Drawing upon this nation’s Declaration of Independence as inspiration, Dr. J. Stephen Cleghorn, co-founder of the 50-acre Paradise Gardens and Farm organic farm that sits above the Marcellus Shale formation, is holding a press conference to declare—in defiance of any established laws which say otherwise—that his farm shall never be violated from above or below by unconventional shale gas drilling. He will seal his declaration upon the scattering of ashes that are all that is left of the farm’s co-founder, his late wife Dr. Lucinda Hart-González, who died of cancer in November 2011....Cleghorn will stand his ground against the corporate tyranny that is poisoning the state’s water and air while sickening its people and animals. “We need a new paradigm for how we live on this Earth,” states Cleghorn. “Let’s have a little rebellion. Individual acts of resistance such as mine are but part of an ongoing movement and organization to create a new foundation of law based on the Rights of Nature.”

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS: Doug Shields didn’t stand before Broadview Heights City Council with the famous Nike slogan “Just Do It” emblazoned across his chest. But that was his message. The former Pittsburgh councilman challenged council at its April 30 work session to follow in his footsteps and stand up to state lawmakers who allow oil companies to drill within the city. “The state put a law through that preempted your authority as a municipal official to look after the health, welfare and public safety of this community. So what are you going to do about it?” Shields asked council. “Your citizens in this town have no say over what happens in their back yards.”

In these challenging, if not fascinating, times, there is opportunity for advancing ourselves individually and as a culture. The sense of powerlessness that comes with scarcity, is readily offset by a creative resolve and the reinvention of one’s personal status quo. When it comes to the larger cultural phenomenon of citizens and communities taking back the inherent, inalienable rights upon which our republic was founded, this grassroots effort demonstrates that democracy may be alive and well. The progress toward personal and community empowerment is being driven by what is just and sustainable for the future of our children and our environment....The CELDF mission is to change the very fabric of our constitutional law, whereas communities, municipalities and local citizens would have the ultimate control over their own land, resources, water tables, watersheds, lakes and streams. Doesn’t this sound like the way it should be?

One of Centre County’s biggest election day battles is taking place in Rush Township, where voters will decide whether they wish to convene a government study commission to explore implementation of a home rule charter. The 1972 Home Rule Charter and Optional Plans Law gives Pennsylvania’s municipalities the option to adopt a home rule charter, a form of governance that would give Rush Township additional powers to make local decisions. All registered voters in Rush Township will see the following referendum question on their ballots today: “Shall a government study commission of seven members be elected to study the existing form of government of the municipality, to consider the advisability of the adoption of a home rule charter; and if advisable, to draft and to recommend a home rule charter?”

The fight against fracking in Ohio comes at a time when the state is approving new wells at a rapid pace. Local activists are organizing in an environment where the ground is constantly shifting under their feet - sometimes literally. Anti-fracking activism has been influenced by developments both inside the state and beyond. At a recent public anti-fracking meeting a representative from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) described the experience of activists in western Pennsylvania several years ago.

The Town of Olive saw its meeting hall packed for its monthly meeting Tuesday night, April 10. And everyone left happy, according to the town’s Secretary to the Supervisor, Susan Horner. What drew the crowd was a resolution, passed unanimously, to place a moratorium on the natural gas extraction process known as hydrofracking, or “fracking” as it’s become commonly known, so the Olive town board could then study other, more permanent legislation to protect it....The options that ODAF presented at the April 2 and April 10 meetings included a Community Bill of Rights, advocated and defended by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), and stressing civil rights issues in a community’s banning of fracking and similar industrialized processes.

(Monday, April 2, 2012- Las Vegas, NM) In front of a standing-room only crowd of residents, by a vote of 3-1, the City Council, Las Vegas, New Mexico enacted the Las Vegas Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance, drafted by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which places into law a local Bill of Rights, including the right of all residents, natural communities and ecosystems to water from natural sources, the right of residents to unpolluted water for use in agriculture, the rights of natural ecosystems to exist and flourish, and of residents to protect their environment by enforcing these rights. Also enumerated is the right to a sustainable energy future, and the right to local self-government.

Las Vegas’ mayor publicly supports Community Rights Ordinance while working behind the scenes to kill it. The city of Las Vegas, NM was considering passage of a popular ordinance shortly before a runoff election between the seated mayor, Alfonso Ortiz, and city councilman Tonita Gurule-Giron. Opposing the ordinance publicly would cost votes in a close electoral race. What to do? The answer, apparently, was to publicly support the ordinance while working behind the scenes to kill it, or at least postpone the vote for passage until after the April 17th election—even if that meant quietly violating the directives of the city council.

RUSH TOWNSHIP — Political yard signs dot the lawns of most of the houses along the twisting road between Black Moshannon State Park and Philipsburg. In some cases, neighbors have put up signs directly facing each other, revealing an issue that has touched a nerve among residents in this large and sparsely populated municipality. On April 24, the date of Pennsylvania’s primary, residents will decide which side of the fence they stand on when it comes to home rule, a form of governance that would give Rush Township additional powers to make local decisions. “Home rule is a concept based on giving the people more of a direct say in the decisions the township makes,” said Joe Matson, a candidate for the government study commission that will be formed if residents approve the home rule referendum. “Whatever issues Rush Township faces down the road, people will be empowered to have a direct chance to say yes or no.”

