Category Archives: News

Lafayette files class action suit to protect self-governance and community rights

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Residents of Lafayette, Colorado filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the state of Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) from taking away the town’s right to ban the practice.

Colorado citizens want the right to decide for themselves whether drilling sites like this one should be allowed in their communities.

Photo credit: The Endocrine Disruption Exchange

Citizens in Lafayette, which is a Home Rule Community under Colorado law, voted last November to pass a Community Bill of Rights under its Home Rule Charter that banned fracking and established the right of citizens to a healthy environment. In December COGA sued the city to overturn its Bill of Rights, claiming that while citizens don’t have a right to clean air and water or self-governance, COGA has a constitutional right to frack under the state’s Oil and Gas Act.

Citizens responded by filing a first-of-its-kind class action suit in June, arguing that parts of the Oil and Gas Act violate the right to local self-governance. The preliminary injunction, filed yesterday in the Boulder County District County, would prevent COGA’s lawsuit from moving forward until its own is decided and declare parts of the Oil and Gas Act unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs are part of the Colorado Community Rights Network, a group founded late last year to protect the rights of communities to make decisions locally on issues like fracking. They are represented by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a Pennsylvania-based group that provides affordable representation to communities clashing with deep-pockets corporations. CELDF executive director Thomas Linzey said of the Lafayette lawsuit:

The right to local, community self-government serves as the foundation for the American system of law. Yet the people’s right to self-governance has been routinely ignored by our elected representatives and overridden by the courts in favor of corporate rights. This class action lawsuit is merely the first of many by people across the United States whose constitutional rights to self-govern are routinely violated by state governments working in concert with the corporations that they ostensibly regulate. The people of Lafayette will not stand idly by as their rights are negotiated away by oil and gas corporations, and by their state government.

The lawsuit follows a recent deal between Gov. Hickenlooper and Colorado congressman Jared Polis to remove four contentious pro- and anti-fracking measures from this November’s state ballot in favor of an 18-member commission, with both citizens and oil and gas industry representatives, to work out an agreement on the issues to submit to the legislature for approval.

Many environmentalists took a dim view of this compromise, despite the likelihood that the industry would spend tens of millions of dollars to buy itself another ballot victory.

Colorado Initiative #103 winds through review process

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Colorado Initiative #103, written by Phil Doe of Be The Change U.S.A., is winding through the legal review process. Once that process is complete, the petition will be ready for gathering petitions to get it on the 2014 state-wide ballot.

The establishment of a public trust for natural and environmental resources

Statement of Principle:

The people of Colorado have an inalienable right to clean air, clean water, and the preservation of the environment and natural resources.

How these rights will be protected:

  • The state, as trustee, shall conserve these public resources using the best science available to protect them against substantial impairment.
  • Previous rights and agreements on the use of resources are subject to the substantial impairment test, and could be revoked.
  • The state shall seek monetary damages from anyone impairing these resources and the recovered value shall be used for remediation.
  • Colorado citizens may file enforcement actions on their own behalf in court.
  • Anyone proposing an action using public resources must prove the action will not substantially impair the resource.
  • The manipulation of scientific information for private gain in the use of public resources shall be deemed a criminal offense.

Colorado State Ballot Initiative 75, the Right to Local Government, Clears Final Hurdle at Colorado Supreme Court

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Legal council and organizers from the Colorado Community Rights Network
received notice today from the Colorado Supreme Court that ballot initiative
# 75, the Right to Local Self Government, has cleared its final legal
challenge, and is now headed toward signature gathering to place it onto the
2014 ballot. The ballot initiative, the first of its kind, succeeded in
clearing all phases of State approval as well as two corporate legal
challenges designed to keep the initiative from a democratic vote of
Colorado citizens.

The ballot initiative asserts, “People have an inherent and inalienable
right to local self-government.” It goes on to say that the power to enact
local laws protecting the health, safety, and welfare of individuals,
communities, and nature will not be subject to preemption by higher levels
of government, and that local governments will have the power to restrict
the ability of corporations to interfere with such laws. Preemption has been
used by the Colorado Mining Association to overturn a five-county ban on the
industrial use of cyanide in gold mining, and is currently being employed
against the communities of Longmont, Lafayette, and Fort Collins in their
efforts to protect their people and cities from the harmful effects of
modern oil and gas extraction.

The Colorado Community Rights Network will now begin to print petitions and
organize volunteer signature gatherers throughout the state. The current
volunteer structure spans over 30 Colorado cities and will grow through
statewide presentations and ongoing organizing efforts.

