02/03/2012 - [Randolph Twp, Ohio] About 120 residents gathered again at the Randolph Community Center, this time to hear the merits of a “community bill of rights” that would ban “unconventional extraction of shale gas” in Randolph. The forum was sponsored by the grassroots group Preserve Rural Randolph. Newt Engle said he was bothered by the township’s official position, which is that the state, not the township, has the only control over the horizontal drilling process known as “fracking”....The resolution states that it seeks to ban the drilling practice “because that extraction cannot be achieved without violating the rights of residents and communities or endangering their health, safety and welfare.” The resolution, it states, removes “certain legal powers” from drilling companies, “nullifies state laws, permits, and other authorizations” and “imposes liabilities and fines.”

01/27/2012 - Ecuador and Bolivia granted legal rights to the environment within the past few years. But what are those rights and can they really be enforced? "The rights of nature laws recognize the rights of ecosystems and natural communities to exist, to flourish, to regenerate, and to evolve," Mari Margil, associate director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), told Discovery News. CELDF helped Ecuador write the rights of nature into legal reality. "The rights of nature laws move nature from being considered 'property' under the law to being recognized as 'rights bearing' under the law," said Margil. But laws are nothing but ink on paper if not enforced. A court case in Ecuador showed that these Earth friendly laws have claws and aren't just idealistic public relations legislation.

01/27/2012 - The No Coal! Political Action Committee kicked off a new campaign for a “Bill of Rights,” which would ban “activities related to the transportation of coal.” The committee held an event to showcase their new Bill of Rights on Jan. 26. More than 100 people from the community flocked to the Squalicum Boathouse at Zuanich Point Park, leaving latecomers standing....If passed by city officials, the initiative would become an ordinance, said Terry Garrett, a member of No Coal! The group is also collecting signatures in hopes of putting an initiative on the November ballot. The Bill of Rights “removes legal ‘powers’ and ‘rights’ from those Corporations to ensure that the powers and rights of the community are superior to the ‘powers’ and ‘rights’ claimed by those Corporations.”

01/27/2012 - PLYMOUTH — With some area towns to consider petitioned warrant articles re-asserting the rights of municipalities at their upcoming town meetings, a Pennsylvania attorney on Thursday told a capacity gathering at Pease Library that they needn’t accept things as they are. “The only place democracy seems to exist today is around the kitchen table,” said Thomas Linzey of Mercersburg, Penn., who represents the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and was speaking to community activists gathered at the library. Linzey was invited to speak at the library at the invitation of local Northern Pass project opponents who are concerned their efforts may be overridden by corporate interests.