As someone who is involved in a Community Rights campaign, and follows the movement somewhat closely, this letter to the editor by Mary Geddry (below) interests me. Why? Because she is pointing at the predictable results of trying to stop a "19th century, fossil-fuel energy project like Jordan Cove LNG [A Liquified Natural Gas Terminal [...]
After a seven-year battle, Grant Township fought off a permit for an injection well. “Fights like ours should mushroom all around Pennsylvania,” says town supervisor This article by Justin Noble appeared in Rolling Stone magazine on April 1st, 2020. An unlikely crew of environmentalists who took on the powerful Pennsylvania fracking industry in a David vs. Goliath [...]
Paul Cienfuegos, Community Rights US Founder and Director, was recently contacted by a Community Rights colleague directly effected by the state government's reaction to local municipalities attempting to protect their constituent's health, safety and welfare in parts of South Carolina. This contact is what led us to the news story below. Here is what Paul [...]
This article by Chauncey Ross appeared in the Indiana Gazette on March 6th, 2020 PITTSBURGH — A state appeals court has turned aside an appeal by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and left standing a home rule charter adopted by a northern Indiana County municipality in a bid to control its own local environment. The [...]
This article by Tom Henry was published in The Blade on February 27th, 2019. The Lake Erie Bill of Rights was invalidated Thursday night by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary, who said in an eight-page ruling that his decision was “not a close call” because he believes the citizen-led referendum — though approved by [...]
This informative and empowering article by Paul Cienfuegos, Community Rights US Founder and Director, was published in our February newsletter. After many months of behind the scenes intensive work, we are proudly announcing that we have just released our new Community Rights ordinance which entirely bans any corporate 5G wireless internet in a town, city or county. [...]
This article appeared on the Center for Earth Jurisprudence's website on February 11th, 2019. Change can bring with it a corresponding resistance. The legal recognition of the rights of Nature has spread throughout the world’s property-based systems of governance in recent years, prompting significant backlash along the way. Currently in Florida, local groups are seeking [...]
Demands for self-determination in times of crises are growing. This article by Simon Davis Cohen and published on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on February 3rd, 2020. Protests rocked Puerto Rico in 2019. A core demand of the protests: local self-determination. After the island was hit by a financial crisis, the United States [...]
This article by Tom Henry appeared in the Toledo Blade on January 28th, 2019. A downtown Toledo courtroom was filled to capacity Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary heard arguments for two hours over whether Toledo’s Lake Erie Bill of Rights is constitutional or not. A ruling is expected at a later date. The plaintiffs, [...]
This article by Jerry Iannelli appeared in the Miami New Times on January 7th, 2020. In 2018, the City of Miami finally, after years and years of bellyaching and protest from residents, launched a pilot project to force developers in one tiny downtown neighborhood to include affordable-housing units in every building they construct henceforth. The move was [...]
