushes unconventional doctrine

While the oil & gas industry protests, CELDF & allies bring forward the Rights of Nature as the basis to give ecosystems legal standing to protect itself. The Little Mahoning Watershed in Grant Township, PA, filed to intervene in a case against Grant’s Community Bill of Rights banning frack wastewater injection wells.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Dec 19, 2014

WTAE Pittsburgh: Chronicle: Drilling Down (Part 6: “Whose Land is It?”)

WTAE Pittsburgh: Chronicle: Drilling Down (Part 6: “Whose Land is It?”)

Residents of western Pennsylvania determine to protect their community, families, and the land by banning fracking through Community Bills of Rights, and Rights of Nature conservation easement.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 18, 2014

Press Release: First-in-the-Nation Action – Ecosystem Files for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Own Legal Rights to Exist and Flourish

Press Release: First-in-the-Nation Action – Ecosystem Files for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Own Legal Rights to Exist and Flourish

Today, for the first time, an ecosystem in the United States filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit to defend its own right to exist and flourish. The Little Mahoning Watershed and Grant Township, PA, residents come up against the Pennsylvania General Energy Corporation.

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

Jun 23, 2014

Highland Twp. picnic for clean water held Saturday

Highland Twp. picnic for clean water held Saturday

Highland Township, PA, residents, adopting a Community Rights Ordinance banning fracking injection wells in 2013, receive broad community support on Saturday at an event attended by Pennsylvania and Ohio communities.

Read More | Community Wires

Jun 15, 2014

The Bradford Era: Community rights gathering slated in Highland Township

The Bradford Era: Community rights gathering slated in Highland Township

Communities and government representatives from across Elk County, PA, are invited to Highland Township’s community rights picnic gathering on Saturday, 6/21. The gathering will include speakers and community rights workshops.

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Jun 13, 2014

The Bradford Era: Feds knock down Highland Township injection well appeals

The Bradford Era: Feds knock down Highland Township injection well appeals

Highland Township, PA, and CELDF are prepared to defend the Township’s Community Rights Ordinance banning wastewater injection wells as Seneca Resources moves a step closer to attempting to site a well.

Read More | Community Wires

Jun 2, 2014

The Bradford Era: Picnic held in Highland Township to discuss injection well

The Bradford Era: Picnic held in Highland Township to discuss injection well

Highland Township, PA, receives support from surrounding communities at the Residents Fight for Clean Water Picnic held Saturday. Highland residents face a fracking wastewater injection well, and are preparing to enforce their Community Bill of Rights banning the wells.

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Apr 17, 2014

Ridgeway Record: Jay Twp. supports Highland’s injection well ordinance

Ridgeway Record: Jay Twp. supports Highland’s injection well ordinance

Highland Township, PA, receives a letter of support from Jay Township, as Highland stands behind its Community Bill of Rights Ordinance banning fracking wastewater injection wells. Nearby Ridgeway Township sent a letter of support in March.

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Apr 10, 2014

The Bradford Era: Highland Township Supervisors receive support in injection well fight

The Bradford Era: Highland Township Supervisors receive support in injection well fight

Support grows from other municipalities as Highland Township Supervisors stand by their Community Rights Ordinance banning fracking wastewater injection wells. The Township faces opposition from Seneca Resources Corporation.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 22, 2014

The Bradford Era: Highland Township retains law firm in injection well fight

The Bradford Era: Highland Township retains law firm in injection well fight

CELDF is retained by Highland Township, PA, to defend the Township’s Community Bill of Rights Ordinance banning fracking wastewater injection wells against Seneca Resources Corporation. Seneca wants to site an injection well and has threatened legal action to negate the community’s rights.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 19, 2014

Not The Item: Blog post – Democracy School at Susquehanna University

Not The Item: Blog post – Democracy School at Susquehanna University

Democracy School in Selingsrove, PA, in February 2014, revealed for particpants the structure of law we live under that keeps us from getting what we want in our communities – and offered what we can do about it.

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Mar 19, 2014

Ridgeway Township, PA, Board of Supervisors writes letter of support

Ridgeway Township, PA, Board of Supervisors writes letter of support

Ridgeway Township, PA, Board of Supervisors writes a letter of support for Highland Township, which is taking a stand against Seneca Resources Corporation’s plans to site a fracking wastewater injection well. The Township adopted a Community Bill of Rights banning injection wells in 2013.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 14, 2014

State Impact: Elk County township prepares for battle against deep injection well

State Impact: Elk County township prepares for battle against deep injection well

As the EPA approves a wastewater injection well permit in Highland Township, PA, for Seneca Resources, the Township Supervisors, with standing-room-only support from the community, retains CELDF to defend their Community Bill of Rights Ordinance banning injection wells.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 13, 2014

The Kane Republican: Highland OKs Legal Fights Against Injection Well

The Kane Republican: Highland OKs Legal Fights Against Injection Well

Highland Township Supervisors in Pennsylvania receive overwhelming support from residents to enforce their Community Rights Ordinance banning fracking wastewater injection wells, as Seneca Resources presses forward with a planned well.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 6, 2014

The Bradford Era: Handful of appeals against Highland Township injection well project

The Bradford Era: Handful of appeals against Highland Township injection well project

Highland Township, PA, prepares to enforce its CELDF-drafted Community Bill of Rights Ordinance banning injection wells against Seneca Resources Corporation.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 28, 2014

The Bradford Era: Highland Township citizens group joins fray over injection well

The Bradford Era: Highland Township citizens group joins fray over injection well

Highland Township, PA, stands behind its Community Bill of Rights banning injection wells with the support of Township Supervisors, residents, and CELDF, as Seneca Resources vows to fight the rights-based ordinance.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 12, 2014

The Bradford Era: Firm set to offer legal support in Highland Township injection well fight

The Bradford Era: Firm set to offer legal support in Highland Township injection well fight

CELDF affirms it will defend Highland Township, PA’s Community Bill of Rights Ordinance that bans fracking wastewater injection wells against Seneca Resources, which has been issued a permit by the EPA to site an injection well within the township.