SANTA FE – Its own lawyer calls the move unconstitutional; its insurer says it may not be able to offer coverage for a legal battle. Despite those objections, the Las Vegas, N.M., City Council passed an ordinance targeting “fracking” that bans drilling for oil or gas within the city limits or the Las Vegas watershed....The Las Vegas ordinance is called the Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Governance Ordinance. Among the rights asserted in the ordinance are rights to water and to water for agriculture, “rights of natural communities,” “right to a sustainable energy future,” and the right to self-government.

...The debate over the oil and gas drilling process known as fracking has dominated rural areas of Ohio for more than a year. Now it is showing up in cities as well. Mayor Jerry Fiala said last week he did not think any property owners in Kent had signed leases with drillers. Then came calls through the week from leaseholders. And that led Frack Free Kent and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund to put together an ordinance presented to city council at last night’s meeting. Frack Free Kent organizer, and Kent resident, Ellen Carvill-Ziemer says the Defense Fund has had some success mounting similar ordinances fashioned as bills of rights in the past.

The Las Vegas City Council made an historical vote in northern New Mexico this week, passing the Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Governance Ordinance. Read here to learn what New Mexicans are saying about the Council's action, some history on how the ordinance got to Las Vegas, and next steps.

A victory for nature, human rights and democracy was celebrated in Las Vegas, New Mexico, on April 2, when the city council passed an historic law that exerts protective rights to all residents, natural communities, ecosystems and its watersheds—and bans fracking within the City of Las Vegas. The process to enact the Las Vegas Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance has proven to be a roller coaster ride from one council meeting to another, beginning in February. Opposition was voiced extensively by the Las Vegas city administration at the 11th hour, with both the mayor and city attorney claiming illegalities and predicting lawsuits, as they tried to equate balancing budgets and guarding the city from legal action with protecting life and nature.

Sidsel Overgaard of KUNM New Mexico's Community Powered Public Radio reports on Las Vegas, New Mexico's historic action to pass a Community Bill of Rights ordinance to protect their water and prohibit shale gas drilling and fracking.

Setting aside the grave concerns raised by its legal counsel and its insurer, the Las Vegas City Council voted 3-1 on Monday to approve a community bill of rights ordinance, becoming the first municipality in the state to do so....The ordinance seeks to elevate the civil rights of the community and of its natural resources while limiting the rights currently enjoyed by corporations. A standing-room-only crowd was on hand at the council chambers to witness the vote, and most of them applauded when the measure passed. “This is a historic moment for Vegas, and it may face legal challenges but that’s how you start changing federal law,” [Councilperson] Feldman said after the meeting. “I feel really passionately that our rights are being trampled at the expense of corporations for profit and that the ... citizens in this country need to start taking back their rights. This is where it starts, in a grassroots effort.”

The first day of spring was an auspicious day for the Las Vegas City Council to make history. It was a victory for the people and for democracy....The room was packed with more than 75 people from five New Mexico counties — as far away as Bernalillo County. They came in solidarity....The Ordinance asserts a “Community Bill of Rights,” including the right of all residents, natural communities and ecosystems to water from natural sources, the right of residents to unpolluted water for use in agriculture, the rights of natural ecosystems to exist and flourish and of residents to protect their environment by enforcing these rights. Also enumerated is the right to a sustainable energy future, and the right to local self-government. It prohibits any harm to these inalienable rights through oil, gas and hydraulic fracturing.

On Monday, April 2nd, the Las Vegas, New Mexico City Council will place an historic vote on whether or not to pass a Community Rights Ordinance that recognizes the right of the community to protect their water, air, and the rights of nature by banning shale gas drilling and fracking and removing corporate privileges. Read here to learn what community members are saying about the the Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance.

Kent City Council agreed to discuss the possibility of banning hydraulic fracturing within city limits in committee after a large group of residents brought their concerns and a proposed ordinance to council Wednesday. “We’re asking you to give this proposed ordinance serious consideration because it’s the only way we can think of to defend and protect our waterways here in Kent from the terrible pollution caused by fracking,” said the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent. The proposed ordinance Carvill-Ziemer referred to, which anti-fracking activists presented to council, is known as the “Kent Community Protection from Shale Gas Extraction Ordinance.” The ordinance would “...(ban) the unconventional extraction of shale gas within the City, along with associated activities, because that extraction violates the civil rights of Kent residents and because it threatens the health, safety and welfare of the residents and neighborhoods of Kent.”

Proponents of an anti-fracking ordinance being proposed for the city of Las Vegas say it’s the best way to protect the community and keep our water from being poisoned. And while a number of municipalities around the nation, including Pittsburgh, have already adopted similar laws, no community in the state has passed such an ordinance, giving Las Vegas the opportunity to make history in New Mexico. The ordinance seeks to elevate the civil rights of the community and of its natural resources while limiting the rights currently enjoyed by corporations.

After 30 minutes of stating their case, supporters of an anti-fracking law in Kent got their wish partly fulfilled Wednesday night. Supporters of a ban on fracking asked Kent City Council members to consider establishing an [CELDF-drafted] ordinance banning the controversial method of drilling for natural gas within city limits. Council members listened to 30 minutes of testimony from residents who support the ban before Kent Mayor Jerry Fiala asked if anyone on council wanted to consider making a motion on the issue. Councilwoman Tracy Wallach moved to put the issue — and the proposed draft ordinance — on the agenda for council's April 4 committee meeting. Council voted unanimously to put the issue on next week's agenda.