The Colorado Community Rights Network supports the view that our fundamental
rights are universal, and that the current legal framework that favors
corporations over people and communities threatens the essence of democracy.
Ballot initiative #75 addresses the inherent problems of corporate-centered
law. It is part of the larger national community rights movement to bring
full democratic rights and protections to communities across Colorado and
the United States.

The Colorado Community Rights Network is the umbrella organization advancing
ballot measure #75, the Colorado Community Rights Amendment, and helping
local communities create their own protections against corporate activities
that interfere with the rights of local communities and of individuals.
Founded in January 2014, the Colorado Community Rights Network now is
working on both the state and local level.

Contacts:
Cliff Willmeng 303 478 6613 willmeng70@gmail.com Lotus 719 337 0029
lotus23@comcast.net Merrily Mazza 720 556 1286 merrily.mazza@comcast.net
CoCommRights@gmail.com COCRN.org

Youths’ Anti-Fracking Petition To Be Heard Before The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez

Last fall, Colorado youth hand-delivered a petition for rulemaking to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The petition was signed by eight youth activists, who are members of the Boulder-based organization, Earth Guardians. The youth are petitioning the Commission to promulgate a rule to suspend the issuance of permits that allow hydraulic fracturing until it can be done without adversely impacting human health and safety and without impairing Colorado’s atmospheric resources and climate system, water, soil, wildlife, and other biological resources.

WHAT: The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing to consider youths’ anti-fracking petition.

WHEN: Monday, April 28, 2014, 1:00 p.m. MST

WHERE: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission 1120 Lincoln St, Suite 801 Denver, CO 80203

The youths’ petition was filed with the help of Our Children’s Trust, an Oregon- based nonprofit orchestrating a global game-changing, youth driven legal campaign. The legal effort advances the fundamental duty of government today: to address the climate crisis based on scientific baselines and benchmarks, and to do so within timeframes determined by scientific analysis.!

Short documentary films of Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and other young people taking legal action can be seen at http://ourchildrenstrust.org/trust-films.

Contact:
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Earth Guardians, 303-946-9347, xiuhtezcatl@earthguardians.org

Nate Bellinger, Our Children’s Trust, 413-687-1668, nate@ourchildrenstrust.org

Earth Guardians is a Colorado-based nonprofit organization with youth chapters on five continents, and multiple groups in the United States with more than 1,000 members working together to protect the Earth, the water, the air, and the atmosphere, creating healthy sustainable communities globally. We inspire and empower young leaders, families, schools, organizations, cities, and government officials to make positive change locally, nationally, and globally to address the critical state of the Earth. www.earthguardians.org

Our Children’s Trust is a nonprofit focused on protecting earth’s natural systems for current and future generations. We are supporting youth in the coordinated Atmospheric Trust Litigation effort. We are here to empower youth as they stand up for their lawful inheritance: a healthy planet. We are mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers. We are adults, part of the ruling generation, and we care about the future of our children–and their children’s children. www.ourchildrenstrust.org

Protect Our Loveland pleads for help in the face of City Council shenanigans

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Loveland City Council’s majority pushed through a reversal of the decision last Tues. to hold the Special Election that will decide the fate of Loveland’s citizen’s initiative on a two year moratorium on fracking in Loveland.  Was July 29 – a week later it was moved up to June 24.

We, the citizen’s of Loveland, have been continually sabotaged by this council majority’s actions against our initiative, and the vote to change the date of the Special Election to June 24 is no exception.

This decision was pushed through despite the warning the week before from our Larimer County clerk that taking such action would both disenfranchise many voters and confuse others (who may then find their vote disqualified due to mishandling of the ballot).

Her professional advice was met by attempts to bully and intimidate her into taking on our election.  When she refused, the behavior of two of our councilmen quickly erupted into some pretty despicable behavior.  Shameful.

She stood by her decision however, and refused to participate in threatening not only Loveland voters with disenfranchisement, but every voter in Larimer County.

Despite the county clerk’s advisements, and her refusal to participate, the council majority reversed their decision a week later – the special election will now be held on June 24th.

I guess Councilmen Taylor wouldn’t or couldn’t hold fast to his dissenting vote the week before.

What is worse (if in fact it can continue to get worse), the council majority’s action adds yet more  cost to taxpayers.  We pay and pay and pay for their continued manipulation of our right to vote.  An election that should have taken place last November now carries the price tag of at least $80,000.  I believe Troy Krenning’s claim to being a fiscal conservative has now been proven false.

Protect Our Loveland was organized to create and sponsor a citizen’s initiative, needed, because our City Council refused to acknowledge Loveland citizens concerns.  Concerns that oil and gas development would negatively affect our health and property values.  When our council majority then refused us our right to vote on the issue last Nov., our mission was expanded to include the protection of our civil rights.

