CELDF Press Release: "Forest Hills Council Votes Unanimously to Advertise a Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Gas Drilling"

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Rights Network
P.O. Box 360 Mercersburg, PA  17236
www.celdf.org


Forest Hills Council Votes Unanimously to Advertise a Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Gas Drilling

“Everybody’s definitely behind it. I think we owe it to the community and to future generations.”

--  Council President Frank Porco


MEDIA RELEASE
September 22, 2011
CONTACT: Ben Price, (717) 254-3233
benprice@celdf.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Wednesday, September 22, 2011)  By a unanimous vote, the Borough Council of Forest Hills, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,  voted to advertise a Community Rights Ordinance that if adopted would enact an enforceable Local Bill of Rights, along with a prohibition on natural gas extraction to protect those rights.  

The bill, titled “Forest Hills Borough’s Community Rights and Protection from Natural Gas Exploitation Ordinance” would establish specific rights for Borough residents, including the Right to Water, the Rights of Natural Communities, the Right to a Sustainable Energy Future, and the Right to Community Self-Government.  

The Ordinance was drafted in consultation with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), and a public hearing and final on the question of adoption will be held on October 19th.

Prior to the vote by Council, members of the community commented on the ordinance. Forest Hills resident Elizabeth Donohoe remarked:

“Our right to clean air and water is under attack in Pennsylvania by… state pre-emptions and corporate privilege... I remind Council that the Pennsylvania Constitution says ‘Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.’ So...it's up to you. [The]elected officials here in Forest Hills must protect us, must safeguard our water and air by banning fracking operations from the Borough. Communities like South Fayette and Mount Pleasant adopted zoning ordinances, they added ‘conditional use’ language, and then got sued by Range Resources. Not one community with a local bill of rights ban on fracking has been sued to-date.”

Resident Jeannie Berrington argued that there is no place for fracking and its pollution in Forest Hills; Sheena Calderwood remarked that it is the duty of the Council to live up to their oaths to “protect the health, safety and welfare of the community,” and Josh Zorich addressed the concerns of land owners, some of whom may want to lease to the gas drilling corporations. “It would be wonderful if every action we took as individuals affected us only in our exclusive spheres, but that’s not always the case.”

The vote to consider advertisement of the ordinance opened with controversy when Council President Frank Porco raised concerns over the legal defensibility of the ordinance. Council Member Bill Tomasic responded that “there are no fail-safe ordinances.” Referring to municipalities that have already adopted a Community Bills of Rights that bans gas extraction, including Pittsburgh, West Homestead, Baldwin, Wilkinsburg and others, Council Member Steve Karas remarked that "none of these ordinances has been challenged so I feel we are on the right side"

The key prohibition enacted to protect the rights enumerated states: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas within Forest Hills Borough, with the exception of gas wells and pipelines already installed and operating at the time of enactment of this Ordinance, provided that the extraction of gas from those existing wells does not involve any practice or process not previously used for the extraction of gas from those wells.”  

In addition, the ordinance would make it “unlawful for any corporation to extract water from any source, whether surface or subsurface, within Forest Hills Borough, for use in the extraction of subsurface natural gas. It shall be unlawful for a corporation to import water into Forest Hills Borough for use in the extraction of subsurface natural gas. It shall be unlawful for any corporation to deposit waste water, “produced” water, “frack” water, brine or other materials or by-products of natural gas extraction activities, into the land, air or waters within Forest Hills Borough or within its external jurisdiction.”

The ordinance goes on to assert: “Corporations in violation of the prohibition against natural gas extraction, or seeking to engage in natural gas extraction shall not have the rights of “persons” afforded by the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions, nor shall those corporations be afforded rights under the 1st or 5th amendments to the United States Constitution or corresponding sections of the Pennsylvania Constitution, nor shall those corporations be afforded the protections of the commerce or contracts clauses within the United States Constitution or corresponding sections of the Pennsylvania Constitution.”

The bill also recognizes the right of the people to a form of government where they live “which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people’s authority and consent, and that neither individuals nor corporate entities and their directors and managers shall enjoy special privileges or powers under the color of state law which purports to make community majorities subordinate to them.”

The bill was modeled after the Ordinance drafted by CELDF and adopted on November 16th of last year by the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. West Homestead Borough adopted virtually the same Ordinance on May 10th, followed by Baldwin Borough on June 21st. Both municipalities are in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Mountain Lake Park, Maryland adopted the Community Rights gas drilling ban on March 6th of this year, and Wales, New York did so on June 14th, 2011.  On July 20th, 2011, Wilkinsburg Borough, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania joined the movement to assert community rights over fracking corporations. A similar Community Rights Ordinance prohibiting the depositing or storage of frack-water was enacted last October by Licking Township in Clarion County, Pennsylvania.

Following the vote, Council President Frank Porco commented “Everybody’s definitely behind it. I think we owe it to the community and to future generations.”



The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, headquartered in Chambersburg, has been working with people in Pennsylvania since 1995 to assert their fundamental rights to democratic local self-governance, and to enact laws which end destructive and rights-denying corporate action aided and abetted by state and federal governments.