Blaine Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania (September 14, 2006)

Ordinance No. _____ of 2006

This Ordinance shall be known and may be cited as the "Blaine Township Corporate Mining and Democratic Self-Government Ordinance."

This Ordinance is enacted pursuant to the inherent, inalienable, and fundamental right of the citizens of the Township of Blaine to self-government, and by authority granted to the municipal government of Blaine Township by all relevant Federal and State laws and their corresponding regulations, including, without limitation, the following:

The Declaration of Independence, which declares that the people of Blaine Township are born with "certain unalienable rights" and that governments are instituted among people to secure those rights;

The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, which declares that "all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness;"

The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 26, which declares that "neither the Commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall deny to any person the enjoyment of any civil right;"

The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article I, Section 27, which provides for the "preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the environment;"

The provisions of The Second Class Township Code, as codified at 53 P.S. § 65101 et seq., which authorizes the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township to provide for the protection and preservation of natural and human resources, to promote, protect, and facilitate public health, safety, and general welfare, and to preserve and protect farmland, woodland, and the recreational uses of land within the Township;

The provisions of The Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S. § 66506, which authorizes the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township to enact ordinances necessary for the proper management, care, and control of the township and its finances and the maintenance of peace, good government, health, and welfare of the township and its citizens, trade, commerce, and manufacturers;

The provisions of The Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S. § 66527, which empowers the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township to adopt ordinances to secure the safety of persons or property within the township; and

The provisions of The Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S. § 66529, which empowers the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township to prohibit nuisances on private and public property and the carrying on of any offensive manufacture or business.

In support of the enactment of this Ordinance, the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township finds and declares that:

Corporations engaged in mining activities in Western Pennsylvania have damaged and harmed - and continue to damage and harm - people’s lives, properties, livelihood, their pursuit of happiness, and their quality of life.

Corporations engaged in mining have also damaged and harmed - and continue to damage and harm - ecosystems and natural communities. Those ecosystems and natural communities are essential for thriving human and natural communities – for both present and future generations.

Damages and harms to residents and ecosystems include subsidence of land and homes, loss of water, property devaluation, devastation of mountains and natural features, and destruction of complex natural communities, hydrological systems, and other ecosystems. In addition, a small number of multinational mining organizations – run by a handful of corporate Directors and Managers – have used accumulated corporate wealth gained from years of destructive corporate mining to enact statewide laws that strip almost all community decisionmaking from the citizens of Blaine Township.

The Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township finds that county, state, and federal governments have failed to protect and preserve either the health, safety, and welfare of residents and natural communities within the Township, or the fundamental right of Blaine Township residents to local control and self-government. The Board finds that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection – along with the State’s entire environmental regulatory structure – have legalized continuing corporate assaults on life, liberty, and people’s basic rights, contrary to the common-sense understanding of the purpose of the rule of law.

In addition, having examined the legacy of regulatory laws and agencies in Pennsylvania and the United States, the Board clearly understands that the Department of Environmental Protection’s enabling of mining corporations has not been the exception in this State and Nation, but a normal governmental practice.

The Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township finds that corporate mining in Western Pennsylvania is incompatible with the protection and preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of residents in Blaine Township; and that corporate mining is incompatible with the protection and preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of natural communities and ecosystems within Blaine Township. The Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township finds that corporate mining – backed by laws which empower small numbers of corporate directors and managers to override the wishes and values of majorities of citizens – destroys the authority and ability of people within Blaine Township to govern their communities democratically.

As a community in the path of mining corporations seeking ore from under people’s homes and within people’s communities, the people of Blaine Township find it necessary to take action to prevent the creation of yet one more "sacrifice zone." As we do so, we call for changes in corporate laws and constitutional interpretations regarding legal privileges conferred upon a corporate few, so that people in communities across this nation can take logical steps towards assuring energy needs without subjecting people, communities and nature to long-term destructions and rights-denials.

In order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of Blaine Township, the soil, groundwater and surface water, cultural heritage, the environment and its flora and fauna, rural quality of life, and democratic self-government within the Township, the Township finds it necessary to ban corporations from engaging in mining within the Township, and to ban corporate ownership of land and mineral estates used for mining. The Board also finds it necessary to assert its inherent power and right of self-government against competing claims to "rights" asserted by mining corporations, and to restore ownership over land and minerals within the Township to non-corporate mining interests.

Anyone interpreting, implementing, or applying this Ordinance shall give priority to the findings and purposes stated in Sections 2 and 3 over such accounting and business terms characterized as "economy," "efficiency," and "scheduling factors."