We are now campaigning for our initiative.  Please join with us by volunteering to help us win our moratorium.  Please join with us by donating to help pay for the costs of this election, as we fight to win the time to consider the consequences of opening our city up to fracking before we know the facts.

The council majority may have made it clear, and obvious, that THEY don’t want a moratorium – or even an election on this issue.  But now that we finally have an election, regardless of their continued roadblocks, we are going to win it.

Protect our children, Protect our homes, Protect Our Loveland.  It’s two years.  The gas and oil aren’t going anywhere.

Thank you so much.

Sharon J. Carlisle

PROTECT OUR LOVELAND

Our Health  Our Voice

Phil Doe to participate in fracking debate

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Be The Change’s Environmental Director Phil Doe will debate the pros and cons of fracking this Thursday at the Denver Post Auditorium. Phil will be joined by Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capital Solutions. Arguing in favor of fracking are John Harpole, President, Mercator Energy, and Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President at Western Energy Alliance. The debate will be moderated by  Eric Sondermann.

Tickets are free, but space is limited and you must have a ticket to enter the auditorium. Tickets can be reserved at https://justthefrackingfacts.eventbrite.com.    A maximum of 5 tickets are allowed per order.

When: Thursday, March 20.  Doors open at 5:00, debate starts at 5:30
Where: Denver Post Auditorium
Hosted by Independence Institute and Alliance for Sustainable Colorado

 

Air Quality Control Commission – Public Comment Meeting

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The Air Quality Control Commission Public Comment Meeting is Wednesday, Feb 19 at 15151 East Alameda Parkway, Aurora, CO 80012 (Aurora’s City Center Building).

The Commission will have a designated time to take public comment from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM and from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM for participants that are appearing in person. This is designated for oral comments only.

IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE HEARING, EMAIL COMMENTS TO THE COMMISSION BY TOMORROW.

Written and/or electronic documents must be submitted to the Commission Office by closure of the Public Comment Session or by February 19, 2014.

Written submissions should be mailed to:

Colorado Air Quality Control Commission
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, EDO-AQCC-A5
Denver, Colorado 80246

Email submissions should be emailed to:cdphe.aqcc-comments@state.co.us

Defend U.S. Sovereignty from Undemocratic Trade Pacts

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TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO DEFEND U.S. SOVEREIGNTY, THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT,  AND U.S. RULE OF LAW FROM IMMINENT THREAT!

The new Trans Pacific Partnership trade treaty (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) contain terms that OVERIDE NATIONAL AND STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY LAWS, ENERGY AND TRANSPORTATION AND RESOURCE AND ECONOMIC POLICIES AND PROGRAMS, AND ULTIMATELY, U.S. SOVEREIGNTY AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.

Their terms include the right to sue member countries whose laws appear to limit their right to maximum profit, in secret tribunals conducted by corporate lawyers, and with no right of appeal for member nations. (Similar terms under NAFTA have yielded $390 million in fines to member countries, by asserting that corporate “investor rights” to maximal potential profit trump all other rights and laws). TPP and TTIP trade treaties ramp up those “investor rights” even further.

Articles and websites below review what is at stake, namely:  U.S. Constitutional representative government, U.S. rule of law and sovereignty, the preservation of  public health and safety and clean air, water and land, and climate stability, and a functional society, our right to plan an economic system that includes a fair playing field for small businesses, allows for public project investment, good jobs,  and upholds the rights of all Americans!

Congress may vote as to whether to grant Fast Tract Authority on the TPP as early as next week

If they grant Fast Track, it would mean that they renounce their proper Constitutional role in crafting trade treaties, giving it up to a Trade Representative and the 600 corporations who are crafting the terms in secret, and agreeing to only vote Up or Down on the final terms (not modifying the agreement reached). De Facto, they would also be agreeing to renounce the role of representative government and the laws of the United States of America, agreeing to the underlying premise that foreign corporations have “investor rights” to maximal potential profit , that are superior any U.S. laws or policies or programs (federal, state, or local).

We the People cannot let this occur! Beyond party interests, beyond issue interests, we all must unite in demanding that  our Congressional Representatives and Senators vote NO to Fast Track.

Sign Petitions and Get Connected:

Obama administration resists Freedom of Information Request on Keystone XL approval process

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State Department denies request for quick release of lobbyist documents; appeal filed

WASHINGTON – April 26 – The State Department has denied Friends of the Earth’s request for expedited release of internal documents that could shed light on the web of lobbyists TransCanada and the Province of Alberta have hired in order to fast track approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Friends of the Earth today filed a formal appeal. Continue reading →