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Newsletters
Mar 17, 2020
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 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 ReleasesJan 27, 2020
Organizations, activists, government officials, and hundreds of others from around the world support the Lake Erie Bill of Rights as oral arguments in federal court are held tomorrow.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJan 19, 2020
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is part of a growing movement, and people are joining. What will the courts do?
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsDec 19, 2019
2019 has been a remarkable year for CELDF and our partner communities. Check out what we are celebrating!
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Press Releases & BlogsNov 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 & BlogsNov 4, 2019
Efforts are growing to not only determine how people vote, but what gets voted on. Your ballot measures are not yours to democratically determine.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 16, 2019
The people’s own Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania sues Grant Township to overturn a democratically enacted Home Rule charter that includes a ban on fracking wastewater injection wells. This was their day in court.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 10, 2019
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 2, 2019
Lincoln County, Oregon, community members prepare to appeal judge’s denial of their right to protect themselves from aerial sprayed pesticides.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 22, 2019
The Ohio Farm Bureau and corporate agribusiness urge the Ohio Supreme Court to block Williams County voters from casting ballots on the people’s own initiative.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 21, 2019
Williams County, Ohio, residents partner with CELDF to fight for their right to vote in the Ohio Supreme Court.
Read More | Community Wires, Democratic Rights, News, Press ReleasesAug 20, 2019
A Williams County, Ohio, resident speaks out on protecting the rights of communities and nature through a county charter and voting.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 12, 2019
Williams County, Ohio, residents are working to protect their county’s water source from privatization. Their own government is trying to stop them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 22, 2019
The corporate state attempts to strip democratic rights in Ohio and Washington state. CELDF supports communities as together they fight back.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesJul 17, 2019
The Daily Show’s Michael Kosta covers Toledo residents’ work to protect Lake Erie by recognizing the Lake’s rights…and he takes the Lake’s…hand in marriage?!
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJun 6, 2019
With CELDF-supported attorneys, Tacoma, WA, residents filed a 1st Amendment petition with the Supreme Court challenging continued denial of ballot access for qualified citizen initiatives.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesMay 8, 2019
“This idea of a real human right to survive in the 21st century … was born – through the determination and commitment of the people who live [in Denver].”
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesMay 8, 2019
As a judge denies Toledoans and Lake Erie intervention to defend the Lake Erie Bill of Rights against an agribusiness lawsuit to overturn it, community members file an appeal.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesApr 16, 2019
The oil and gas industry tried to quash the Lake Erie Bill of Rights at the ballot. The agriculture industry is trying to quash it in court. CELDF is crowdfunding as we represent Lake Erie and Toledo community members to protect the Lake’s rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsApr 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 & BlogsMar 17, 2019
Nottingham, New Hampshire, residents adopt the second right to healthy climate law in the state at Town Meeting.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryMar 13, 2019
Yesterday, Exeter, New Hampshire, residents adopted their Right to a Healthy Climate Ordinance at Town Meeting. This is the first right-based climate law in the state.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryOct 3, 2018
Denver, CO, residents advance “Right to Survive” bill of rights for homeless people, turning in petitions for the May 2019 ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 24, 2018
The Franklin County, OH, Board of Elections strips 560,000 Columbus citizens of their right to vote on a rights-based ballot measure to protect the community from fracking waste.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesAug 6, 2018
Facing radioactive fracking waste, Columbus, OH, residents qualify a Community Bill of Rights initiative banning fracking activities from within the City. The measure protects rights to clean air, water, and soil.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJul 25, 2018
Join CELDF in this unique opportunity to advance the emerging Community Rights movement in the United States.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 10, 2018
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 StoryJun 20, 2018
A right to a healthy climate is preserved in Lafayette, CO, as community members overtake a City Council meeting.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryMay 22, 2018
Ohioans know firsthand that the very legal and governing structures we live under are preventing us from governing ourselves and protecting our communities.
Read More | UncategorizedMay 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 & BlogsMay 16, 2018
An uninformed, passive public is easy to for the 1% to lead. We must become knowledgeable – not just about what is happening, but how and why. We must take on difficult questions and challenge the status quo if we are going to create a new way of life.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsMay 9, 2018
It was a questionable election at best for Youngstown, OH, where community members are fighting for their right to clean water in a city that is making it increasingly difficult to even vote on citizen initiatives.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsApr 14, 2018
Courageous local officials in ten Florida cities are fighting punishments enacted by the state legislature under an unjust gun law. But it’s the state’s claimed power of preemption that must be challenged.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsMar 27, 2018
CELDF, OHCRN, and Ohio communities grieve the loss of Dick McGinn, and celebrate his life and contributions. He was a passionate leader in growing Community Rights in Ohio.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 19, 2018
The Mahoning County, OH, Board of Elections blocks a duly qualified Community Bill of Rights initiative from the ballot in Youngstown. CELDF assists residents to file a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsMar 14, 2018
Communities can’t adopt the gun laws they believe would best protect their health, safety, and welfare. Here’s why – and what communities can do about it.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsFeb 5, 2018
“Local control” today means seizing our local governments and enacting laws to protect our communities and the future of the planet.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJan 29, 2018
Let’s stop lying to each other and stop protesting. Let’s start truth-telling and begin building our communities based on rights. It’s time.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJan 21, 2018
Why are attacks from the corporate state escalating against communities who are advancing basic rights and protecting themselves from harm? And what’s next?
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJan 15, 2018
Dr. Martin Luther King is remembered for his extraordinary leadership in advancing Civil Rights. Let us not forget, either, how the system he and his followers sought to change, punished them for doing so.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJan 5, 2018
Abolitionists urged secession to end the slave state. Explore secession to end the corporate state.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 13, 2017
Coos Bay Estuary on the coast of Oregon files to intervene in FERC proceedings. Coos Bay is threatened by a massive LNG export terminal and a pipeline.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 9, 2017
Through seizing municipal government, communities are building a bulwark of rights for human and natural communities, working to liberate our communities from capitalism.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 7, 2017
Youngstown, OH, residents make their comeback, gathering signatures on election day for their Community Rights charter amendment protecting their water.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 19, 2017
Bowling Green residents declare victory! Their right to vote affirmed in Ohio Supreme Court as the first-in-the-state Right to Climate initiative goes on the November ballot.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 17, 2017
Pebble Mine is moving forward in Alaska. We need a revolution if we have any hope to protect the ecosystems we depend upon.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 10, 2017
If we take a knee to protest racism in our capacity as employees, our rights under the first amendment are not protected.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 6, 2017
In a 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court denies Youngstown residents the right to vote. Residents vow they are not surrendering their rights.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 2, 2017
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 & Blogs