The following terms shall have the meanings defined in this section wherever they are used in this Ordinance.

Corporation: Any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws of any country. The term shall also include any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws of any country, and any other business entity that possesses State-conferred limited liability attributes for its owners, directors, officers, and/or managers. The term shall also include any business entity in which one or more owners or partners is a corporation or other entity in which owners, directors, officers and/or managers possess limited liability attributes.

DEP: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Mining: Any commercial activity conducted within Blaine Township in which mineral resources are extracted from the ground within the Township.

Mining Corporation: Any corporation engaged in, or planning to engage in, mining activities.

Ordinance: The Blaine Township Corporate Mining and Democratic Self-Government Ordinance.

Person: A natural person, or an association of natural persons that does not qualify as a corporation under this Ordinance.

Substantially Owned or Controlled: A person, corporation, or other entity substantially owns or controls another person, corporation, or other entity if it has the ability to evade the intent of this Ordinance by using that person, corporation, or other entity to conduct mining operations within Blaine Township.

Township: Blaine Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, its Board of Supervisors, or its representatives or agents.

Section 6.1: All residents of Blaine Township possess a fundamental and inalienable right to a healthy environment, which includes the right to unpolluted air, water, soils, flora, and fauna. All residents of Blaine Township possess a fundamental and inalienable right to their livelihood, homes and land, and a right to enjoy those homes and land uncompromised by the removal of earth support from below.

Section 6.2. All residents of Blaine Township possess a fundamental and inalienable right to their communities’ cultural heritage within the Township. Residents’ right to their own histories shall include a right to the preservation of historic buildings, unaltered rural historic districts and landscapes, and other structures, relationships, and lands that residents of Blaine Township consider important to the preservation of their cultural heritage.

Section 6.3. All residents of Blaine Township possess a fundamental and inalienable right to access, use, consume, and preserve water drawn from the sustainable natural water cycles that provide water necessary to sustain life within the Township.

Section 6.4. All residents of Blaine Township possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a republican form of governance – a form of governance which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people’s authority, and that corporate entities and their directors and managers must not enjoy special privileges or powers under the law.

Section 6.5. Natural communities and ecosystems possess inalienable and fundamental rights to exist and flourish within the Township of Blaine. Ecosystems shall include, but not be limited to, wetlands, streams, rivers, aquifers, and other water systems.

Section 7.1: It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in mining activities within the Township of Blaine. It shall be unlawful for any person to assist a corporation to engage in mining activities within Blaine Township.

Section 7.2: It shall be unlawful for any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation to use a corporation to engage in mining activities within the Township of Blaine.

Section 7.3: It shall be unlawful for any corporation or its directors, officers, owners, or managers to interfere with the rights of natural communities and ecosystems to exist and flourish, or to cause damage to those natural communities and ecosystems. The Township of Blaine, along with any resident of the Township, shall have standing to seek declaratory, injunctive, compensatory, and punitive relief for damages caused to natural communities and ecosystems within the Township, regardless of the relation of those natural communities and ecosystems to Township residents or the Township itself. Township residents, natural communities, and ecosystems shall be considered to be "persons" for purposes of the enforcement of the civil rights of those residents, natural communities, and ecosystems.

Section 7.4. It shall be unlawful for any corporation - or the corporation’s directors, officers, owners, or managers operating in their corporate capacities – to transfer any monies, services, products, or any other thing of value, to persons serving as candidates for elected or appointed offices within the Township. It shall be unlawful for any corporation – or the corporation’s directors, officers, owners, or managers operating in their corporate capacities – to contact, or to communicate with, any resident of Blaine Township concerning any issue related to the substance or enforcement of this Ordinance, prior to or after the adoption of this Ordinance.

Section 7.5. It shall be unlawful for any corporation engaging in mining activities, or planning to engage in mining activities, to purchase any land or mineral estates within the Township after the effective date of this Ordinance.

Section 7.6. Mining corporations holding existing titles to land to be used for surface mining, or holding existing titles to minerals to be extracted during mining operations, shall divest those titles within sixty (60) days of submitting a permit application to any State agency which seeks a permit to extract minerals within Blaine Township. Persons and entities holding title to surface estates shall possess the right of first refusal to purchase title to minerals beneath those estates. Mineral titles shall be available for purchase at the same price that the titles were originally purchased at the time of original severance from the surface estate. Mineral estates not sold to persons or entities holding title to the surface estate must be conveyed to other persons, or to entities that do not qualify as mining corporations under this Ordinance, within sixty (60) days of submitting a permit application to any State agency seeking a permit to extract minerals within Blaine Township. Titles to land to be used for surface mining must be conveyed to persons, or to entities that do not qualify as mining corporations under this Ordinance, within sixty (60) days of submitting a permit application to any State agency seeking a permit to extract minerals within Blaine Township.

