The citizens of Mt. Shasta have developed an extraordinary ordinance, set to be voted on in the next special or general election, that would prohibit corporations such as Nestle and Coca-Cola from extracting water from the local aquifer. But this is only the beginning. The ordinance would also ban energy-giant PG&E, and any other corporation, from regional cloud seeding, a process that disrupts weather patterns through the use of toxic chemicals such as silver iodide. More generally, it would refuse to recognize corporate personhood, explicitly place the rights of community and local government above the economic interests of multinational corporations, and recognize the rights of nature to exist, flourish, and evolve. Mt. Shasta is not alone.Rather, it is part of a (so far) quiet municipal movement making its way across the United States in which communities are directly defying corporate rule and affirming the sovereignty of local government.

With an anticipated Sept. 10 hearing in Yreka Superior Court, both sides in the Measure A water ordinance battle have filed deposition and writs supporting their positions on the argument. Measure A was pulled off the ballot by county clerk Colleen Setzer after it garnered the required number of signatures and the Mount Shasta City Council voted several times to let the voters decide.

Mount Shasta’s Measure A, removed from November’s ballot earlier this month, has generated an appeal of that decision by proponents and a response from the county – and the Siskiyou County Superior Court is now tasked with discerning whether the measure’s proponents followed elections procedure, whether or not County Clerk Colleen Setzer was the elections official for the city of Mount Shasta, and whether or not the court believes that the measure is constitutional.

On Friday, August 20, the Mt. Shasta Community Rights Project filed an elections complaint to restore Measure A to the 2010 general election ballot. Siskiyou County Clerk Colleen Setzer is denying Mt. Shasta voters the right to vote on “Measure A”, which was stripped from the city’s ballot earlier this week. The Measure, which would prohibit outside corporations from bulk water extraction and corporate cloud seeding, is the first ordinance of its kind in California because it is designed to assert the rights of residents over the rights of corporations.

Proponents of the Mt. Shasta ordinance say that it has far-reaching implications, both in protecting water and in empowering citizens; in the words of one resident testifying before the City Council on May 24, "this ordinance is the embryo of change for our state." Commenting on the potential of the ordinance to unite diverse interests, resident Molly Brown said, "People, regardless of their political or environmental inclinations, can agree that we should decide what happens where we live."

An ordinance outlawing water bottling plants and cloud seeding in Mount Shasta will be on the November ballot. The Mount Shasta City Council voted 5-0 Monday night to put the proposed ordinance to public vote. The only other option would have been to enact it into law. “This is about our right to water,” said Ami Marcus with the Mount Shasta Community Rights Project.

Mount Shasta officials are considering whether to outlaw water bottling plants in the city and cloud seeding over its watersheds.

California relies upon Mount Shasta water for life. Rising 14,162 feet above sea level, Mount Shasta collects, stores and delivers a significant percentage of northern California’s water, serving as a giant faucet for one of the thirstiest states in the union. Citizens fortunate enough to reside at the base of this majestic mountain are caretakers of a tremendous natural heritage. We are grateful for these pure and plentiful waters and we accept our responsibility to steward this invaluable resource.