Oregon Public Radio reports on various Community Rights campaign efforts unfolding across Oregon counties.

Voters in Oregon’s Coos County are considering a May ballot measure that would block the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project.

The measure is a product of the community-rights movement, which broadly aims to give local communities final say over corporate projects that affect them.

The Coos County measure specifically targets and bans fossil fuel transport through the county, except when it is intended for local use. It establishes a county-wide bill of rights that guarantees a “sustainable energy future” and the rights of nature to thrive.

“What we’ve been doing isn’t really working,” says measure co-petitioner Mary Geddry. “So we have to get to a point where. a community can say, ‘We’re not going to negotiate how many toxins or poisons we’re willing to accept in the air,’ which is what happens when you work through the regulatory process.”

The Coos County measure and larger community-rights movement stem from a feeling of frustration and powerlessness when faced with controversial industry activity.

“We are being abused for corporate profit. That is not acceptable. I don’t think that’s acceptable in any community,” said Nancy Ward, a board member of the state community rights umbrella group, Oregon Community Rights Network. MORE…