In response to Tuesday’s letters to the editor about home rule charter in Rush Township, the taxpayers would be fools, according to Pat Couturiaux, if they did not vote to approve home rule. Kudos for Couturiaux; he has really shown his ignorance. People have died so we all can have a say in what happens in our lives, so get out and vote for home rule April 24 and control what happens in your front yard.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — In the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lincoln Place, opposition to Act 13 is strong. “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that money can buy politicians, politicians can make laws and laws can ruin people’s lives,” Mark Schneider, of Lincoln Place, said. “I think Act 13 is a poorly written bill that completely usurps local authority,” City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak, D-Carrick, said.

A Shalersville group will host a meeting to discuss protection for water, air and land from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas at 7 p.m. this evening at the King of Glory Church, 1667 Route 303, next to the Streetsboro Post Office. The meeting has been organized by Shalersville residents concerned about the exploration well to be drilled at the intersection of Webb and Infirmary Roads. Presenters will include two residents, who will explain fracking and gas industry regulations, and a speaker from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps residents fight environmental hazards.

A disagreement regarding how best to protect Rush Township’s water from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling has created a political fracture destined to spill over into April’s primary. Rush for Clean Water, an environmental group pushing for a ban on gas drilling, has acquired enough signatures to place a home rule charter referendum on April’s ballot. If approved, the initiative would create a commission to explore possible changes to the township’s existing form of government. The primary goal of the home rule movement, according to one of its chief proponents, is to let the township’s residents decide directly whether to enact a drilling ban. “It will give more voice to the people, so supervisors cannot have the final say,” said Mary Ann Williams, a Rush Township resident and leader of Rush for Clean Water.

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS — Law Director Vince Ruffa is reviewing a resolution to limit hydraulic fracturing in the city. Councilman-at-large Jim Giomini, who started the discussion at the March 12 City Council meeting, says he and his fellow council members are hoping legislation banning “fracking” in Pittsburgh, Pa. will work in Broadview Heights....Mothers Against Drilling In Our Neighborhoods (MADION) sent out a press release applauding the city for taking this step. “This legislation takes an approach that residents in the community have ‘rights’ under the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Revised Code and that corporation profits do not supersede these rights. Besides violating residents’ civil rights, drilling also threatens the health, safety and welfare of the residents and neighborhoods of Broadview Heights.”

In a handful of communities in eastern states, local anti-fracking activists have been heartened by recent lower court decisions that have upheld local zoning ordinances and statewide moratoriums to keep the controversial natural gas wells out of their towns. But in Pennsylvania, the epicenter of the controversial drilling, the legislature recently stripped all local zoning authority to prevent drilling, overturning the kinds of steps that have frustrated drillers in neighboring states. As a result, a different and riskier strategy is emerging in the battle to keep drilling at bay: local ordinances and organizing elevating the civil rights of communities and nature while limiting the legal rights of corporations.

Soon after taking over as leader of the Sierra Club, Michael Brune recognized the environmental organization was facing a credibility crisis. Former Executive Director Carl Pope had developed cozy relationships with Corporate America, including Chesapeake Energy Corp., a major U.S. natural gas producer....Thomas Linzey, executive director and co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, noted in a speech last November that residents in communities affected by natural gas drilling are beginning to realize that their concerns will not be addressed by contacting state regulators or enlisting a big environmental group. A more effective strategy involves fighting back at the community level.

Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and where the U.S. coal, oil and nuclear industries began, has adopted what may be the most anti-democratic, anti-environmental law in the country, giving gas companies the right to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning laws, seize private property and muzzle physicians from disclosing specific health impacts from drilling fluids on patients....“It’s absolutely crushing of local self-government,” said Ben Price, project director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which has helped a handful of local communities—including the city of Pittsburgh—adopt community rights ordinances that elevate the rights of nature and people to block the drilling. “The state has surrendered over 2,000 municipalities to the industry. It’s a complete capitulation of the rights of the people and their right to self-government. They are handing it over to the industry to let them govern us. It is the corporate state. That is how we look at it.”

A ban on natural gas drilling through Marcellus shale is needed now more than ever in Whitehall Borough, some residents say. And local officials agree its time to take a stand against the growing industry. Gov. Tom Corbett last week signed House Bill 1950 into law, which sets state standards and eliminates local zoning regulations for drilling....A different approach to restricting drilling natural gas through Marcellus shale would be to ban it, asserting rights the state constitution provides for residents, including clean air and water, Scholl said. Baldwin Borough and Pittsburgh passed similar bans last year. "It rests on a completely different argument — that we're essentially not going to surrender our rights to a safe environment, to a safe community, because the state says so," Scholl said.

[Beaver Twsp, OH] A group of Beaver Township residents is telling local and state officials they don't want fracking or injection wells in their backyards. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit group that helped residents in Pittsburgh ban hydraulic fracturing there in November 2010. Now, a grassroots group of citizens hopes CELDF can help them do the same, right across the state line. "This is not about regulation, this is about rights," said Julia Fuhrman Davis, a member of the Beaver Township residents' CELDF group. Beaver Township residents are collecting signatures for a petition urging trustees to ban all hydraulic fracturing and injection well activity in their township....