This Ordinance shall be administered by Blaine Township.

Section 9.1: Blaine Township shall enforce this Ordinance by an action brought before a district justice in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. (See 53 P.S. § 66601(c.1)(2).)

Section 9.2: Any person, corporation, or other entity that violates any provision of this Ordinance shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction thereof by a district justice, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of $750 for first-time violations, $1000 for second-time violations, and $1000 for each subsequent violation, and shall be imprisoned to the extent allowed by law for the punishment of summary offenses. (See 53 P.S. § 66601(c.1)(2).)

Section 9.3: A separate offense shall arise for each day or portion thereof in which a violation occurs and for each section of this Ordinance that is found to be violated. (See 53 P.S. § 66601(c.1)(5).)

Section 9.4: Blaine Township may also enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County. (See 53 P.S. § 66601 (c.1)(4).) In such an action, Blaine Township shall be entitled to recover all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees.

Section 9.5: All monies collected for violation of this Ordinance shall be paid to the Treasurer of Blaine Township.

Section 9.6: Any person, corporation, or other entity that violates, or is convicted of violating this Ordinance, two or more times shall be permanently prohibited from doing business within the Township of Blaine. This prohibition applies to that person’s, corporation’s, or other entity’s parent, sister, and successor companies, subsidiaries, and alter egos; and to any person, corporation, or other entity substantially owned or controlled by the person, corporation, or other entity (including its officers, directors, or owners) that twice violates this Ordinance, and to any person, corporation, or other entity that substantially owns or controls the person, corporation, or other entity that twice violates this Ordinance.

Section 9.7: Any Township resident shall have the authority to enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County. In such an action, the resident shall be entitled to recover all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees.

Section 10.1: Any person acting under the authority of a permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection, any corporation operating under a State charter or certificate of authority to do business, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a State charter or certificate of authority to do business, who deprives any Township resident, natural community, or ecosystem of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by this Ordinance, the Pennsylvania Constitution, the United States Constitution, or other laws, shall be liable to the party injured and shall be responsible for payment of compensatory and punitive damages and all costs of litigation to satisfy that liability, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees. Compensatory and punitive damages paid to remedy the violation of the rights of natural communities and ecosystems shall be paid to Blaine Township for restoration of those natural communities and ecosystems.

Section 10.2: Any Township resident shall have standing and authority to bring an action under this Ordinance’s civil rights provisions, or under state and federal civil rights laws, for violations of the rights of natural communities, ecosystems, and Township residents, as recognized by sections 6 and 12 of this Ordinance.

This Ordinance shall be effective immediately, at which point the Ordinance shall apply to any and all mining corporations, and mining corporation employees, directors, and officers in Blaine Township regardless of the date of the applicable DEP permits.

The foundation for the making and adoption of this law is the people’s fundamental and inalienable right to govern themselves, and thereby secure our rights to life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness. Any attempts to use county, state, or federal levels of government – judicial, legislative, or executive - to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn this Ordinance or parts of this Ordinance, or to intimidate the people of Blaine Township or their elected officials, shall require the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township to hold public meetings that explore the adoption of other measures that expand local control and the ability of residents to protect their fundamental and inalienable right to self-government. Such consideration may include actions to separate the municipality from the other levels of government used to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn the provisions of this Ordinance or other levels of government used to intimidate the people of Blaine Township or their elected officials.

The provisions of this Ordinance are severable. If any court of competent jurisdiction decides that any section, clause, sentence, part, or provision of this Ordinance is illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect, impair, or invalidate any of the remaining sections, clauses, sentences, parts, or provisions of the Ordinance. The Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township hereby declares that in the event of such a decision, and the determination that the court’s ruling is legitimate, it would have enacted this Ordinance even without the section, clause, sentence, part, or provision that the court decides is illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional.

All inconsistent provisions of prior Ordinances adopted by the Township of Blaine are hereby repealed, but only to the extent necessary to remedy the inconsistency.

ENACTED AND ORDAINED this ___ day of __________, 2006, by the Board of Supervisors of Blaine Township, Washington County.

By: ____________________________

____________________________

____________________________

Attest: ____________________________