Mahanoy Township
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Ordinance No. 2006-
AN ORDINANCE OF MAHANOY TOWNSHIP, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, PROHIBITING UNSUSTAINABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION WITHIN THE TOWNSHIP; MANDATING A TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS WITHIN THE TOWNSHIP; PROVIDING FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE ORDINANCE AND THE RIGHTS OF RESIDENTS AND NATURE; AND PROVIDING FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE CONVERSION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS
Section 1. Name. The name of this Ordinance shall be the “Mahanoy Township Sustainable Energy Ordinance.”
Section 2. Authority. This Ordinance is adopted and enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the Township by all relevant state and federal laws, and by the inherent right of the people of the Township of Mahanoy to self-government, including, but not limited to, the following:
§ The Declaration of Independence, which declares that governments are instituted to secure people’s rights, and that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed;
§ The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, §2, which declares that “all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness”;
§ The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, §27, which declares that “the people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment”;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S.
§ 66501 et seq. that provide for the protection and preservation of natural resources and human resources, and for the promotion, protection, and facilitation of public health, safety, and welfare;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S. §66527, which empowers the Township to adopt ordinances to secure the safety of persons or property within the Township;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code, Article XV, as codified at 53 P.S. §66529, which empowers the Township to prohibit the carrying on of any offensive manufacture or business;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code, Article XVI, as codified at 53 P.S.
§ 66601 et seq. that authorizes the Township to enact ordinances dealing with the protection of township residents’ health, nuisances, and promotion of public safety.
Section 3. Purpose. A general purpose of this Ordinance is to declare that the people of the Township of Mahanoy possess the authority to establish energy policy within this Township, and that decisions about energy investments, technologies, production, transmission, and use should always be made locally by people who live in this community. Another general purpose of this Ordinance is to declare that current energy policy is not sustainable because it is based upon non-renewable fossil and nuclear fuel sources. Extraction, combustion, use, and shipping of those fuels - and disposal of wastes resulting from use of those fuels – has been creating government-backed corporate assaults on rural communities and the natural environment. A final purpose of this Ordinance is to recognize that the health, safety, and welfare of Mahanoy Township residents also depend on other municipalities’ transition to sustainable energy systems, and that this Ordinance will contribute to a regional, and then national, transition to sustainable and appropriate energy production and use.
Section 4. Declaration of Unsustainability. The Board of Supervisors of Mahanoy Township recognizes that the current energy policy of Pennsylvania and the United States – based on non-renewable fossil fuels and radiation-creating nuclear fission for energy generation – is inherently destructive to the health of human and natural communities, requires tremendous infrastructure expenditures and military control over oil resources, results in atmospheric damage caused by global warming, and the emission of radiation harmful to all life. The Board recognizes that the energy policy of Pennsylvania and the United States has long been directed by a handful of oil and other energy corporations and the directors of those corporations. That control, in turn, has denied the ability of people and communities over the past century to create and implement their own sustainable energy futures – to make sane, logical, and appropriate decisions about energy investments and technologies.
Section 5. Declaration of Sustainable Energy Policy for Mahanoy Township. The people of the Township of Mahanoy declare that they reject the current unsustainable and anti-democratic energy policy enabled and regulated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States, and therefore, through this Ordinance, adopt a sustainable, locally-defined energy policy based on truly renewable energy sources. Energy investments, production, transmission, and use within the Township of Mahanoy shall be guided by that principle, and that principle shall serve as the foundation for the development of an annual Sustainable Energy Plan for Mahanoy Township.
Section 6. Declaration of Sustainable Energy Goals. Use of energy within the Township of Mahanoy generated from unsustainable energy production shall be reduced by 20% during each three year period, through the installation and use of sustainable energy systems, until the residents and businesses within the Township are relying on energy generated by unsustainable energy systems only for energy that cannot be generated by sustainable energy production.
Section 7. Definitions. As used throughout this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
“Corporation” – any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States Or any country.
“Energy Production” – the combustion of a fuel to produce heat, power, and electricity.
“Person” – a natural person.
“Renewable” – refers to energy derived from existing flows of energy generated by on-going natural processes, including, but not limited to, energy generated from the sun, flowing water, wind flows, and geothermal heat flows. The term shall not include energy generated from fossil fuels, nuclear fission, or any derivative of those energy sources.
“Sustainable energy production” – the production of energy from sources other than fossil fuels, nuclear fission, or from any other fuel source that is not renewable. The phrase shall include, but not be limited to, energy derived from the sun, closed and open loop geothermal systems, wind flows, and installations, siting, and measures taken to retrofit buildings to improve energy efficiency and energy conservation.
“Sustainable energy systems” – systems and processes using sustainable energy production to heat, cool, and provide electricity or other power for household, Commercial, industrial, and agricultural use.
“Syndicate” – includes any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country.