NORTH LIMA- Beaver Township residents concerned about fracture drilling and injection wells in Ohio have enlisted the aid of a Pennsylvania-based organization to ban the activities in the area. The Beaver Township CELDF [sic] Group is working with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to develop a community rights resolution to ban hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") and injection well deposits in the township.

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — The Town Board will be asked by a citizens’ group called New Paltz Defense Against Fracking to ban hydraulic drilling for natural gas in the town based on civil rights concerns. The proposed law will be presented during the board meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Town Hall on state Route 32. New Paltz Defense Against Fracking spokeswoman Michele Riddell said the proposal addresses health, safety and welfare threats from the gas-drilling process known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking. “What we’re interested in doing is passing a civil rights-based ordinance, which is a law will protect us from the oil and gas industry in our neighborhood,” Riddell said.

[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.”

BEAVER TOWNSHIP, Ohio - A group of concerned citizens crowded into the Beaver Township Administration building Tuesday night to discuss a grassroots effort against fracking and brine injection wells. North Lima resident Julia Fuhrman Davis organized the meeting to form a core group of people to work with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. In light of potential health and environmental risks, the group plans to come up with a resolution and a petition to prohibit fracking and brine injection wells.

CELDF comment: Eyes are on Harrisburg as pro-drilling legislation is debated. Conservation groups and others opposing the legislation focus on how stringent the regulations for drilling should be, lamenting the devastation that will be forthcoming and trying to make it a little less. No one is talking about the rights of communities and local officials to BAN drilling, and that any legislation by Harrisburg to strip that right is a usurpation of communities’ rights to protect their own health, safety, and welfare--for themselves, their children, and to protect the rights of nature. Are communities going to make a stand for their right to decide what happens, where they live? Or are they resigned to arguing about how much poison in the water is acceptable?

NORTH LIMA- Area residents need to exercise their democratic right to secure a clean living environment for generations to come, according to a group of Beaver Township residents. Hundreds of concerned township residents filled the old South Range High School auditorium Tuesday night at a rally against horizontal and hydraulic fracture drilling and disposal of hazardous materials at injection wells in Ohio....A meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Beaver Township Administration Building to work with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, an organization that has been instrumental in getting the drilling banned in other communities including Pittsburgh, to draw up a community rights resolution that enacts a local bill of rights protecting the health, safety, welfare and property values of local residents.

New York (STONY1) would lose any chance of reaping the economic benefits of the shale-gas boom if local governments are allowed to ban drilling through zoning laws, advocates say. The state sits on the northern edge of the Marcellus Shale, which may hold enough natural gas to supply the U.S. for two decades, according to Terry Engelder, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University. In 2010, New York placed a moratorium on the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing so state regulators can develop rules. Lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow municipalities to ban the practice, a right several say they already have.

The Wilkinsburg council voted unanimously Wednesday night to send letters to local representatives in Harrisburg opposing legislation that would give drilling companies the ability to side-step local bans on Marcellus Shale gas drilling. The board also agreed to draft a formal resolution to denounce the House Bill 1950 and Senate Bill 1100....[Councilwoman Eve Goodman]...added that she doesn't trust corporations to self-regulate for the good a community when corporate profits are on the line.

ARLINGTON, VA.
 — An Ithaca College professor doesn't want to see a halt to horizontal fracturing. She wants to see it banned. Dr. Sandra Steingraber, speaking at a shale drilling health forum Monday, said that fracking will not just cause an enviornmental crisis, but also a "human rights crisis."...Steingraber urged for the rapid phase-out of all fossil fuels "to avoid human calamity" and said that mitigating fracking will only curb potential environmental risks, but not eliminate them. "If we mitigate fracking to kill fewer people, we're still killing people," she said.

PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection undercounted the number of wells producing gas from the Marcellus Shale, frustrating industry, environmental groups, and elected officials, according to a newspaper report. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/weuty8 ) reported that an analysis of DEP data found 495 more wells producing gas, or ready to produce gas, than the DEP has recorded as ever being drilled, and that 182 of those wells don't even show up on the state's Marcellus Shale permit list.

With a deadline looming this week for the public to weigh in on gas drilling in New York State, the antifracking movement itself has become divided over what its goal should be: securing the nation’s toughest regulations, or winning an outright ban?...Bruce Ferguson, a founding member of Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy which supports a ban [says],“No one wants to see fracking go forward under the current regime or the way it’s being done in Pennsylvania. Everyone agrees on that.”

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Liberty Township resident Karen O'Malia has lived next to a neighbor's vertical gas well for a year and says it was noisy and smelly when it went in. Now, she says she'd favor a ban on drilling in the township....After eleven earthquakes centered around a brine injection well in Youngstown, Liberty trustees are looking into banning drilling in the township.

NORTH ABINGTON TWP. - One month after a group approached supervisors about passing an ordinance banning natural gas drilling, officials said they wanted to wait and see what happens with two bills being considered by state legislators. In December, several residents attended the North Abington Twp. meeting to voice concerns about what effects natural gas drilling might have on the environment. They asked supervisors to consider an ordinance that would ban drilling, similar to one that has been presented to municipalities across the region.

