Non-Rights Based Fracking Ordinances
“Look—we can’t pass an ordinance banning fracking—every community that has is getting sued!”
It might look that way—but in fact, not a single, rights-based ordinance has been attacked by the drilling corporations.
The communities being sued for their attempts to regulate or prohibit gas drilling and fracking are the ones that adopted non-rights-based ordinances. They base their ordinances on state regulatory law and receive the blessings of municipal solicitors that the ordinances are legal. And when the corporations sue, the laws are stacked on behalf of the corporations: violations of their constitutional and civil rights. The corporations win. The communities lose.
In contrast, the communities adopting rights-based ordinances ground those ordinances in community rights to local self-government, the rights of natural communities and ecosystems, the right to water, and the rights of community members over corporations.
What happens if a corporation were to sue a community that has adopted a rights-based ordinance? Rather than arguing over Municipal Planning Code law and the violation of a corporation’s rights, the battle would be over democratic local self-governance.
Read below to see what happens when communities follow the rules rather than asserting their fundamental rights to local self-governance.
Introduction: The Real Frackasaurus Coloring Book
