03/14/2012 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 ( Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - Easton and Sugar Hill, NH) A local law to establish a Bill of Rights which recognizes and secures the civil and political rights of residents, known as the Town of Easton's Right to a Sustainable Energy Future and Community Self-Government Ordinance, was enacted tonight by all voters at their annual Town Meeting. The Town of Sugar Hill followed suit about an hour later, to enact the ordinance with unanimous voter support. The rights-based Ordinance bans land acquisition necessary for the construction or siting of unsustainable energy systems by corporations - activities that would violate the community Bill of Rights.

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03/14/2012 - 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.”

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03/12/2012 - Voters in a dozen towns along the proposed route of the Northern Pass transmission line will consider measures this week designed to prevent such projects from being developed in their communities. Sugar Hill, Easton, Lancaster, Plymouth, Northfield and Holderness will vote at town meeting on petitioned ordinances that would remove the legal powers of energy corporations to buy land in those towns....As part of their efforts, some Northern Pass opponents are pinning their hopes on “rights-based'' ordinances. The rights-based ordinance challenges the position of the U.S. Supreme Court that corporations are individuals and under the 14th Amendment are guaranteed equal protection.....SNOPAC member Nancy Martland said the town's rights-based ordinance “gives us some control over what happens in our town regarding the siting of corporate energy facilities, which we don't currently have. This claim is based in the constitutional right to self-government.”

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03/11/2012 - 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.

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