"My job isn't to defend the government," Mr. Shields, 58, of Squirrel Hill, said in a farewell interview. "My job is to represent the people it serves."... Last year, Mr. Shields won his colleagues' support of legislation banning natural-gas production in the city. About two weeks ago, he won final approval of another bill aimed at holding drillers and government regulators liable for any pollution the city experiences because of production in upstream municipalities.

No disrespect meant for North Texas environmental activists who oppose Barnett Shale natural gas drilling and the hydraulic fracturing that comes with it, but people with similar views in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale are strong enough to have been given a name: "fractivists." People there even refer to them as a movement.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- A supervisor in a small rural township in northern Lycoming County took matters into his own hands when a Marcellus shale drilling company kept using a road it had been told to keep big trucks off of. Daniel Roupp cut down a half dozen trees yesterday, blocking the gravel road. “I’m thinking we got their attention,” he said today. The drilling company, Range Resources, has resubmitted a plan for repairs to the road.

The president of Forest Hills Council wants state lawmakers, each and every one, to know that the borough disagrees with a bill that would transfer all regulation of gas drilling to the state. At a meeting Wednesday, council members passed a resolution to send state lawmakers a letter decrying the regulatory bills in the House and Senate, which have yet to be reconciled, as an assault on local governments’ rights. And President Frank Porco said he wants to know their voices are heard.

The Pittsburgh region needs an "environmental rights renaissance," city Councilman Doug Shields said Wednesday, defending a controversial anti-pollution bill that may not survive into the new year. With less than two weeks remaining in Mr. Shields' last term, council gave final approval Monday to his bill attempting to hold out-of-town natural gas producers liable for any pollution in the city or poisoning of its residents. It also would attempt to hold accountable federal, state or local governments that licensed the polluters.

The thumper trucks have come, drillers are looking at two sites for shale gas wells, and residents are concerned enough to ask the township to take action to protect Millcreek Township's quality of life. More than 80 people filled the fire hall...for the Dec. 13 Millcreek Township supervisors' meeting and when township resident Molly Greenawalt asked them to stand to show support for a [sic] ordinance, to ban drilling, nearly all did so.

YOUNGSTOWN, OH: 7 protesters arrested for blockading trucks containing the highly toxic wastewater produced from hydraulic frackturing on November 30th are on trial in Youngstown. The action was carried out in response to the D&L Energy owned injection well in Youngstown, which is injecting wastewater from Pennsylvania and Ohio deep into the ground....The Youngstown injection well has caused eight nearby earthquakes since March of 2011 – seven of these with an epicenter located at the well. Arrested activist Ben Shapiro said, “Well casings and cement break and degrade in the best of circumstances leaking highly toxic chemicals, it’s far more dangerous at the epicenter of these earthquakes. How in the world can V&M Star and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources think this can be safe anywhere for our drinking water?”

Following hours of business before the Pittsburgh City Council, a measure introduced by Councilman Doug Shields on November 14th to ban municipal and state governments from licensing and permitting corporations to dump toxins from fracking activities into the environment that result in violations of rights recognized in City law by the new ordinance and by the Community Bill of Rights Ordinance banning corporate gas drilling on November 16th, 2010, came to a vote today, and gained the majority. The ordinance was adopted by a 5-4 vote and now goes to the mayor.

Local opponents of a proposed Mansfield facility to accept fracking waste from Pennsylvania -- along with people concerned about hydraulic fracturing in general -- have stepped up efforts to organize. Preferred Fluids Management, a Texas based company, plans to drill two 5,000-foot-deep injection wells on five acres southwest of Knight Parkway on Mansfield's north side....Area residents concerned about either industry -- fracking or the underground storage of its waste -- have begun networking, chiefly through Occupy Mansfield....Activists also participated in a conference call Thursday night with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, discussing what steps local groups could take to protect their communities against potential problems.

Residents concerned about hydraulic fracturing reached out to Pennsylvania-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund for advice last week....Eric Belcastro, a CELDF community organizer, said a variety of communities in Pennsylvania have adopted laws on fracking -- and Mansfield can, too...."It isn't about fracking being good or bad, it is about who gets to decide," he said. "The fundamental problems we're faced with are about democracy."

More than 100 people attended a meeting on Tuesday night designed to draw attention to pending legislation in Harrisburg that municipal officials say will undercut their rights to control gas drilling. Officials from Peters, Cecil, South Fayette and several other communities led the meeting in Green Tree and said municipalities should have the right to determine their own character and what place the drilling industry has there.

Representatives from more than 44 municipalities in seven counties met Tuesday night in Green Tree for a first-of-its-kind Marcellus Shale town hall meeting to address legislation that is pending in the state House and Senate. Their message to lawmakers? Don't take away our local control.

Town­ship and bor­ough man­agers, coun­cil mem­bers and super­vi­sors are push­ing back against Repub­li­can lead­ers who want to limit local gov­ern­ments’ abil­ity to zone nat­ural gas drilling. Two impact fees in front of state law­mak­ers would place firm guide­lines on what munic­i­pal­i­ties can and can’t reg­u­late, when it comes to Mar­cel­lus Shale activ­ity. Local offi­cials con­cerned about the mea­sures filled Green Tree, Allegheny County’s munic­i­pal build­ing tonight, and railed against the two impact fees for more than two hours.

A Pittsburgh Councilman is urging the city’s administration to speak out against state-level bills that would supercede Pittsburgh’s ban on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling. Councilman Doug Shields said that he plans to introduce a resolution denouncing Senate Bill 1100 and its House companion, and he wants the mayor to do the same.