Read More | Community Wires

Dec 20, 2013

FAQs – Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruling on Act 13

FAQs – Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruling on Act 13

Q. Does the Act 13 ruling ban fracking in Pennsylvania? A. No. The Act 13 ruling allows municipal governments to return to their status prior to the adoption of Act 13 – that of being able to adopt local zoning ordinances which control where oil and gas drilling can occur on the surface within the community.

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Dec 19, 2013

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 – Fracking

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 – Fracking

On December 19, 2013, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court found much of Act 13 unconstitutional. CELDF issued a press statement and FAQs

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Dec 19, 2013

Press Release: Statement on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Ruling that Parts of Act 13 are Unconstitutional

Press Release: Statement on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Ruling that Parts of Act 13 are Unconstitutional

“This ruling, while welcome, does not stop fracking of Pennsylvania’s communities, nor does it recognize the right of the people of Pennsylvania to govern their own communities without state or corporate interference.” – Thomas Linzey, Esq., Executive Director

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Aug 21, 2013

The Bradford Era: Earthquakes elicit Elk County opposition to proposed injection well

The Bradford Era: Earthquakes elicit Elk County opposition to proposed injection well

Elk County Commissioners speak out against fracking injection wells.

Read More | Community Wires

Jun 21, 2013

Press Release: Pennsylvania Community Rights Network (PCRN) Seats Founding Board of Directors

Press Release: Pennsylvania Community Rights Network (PCRN) Seats Founding Board of Directors

Declaring that the legitimate foundation of government is the right to local self-governance, the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network reviewed bylaws and officially launched the organization on Monday in Bowmanstown, Carbon County.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

May 20, 2013

PA Community Rights Workshop – State College, PA, June 14th – 15th.

PA Community Rights Workshop – State College, PA, June 14th – 15th.

Residents are beginning to coalesce around the idea of pushing for a community-controlled sustainable energy planning process that includes enforcement teeth. CELDF has drafted ordinances that we might use to continue empowering our community to actively protect our own health, safety and welfare.

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Mar 28, 2013

CELDF Statement: A New Civil Rights Movement: Liberating Our Communities from Corporate Control

CELDF Statement: A New Civil Rights Movement: Liberating Our Communities from Corporate Control

A Pennsylvania Judge Holds That Corporations Are Not “Persons” Under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Mar 13, 2013

Highland Township Retains Law Firm to Defend Injection Well Ordinance

Highland Township Retains Law Firm to Defend Injection Well Ordinance

Highland Township, PA, Board of Supervisors vote unanimously to retain CELDF to help defend their “Community Rights Protection from Injection Wells Ordinance” against Seneca Resources.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 6, 2013

Fracking Scare Tactics in Highland

Fracking Scare Tactics in Highland

Update on pending lawsuit in Highland Township, PA, where supervisors recently passed a Community Bill of Rights to ban fracking injection wells – excerpt from The Kane Republican

Read More | Community Wires

Jan 14, 2013

WeArePowerShift.org: Matt Damon’s “Promised Land”: The Good, Bad, and Misrepresented

WeArePowerShift.org: Matt Damon’s “Promised Land”: The Good, Bad, and Misrepresented

Alexander Lotorto reviews Matt Damon’s movie Promised Land, in part praising its bringing attention to the issue of shale gas drilling and fracking, while critiquing its depiction of PA women and rural townspeople. Read more here.

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Jan 14, 2013

Public Herald: Just Say ‘No’ — Locals Ban Frack Waste in Pa.

Public Herald: Just Say ‘No’ — Locals Ban Frack Waste in Pa.

On January 9, 2013, in otherwise quiet Highland Township in Elk County, Pennsylvania, officials signed a community rights bill into law stopping the deposit of fracking waste within the township. Seneca Resources…had planned to inject its “production fluids” (oil and gas drilling and fracking waste) into an injection well about 2,200 feet from Crystal Springs….Injection wells have a history, both long and recent, of failing ….So, residents of Highland Township asked their municipal officials to say “No.”…Highland Township is the latest on a list of over 140 other communities that have said ‘no’ to factory farms, waste incinerators, corporate water withdrawals, and now fracking by passing rights-based ordinances….Rights-based ordinances are simple but formal, and they’ve been penned with the help of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF).

Read More | Community Wires

Aug 22, 2012

Why the Recent Act 13 Decision Won’t Help to Stop Fracking

Why the Recent Act 13 Decision Won’t Help to Stop Fracking

How Environmental Groups Keep Leading Communities into Dead-Ends.

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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

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

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