The push for more local control upends the typical pattern of Westerners fighting against regulation. This article by Carl Segerstrom was published in High Country News on October 23th, 2019. With both hands in the pockets of his khakis, Loren Wand wavered nervously on a small stage at Bier One Brewing in Newport, Oregon. A gathering [...]
The local law is currently protecting Grant Township’s drinking water source from toxic hydraulic fracking waste injections. This press release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) on October 17th, 2019. --A week ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented arguments to overturn a community ban on frack waste injection [...]
Reflections on Community Rights from Rural America is a monthly column by CR activist and organizer Curt Hubatch. Curt is an unschooling father of two young children and one young adult. Currently he works as a substitute rural letter carrier for the USPS. He lives in a cordwood house that he built with his wife, [...]
The action is the first of its kind by a state political party in the United States. This media statement was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) on October 15, 2019. On Saturday, the Florida Democratic Party approved a new party platform which includes the Rights of Nature. This is believed to [...]
This article about state preemption and the political forces behind it was published on Ballotpedia Preemption occurs when law at a higher level of government is used to overrule authority at a lower level. State law can be used to preempt local ordinances, and federal law can be used to preempt state law. This page [...]
This article by Chauncey Ross was published in the Indiana Gazette on October 5th, 2019. PITTSBURGH — Six years after a plan for a drilling waste-disposal injection well was first revealed in northern Indiana County and after area residents banded together against it, lawyers waged another battle Friday in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. The dispute centers [...]
This article was posted by the Pachamama Alliance on October 4th, 2019. Trouble in the Water For several years, many communities in Florida have encountered toxic cyanobacteria, a result of toxic agribusiness runoff, in their local bodies of water. Florida residents have reported several adverse effects of cyanobacteria on their communities. The local economy, which [...]
The news story by the Media News Group appeared in the Daily Local News on October 4th, 2019. EXTON — State Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, D-155th Dist., has announced a proposal for an amendment to the Pennsylvania constitution. Otten’s amendment, H.B. 1813, would allow municipal governments to enact laws protecting the health and safety of [...]
This Op-Ed by Lisa Kochheiser was published in TruthOut on September 17, 2019. For weeks, a legislator’s identity was kept secret by the Ohio General Assembly. When constituents asked who inserted language denying the rights of nature into the 2020-2021 House budget bill, their elected representatives simply shrugged their shoulders and told those of us [...]
This article by Matthew Green was published in Reuters on September 10, 2019. FROME, England (Reuters) - Nobody knows exactly how ancient masons, wielding chisels made from deer antlers, managed to build Stonehenge, the standing circle that has enchanted southern England for thousands of years. But one theory about the epic undertaking reserves a special [...]