Representatives from more than 44 municipalities in seven counties met tonight in Green Tree for a first-of-its-kind Marcellus Shale town hall meeting to address legislation that is pending in the state House and Senate. Their message to lawmakers? Don't take away our local control. "We want to send a clear, unified message to Harrisburg that we are opposed to any language that would pre-empt municipalities," said Robinson Manager Richard Ward. "Pre-emption is not an option."

The solicitor's voice shook as he tried to explain to a hostile crowd that natural gas pipelines are perfectly legal. "If we have to have this," Tom Brennan said, "let's at least try to control it and have it on our own terms." With that, to scattered applause and more groans, the township supervisors here decided to end a war over natural gas pipes that bitterly divided this town, a gateway to the rich Marcellus Shale region. The compromise was a new, custom-tailored ordinance that banned high-pressure pipelines in residential neighborhoods, but permitted them in areas zoned for farms or factories. Now, it appears the township's painstaking effort to craft a compromise between warring factions added up to nothing.

RUSH TOWNSHIP — Draft ordinances to ban natural gas drilling in the township and protect fragile source water both were tabled Thursday — and only the source water protection plan will move forward. The Board of Supervisors met before about two dozen people at its regular meeting, during which it again discussed the ordinances, and several observers were unhappy with Thursday’s result.

North Abington Twp: Several residents asked township supervisors to consider passing an ordinance banning natural gas drilling. A group of residents concerned about the effects natural gas drilling would have on the environment attended a township meeting Tuesday. They gave supervisors information on an ordinance similar to that presented to a number of municipalities throughout the region.

Thousands of natural gas wells are under construction around the country, due to a growing demand for fuel and a new drilling technique that has opened up deeply buried reservoirs once thought too expensive to mine. The industry says "fracking" — hydraulic fracturing of rock containing natural gas deposits — is safe, and vital to developing new domestic natural gas sources....But communities in New Mexico and around the country are trying to put the brakes on this kind of drilling. They're worried the fluid used to break open the rock and release the gas is poisoning their water and air. They're concerned about risks posed by the explosive number of new natural gas wells.... "I'm pushing for a ban on oil and gas drilling in Mora County," said John Olivas, a Mora County commissioner.

The Rush Township Supervisors held a public hearing last night to discuss the Source Water Protection ordinance, much to the dismay of almost all who spoke at the meeting. Previously, the supervisors have considered two ordinances; one presented by members of Rush For Clean Water that would essentially ban gas drilling altogether by creating a community Bill of Rights, while the SWP ordinance would be amending the township's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance to prohibit land disturbance such as drilling in areas that provide fresh water for public water sources.

On Monday, November 14, Councilman Doug Shields introduced a “Toxic Trespass Resulting from Unconventional Natural Gas Drilling” ordinance to City Council. “Although the media constantly reports on issues caused by shale gas extraction, our State Assembly’s lack of interest and action on the matter is most disconcerting and dismissive. Because of the State Assembly's head long efforts to enable the gas extraction industry to the detriment of the Commonwealth’s people and natural environment, I find it appropriate to introduce some level of protection for our citizens,” said Councilman Shields.

On the relatively rare occasions that city folk and suburbanites previously had to think about oil and gas drilling, many probably conjured images of grasshopper-esque rigs dotting remote landscapes like Wyoming’s mountain range, Alaska’s tundra or Oklahoma’s wind-swept plains. Most probably didn’t equate drilling with the bright lights of their big city, but they should have because urban America is fast becoming ground zero for the same fights over energy that have long threatened the great wide open.

Municipal officials from 12 Pennsylvania counties sent a letter to state legislators Monday asking them to cut provisions from pending House and Senate Marcellus Shale bills that would limit or remove local zoning control over oil and gas drilling. The 46 officials, including five supervisors from Exeter Township, argue that the bills unfairly exempt oil and gas operations from local land use regulations or standardize limits on local control.

The Pa. State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) and five other local government organizations are urging lawmakers to reconsider language in House Bill 1950 that would strip local governments of all decision-making power over oil and gas operations in their communities, including where these operations could be located. The groups on Monday issued a joint memo to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and proposed revisions intended to meet the Legislature’s goal of establishing uniform regulations while maintaining a reasonable level of decision-making ability at the local level.

A broad-ranging bill to regulate natural gas drilling in the state and impose a fee on drillers won a key state Senate committee’s support Monday but not the bipartisan backing the high-ranking Republican sponsor had hoped for. Only one Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee crossed party lines to join Republicans in endorsing the proposal from Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, of Jefferson. The full Senate is expected to debate the bill as early as Tuesday.

Marcellus Shale gas drilling spokesmen at an industry conference in Houston said their companies are employing former military counterinsurgency officers and recommended using military-style psychological operations strategies, or psyops, to deal with media inquiries and citizen opposition to drilling in Pennsylvania communities. Matt Pitzarella, a Range Resources spokesman speaking to other oil and gas industry spokespeople at the conference last week, said the company hires former military psyops specialists who use those skills in Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields wants to hold Marcellus shale drillers and entities -- including state government -- responsible for potential air and water pollution generated by natural gas extraction. Shields on Monday introduced what he called "toxic trespass" legislation. It targets Marcellus shale explorers who permit the release of chemicals associated with fracking and government entities that allow pollution that results from shale drilling. The legislation contains civil penalties and summary criminal prosecution of violators.