“Unsustainable energy production” – the production of energy from fossil fuels, nuclear fission, or any other fuel source that is not renewable. The phrase does not include combustion of wood and wood products, or the use of propane, kerosene, heating oil, coal, or natural gas when combustion of those fossil fuels is used solely to generate on-site heat or power and the energy produced is not sold, transmitted, or distributed. The phrase also does not include combustion of gasoline, diesel fuel, or kerosene within engines used within Mahanoy Township if the energy produced by that combustion is not distributed, transmitted, or sold. The phrase shall include actions which use energy to transform any non-renewable fuel source into another non-renewable fuel source intended for energy production.
“Unsustainable energy systems” – systems and processes using unsustainable energy production to heat, cool, and provide electricity and other power for household, commercial, industrial, and agricultural use.
Section 8. Statement of Law. No person, corporation, or syndicate shall engage in unsustainable energy production within Mahanoy Township.
Section 9. Statement of Law. No corporation or syndicate engaged in, or planning to engage in, energy production within the Township of Mahanoy shall be protected, or empowered by, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, or by rights claimed within the text of the United States or Pennsylvania Constitutions, within the Township of Mahanoy. No corporation or syndicate engaged, or planning to engage in, energy production within the Township shall be deemed a “person” for purposes of the Pennsylvania or United States Constitutions, nor shall those corporations or syndicates possess the authority to enforce State or federal preemptive law against the people of Mahanoy Township.
Section 10. Statement of Law. The residents of Mahanoy Township possess fundamental and inalienable civil and political rights, among which is the right to a republican form of government and the right to self-government. The residents of Mahanoy Township also possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a healthy environment, which includes the right to unpolluted air, water, soils, flora, and fauna. Township residents also possess a fundamental and inalienable right to the integrity of their bodies, and thus have a right to be free from unwanted invasions of their bodies by pollutants.
Section 11. Statement of Law. Natural communities and ecosystems possess inalienable and fundamental rights to exist and flourish within the Township of Mahanoy. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or its directors, officers, owners, or managers to deny those rights or to interfere with the existence and flourishing of natural communities or ecosystems. Township residents, natural communities, and ecosystems shall be considered “persons” for purposes of the enforcement of the civil rights of those residents, natural communities, and ecosystems.
Section 12. Statement of Law. Mahanoy Township shall adopt all necessary financial measures, including the issuance of general revenue bonds, to assist and subsidize residents to transition from unsustainable energy systems to sustainable energy systems, and to create local jobs to attain that transition.
Section 13. Exemption. Corporations and persons using unsustainable energy systems to actively produce energy within the Township prior to, and on the date of, the adoption of this Ordinance shall be exempted from the operation of this Ordinance only if those corporations and persons are producing energy under a valid and pre-existing contractual agreement. This exemption only applies for the duration of the existing contractual arrangement under which corporations and persons are engaged in energy production within the Township.
Section 14—Enforcement.
Section 14.1: Mahanoy 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 14.2: 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 14.3: 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 14.4: Mahanoy Township may also enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County. (See 53 P.S. § 66601 (c.1)(4).) In such an action, Mahanoy Township shall be entitled to recover all costs of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney’s fees.
Section 14.5: All monies collected for violation of this Ordinance shall be paid to the Treasurer of Mahanoy Township.
Section 14.6: Any Township resident shall also have the authority to enforce this Ordinance through an action in equity brought in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill 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 15—Civil Rights Enforcement.
Section 15.1: Any person, corporation, or syndicate acting under the authority of a permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection or any other State or federal regulatory agency, any corporation operating under a State charter, or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a State charter, 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, 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 Mahanoy Township exclusively for restoration of those natural communities and ecosystems.
Section 15.2: 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 10 and 11 of this Ordinance.
Section 16—Effective Date and Existing DEP Permitholders. This Ordinance shall be effective immediately, at which point the Ordinance shall apply to any and all unsustainable energy production within the Township regardless of the date of applicable DEP permits.
Section 17—Severability. 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 Mahanoy Township hereby declares that in the event of such a decision, and the Board’s 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.
Section 18 – People’s Right to Self-Government and Duty of Separation. The foundation for the making and adoption of this law is the people’s fundamental and inalienable right to govern themselves, and thereby secure their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Any attempts to use other units and levels of government to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn this Ordinance, or parts of this Ordinance, shall require the Board of Supervisors 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. It is declared that those other measures may legitimately include the partial or complete separation of the Township from the other units and levels of government that attempt to preempt, amend, alter, or overturn this Ordinance.
Section 19—Repealer. This Ordinance hereby repeals the provisions of any prior ordinances that are inconsistent with this Ordinance only to the extent necessary to remedy the inconsistency.
ENACTED AND ORDAINED this ___ day of __________, 2006, by the Board of Supervisors of Mahanoy Township.
By: _____________________
____________________________
____________________________
Attest: ____________________________