A year after pushing through a ban on natural gas drilling, Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields plans to introduce legislation today that would hold drilling companies -- and federal state and local agencies that license them -- responsible for any contamination....Mr. Shields says neither the city nor Pittsburghers themselves should be contaminated by chemicals used in the drilling process, including the bromides in hydraulic fracturing fluid, often called "frack water."

On Monday, November 14, Councilman Doug Shields will introduce "Toxic Trespass" legislation. This legislation is designed to protect the health, welfare and safety of the people of Pittsburgh....While Pittsburgh has a drilling ban in place, its water sources are not protected from activity occurring upstream.

Right up to Election Day, Peters residents were receiving sleek fliers in the mail encouraging them to vote against a referendum to ban gas drilling in the Washington County community. The mailers weren't coming from local opposition, but from Houston-based industry group Consumer Energy Alliance.

By a ratio of more than 4-1, voters in an affluent Pittsburgh suburb said natural-gas drilling could go on in their township. In Tuesday's general election, nearly 5,200 Peters Township voters rejected a referendum proposal that would have barred drilling, compared with a little more than 1,100 who voted for a ban.

Republicans often say they are advocates of local control, repeating bromides such as "the people know better than the politicians or bureaucrats." But not when it comes to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania. On this subject, the politicians and bureaucrats are poised to tell the people that they know best -- and never mind the local concerns of residents of municipalities across the state who will have to live with the results. Harrisburg knows best.

More than 61 percent of Newton Twp. voters who visited the polls Tuesday rejected a referendum that would have taken the first step toward a home rule charter. The referendum asked voters whether they wanted to set up a commission that would study the feasibility of adopting a home rule charter, which supporters believed would give residents more of a voice in the township's government. Tuesday's ballot also listed seven residents running for spots on that commission - many of whom said they wanted to explore the idea of home rule as a way of addressing concerns about gas drilling.

By a margin of more than four-to-one, voters in an affluent Pittsburgh suburb say natural gas drilling can go on in their township. In Tuesday's general election, nearly 5,200 Peters Township voters rejected a referendum that would have barred drilling, compared with just over 1,100 who voted for a ban....Jules Lobel, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who represented the anti-drilling group in court, said the issue concerned the "whole question of local control over one's life, over things that matter."

Despite the work of a very determined group of citizens, a referendum banning Marcellus Shale gas drilling was overwhelmingly defeated Tuesday in Peters, Washington County....A similar measure in the city of Warren, Warren County, also was defeated, though one in the borough of State College, in Centre County, was approved by voters there.

The amendment that would add an environmental bill of rights to the Home Rule Charter to ban commercial natural gas extraction ... passed in Tuesday’s election. “It is a tremendous victory,” said Braden Crooks, who started the drive to get the amendment on the ballot. “It is an incredible statement by the people of State College.”

Residents in the City of Warren voted soundly Tuesday against an amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter regarding the treatment of Marcellus Shale frackwater. The referendum vote 795 Yes and 1,316 No ends the West Side Alliance' bid to ban the treatment of frackwater and natural gas extraction within the city and prohibit the storage, deposit or transport of produced water, frackwater or brine within Warren, at least through an amendment to the city's charter.

Despite the work of a determined group of citizens, a referendum banning Marcellus Shale gas drilling was overwhelmingly defeated in the Washington County township of Peters tonight....The referendum was among one of the first in the nation in which voters had a direct voice in determining whether gas well drilling -- and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" -- should be allowed in their neighborhoods.

While many voting precincts across Pennsylvania are reporting low turnout this general election day, poll workers in Peters said a referendum that would ban Marcellus shale drilling in the township is attracting a surge of voter interest. Residents are voting on a referendum that would essentially make all natural gas extraction activity illegal — and supersede all state and federal laws. A petition drive put the measure on the ballot in the Washington County community despite concerns of township officials that such a law would be illegal and result in expensive legal challenges.

By a vote of 72% in favor, the people of the Borough of State College, home of Penn State University, adopted an amendment to their home rule charter that constitutionalizes a Local Bill of Rights, and protects those rights by prohibiting natural gas extraction and associated activities.

Last month, Forest Hills joined a growing list of Pennsylvania municipalities to ban natural gas drilling. But while activists call the measure a win for the community, questions about whether the ban would withstand legal challenges still loom. Local concern over the hazards of hydraulic fracturing—a process by which drillers inject a mixture of water, sand and chemicals through a well at high pressure to fracture shale rock and extract natural gas—has escalated over the past few years. Following Pittsburgh’s ban on drilling last November, communities such as Baldwin, West Homestead and Wilkinsburg have adopted similar legislation.

Communities including the city of Pittsburgh have attempted to ban natural gas drilling by legislative action. But a referendum question on the ballot in Tuesday's election in Peters Township could mark the first time that a group of citizens has tried to force a ban by changing the community's home rule charter. The township council has opposed the effort.

Amid the sea of colorful, plastic campaign signs scattered around Peters are angrier, bolder signs flapping in the wind, screaming "VOTE NO!! Protect Your Township," and "Vote Yes! Protect Our Property Values." They are part of the battle for the hearts and minds of voters in this affluent municipality of about 21,000 residents. The fight, which has already garnered attention from the national media, pits residents and energy companies who advocate drilling in the Marcellus Shale gas formation against a citizens group that is seeking to ban it in Washington County's most populous municipality through a voter referendum on Tuesday.

A group in Newton Twp. concerned about the possible effects of natural gas drilling is asking residents to weigh in on whether to study ways to change their local government in the hopes of banning drilling altogether. Newton Twp. residents will vote Tuesday on a referendum that would allow the formation of a commission to study the existing form of government and consider the advisability of adopting a home rule charter.

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority on Friday accused four industrial wastewater treatment plants on the Allegheny River and its tributaries of increasing bromide levels in the river that supplies drinking water to nearly 500,000 people

The exact text of the ballot question: Shall Article II of the City of Warren's Home Rule Charter be amended to add a "Bill of Rights" enumerating rights to water, natural communities, sustainable energy future and local self government; banning natural gas extraction, except installed and operating wells; banning deposit, storage or transport of natural gas extraction by-products; and elevating the rights created under this amendment above those rights claimed by persons or corporations violating this amendment?

Residents of the City of Warren will vote Tuesday, Nov. 8 on a referendum that would amend the city's charter and ban the treatment of Marcellus Shale frackwater and natural gas extraction within the city, prohibit the storage, deposit or transport of "produced water" "frackwater," brine or other materials, chemicals or byproducts from unconventional development of natural gas from shale formation within Warren. What the referendum will allow and not allow within the city has been debated by the West Side Alliance, the group formed last year to oppose the proposed waste water treatment plant on the city's west end and petitioned the referendum for the ballot; the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which provides legal services for the West Side Alliance; city officials; some local businesses; and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association.

Mr. Merrell recently posted an open letter to the people of Peters in which he made several assertions regarding the content of the ballot referendum. Based on the development of the western intellectual tradition in the last century in relation to environmental ethics, environmental law, and human rights, I respectfully disagree with several of his comments and conclusions. Further it is my contention that the referendum is not a meaningless document but the natural outgrowth of the western intellectual tradition that has its origin in the philosophies of the Enlightenment thinkers.

State College voters have an exciting opportunity on Tuesday. Together with two other communities, State College will have the first popular vote on a community bill of rights and natural gas drilling ban in the country.

Those walking into Rolling Hills Country Club Wednesday night to listen to speakers regarding flaws surrounding the amendment to the home rule charter being voted on Tuesday in Peters Township were greeted by the opposition with a hand out of their own. Inside, more than 30 people—including supporters, opposition, commissioners and curious residents—attended the special informative meeting held by Peters Township resident Suzanne Kennedy and her husband Jimmy Moran.

Legislation that could provide for state pre-emption of local gas drilling ordinances won approval from a House committee Wednesday on a party-line vote. The measure approved 15 to 10 by the Finance Committee would amend the 1984 Oil and Gas Act to supercede local ordinances in areas where the state has an "appropriate" regulation, according to a committee bill summary....Local governments would have difficulty keeping wells away from residential areas and schools with the bill's pre-emption provision, said Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-120, Kingston, the ranking Democrat on the panel. "The bill strips from local governments what little power they have to locate wells," she added.

House Republicans moved ahead with a natural gas drilling impact fee plan that, they said, strikes a balance between protecting the state and allowing the growing industry to continue adding jobs. The new impact fee plan reflects the recommendations of Gov. Tom Corbett's Marcellus shale commission by implementing a county-level fee of up to $40,000 per well over a 10-year period, with 75 percent of the revenue remaining with local governments in the areas where drilling takes place.

Many people in Sidney, N.Y., were outraged when the town board voted unanimously to provide a 50-year franchise to Leatherstocking Gas Co. for a natural gas pipeline at a meeting last month. Dozens shouted “Postpone the vote!” as they protested the town board’s vote in favor of the franchise. Their fear: that it will open the door to the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as fracking.

Local rules for gas drilling would be null and void under the Marcellus Shale legislation swiftly approved by a House panel on Wednesday, highlighting a key obstacle in crafting a drilling oversight measure....But the section drawing the loudest concerns from Democratic members of the House Finance Committee, environmental advocates and others was a provision stating that statewide rules would supersede all local ordinances regulating oil and gas operations.

A gas drilling bill that House Republicans introduced on Wednesday imposes a statewide standard for local zoning but does not require an impact fee, mirroring Gov. Tom Corbett's plan. The Marcellus shale bill by Rep. Brian Ellis, R-Butler County, leaves it to counties to decide whether to impose a fee on each natural gas well. That was a linchpin of the proposal Corbett announced last month in Pittsburgh.

After an hour of heated discussion, a state House panel approved a Republican-backed drilling impact fee bill on a party-line vote this morning....The House GOP provision to supersede drilling rules came from the Corbett administration. The governor has said publicly that he believes those local rules should be standardized, a request that drillers also have voiced repeatedly.

A public hearing was held last night to discuss the ordinance brought forth to Rush Township by the group Rush For Clean Water that would ban gas drilling. Most people in attendance were in favor of the outright ban, while a couple spoke of the dangers passing the ordinance could bring....Rob Bailey said drilling in the township's watershed would be "insane." He said the whole idea of gas drilling is essentially a problem with democracy.