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<TITLE>No takers on commenting on Mora County? </TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Dear friends, <BR>
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Its important I think for us to stand with the only other county in the country that is asserting their right to protect their local new Mexico water from fracking. As they are now under threat from a Big Oil lawsuit, I know residents would be heartened to hear why you are risking the same thing, standing with them in solidarity, real democracy, radical change and love. This could be the fight that goes all the way up to the Supreme Court. This is the organizing frontlines, where all communities stand together to show our power and unity. <BR>
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I didn’t get any takers on the willingness to be quoted, but in case you have a moment and thought “surely someone else would have done it so I won’t bother” its a really beautiful way to reach out across the either and make a real connection with your compatriots, allies, and fellow changemakers. Here is the DRAFT text of the blog: <BR>
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Send a quote my way today if you are so inclined. <BR>
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Thanks. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><B>Why Mora County New Mexico is Fighting Frackers for Your Rights, Too <BR>
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By Kiara Collins, Community Rights Intern, Global Exchange<BR>
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Mora County New Mexico is not the first place that comes to mind for challenging the ‘rights’ of corporations. This is high desert, and life moves pretty slowly for the 5,000 residents—at least until fracking arrived.<BR>
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This sparsely populated county is politically conservative, with a large Native American population, and where over half of those living in Mora County are native Spanish speakers. For just about everybody, homesteading, ranching and living close to the land is a way of life. As resident Roger Alcon told the Los Angeles times, "We've lived off the land for five generations. I don't want to destroy our water, [and] you can't drink oil." <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/28/local/la-me-fracking-ban-20130529">http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/28/local/la-me-fracking-ban-20130529</a> <BR>
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In 2013, Mora County became the first county in the U.S to ban hydraulic fracturing by exercising their right to local self-governance. By enacting these rights, they passed a local law—the Community Water Rights and Local Self-Governance ordinance—that bans all fossil-fuel extraction in their county, because to do so would be a violation of residents’ civil rights. The ordinance also strips corporations of their “right” to frack, and recognizes that the ecosystem upon which all life depends has a right to be free of the contamination that fracking brings. <BR>
<a href="http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf">http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf</a><BR>
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<B>BIG OIL TAKES ON THE PEOPLE OF MORA COUNTY<BR>
</B>Shortly after the ordinance was passed, the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and three landowners in a federal district court sued Mora County. They protested that Mora County had violated corporate constitutional rights “commemorated in the 1st, 5th, and 14th amendments,” —a Constitution and a Supreme Court that has “found” that large corporations are rights bearing “persons”—which means as long as they have a permit, unwanted industry can set up shop where we live—even over our community objections. <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/peopletopeople/2013/01/16/beyond-personhood-why-corporations-love-the-constitution-more-than-you-do/">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/peopletopeople/2013/01/16/beyond-personhood-why-corporations-love-the-constitution-more-than-you-do/</a> <BR>
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Then in January of 2014, Shell Western E&P Inc. (SWEPI), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell also sued Mora County claiming that enacting the Community Water Rights and Local Self-Governance ordinance <FONT COLOR="#1A1A1A"><</FONT><FONT COLOR="#0042C3"><a href="http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf">http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf</a></FONT> <<a href="http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf">http://celdf.org/downloads/Mora_Co_Community_Rights_Ordinance_042913.pdf</a>> <FONT COLOR="#1A1A1A">></FONT> was a violation of the corporation’s Constitutional rights. <BR>
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Despite what the Supreme Court has said, Mora County residents don’t see the justice in corporate decisionmakers wielding the law to turn their community into a sacrifice zone for profit. The Mora County ordinance clearly states <FONT COLOR="#1A1A1A">“…corporate entities and their directors and managers shall not enjoy special privileges and powers under the law which make community majorities subordinate to them.” <BR>
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<B>MORA COUNTY FIGHTS CORPORATE POWER<BR>
</B>Mora County is not giving in to Big Oil & Gas to exploit residents, property values, health and the ecosystem all residents depend on. They stand behind the Bill of Rights ordinance which says that, “corporations in violation of the prohibitions enacted by this ordinance, or seeking to engage in activities prohibited by this ordinance, shall not have the rights of ‘persons’ afforded by the United States and New Mexico constitutions…” <BR>
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Mora County Commissioners are working to defend this Community Bill of Rights, but even more so to defend themselves from government laws that aim to elevate corporate “rights” over community rights. Mora County commissioners has partnered with Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund CELDF to defend the right to self-governance, which is under attack. (CELDF) and the New Mexico Environmental Law Center stand in solidarity with Mora County exercise their inherent rights of environmental health and safety. They fight this themselves. Mora County Commissioners call on all communities across the U.S to stand in solidarity with the people of Mora county to challenge a structure of law that permits exploitation and protect the environment that people depend so much on.<BR>
“Why is the outcome of this fight important beyond Mora County? Because at the heart of it is the question: “who has rights; people or corporations?”</FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#1A1A1A"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:15pt'>-</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>Ben Price, the National Organizing Director of CELDF eloquently asked the larger question that detrimentally has and will continue to affect us all. The Community Bill Of Rights aims to take back power that people have been stripped of due to corporate greed. People have a right and a duty to protect themselves from corporate elite whom only desires to destroy local environments and families. <BR>
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<B>HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED TO SUPPORT MORA COUNTY<BR>
</B></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Cambria"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>If you’d like to support the people of Mora County in this battle with big oil and the corporate elite, visit please visit the Mora County Legal Defense Fund Website: </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Cambria"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'><FONT COLOR="#0042C3">moracountylegaldefensefund.org</FONT> <<a href="http://">http://</a>moracountylegaldefensefund.org/> <FONT COLOR="#1A1A1A"> <</FONT><FONT COLOR="#0042C3"><a href="http://moracountylegaldefensefund.org">http://moracountylegaldefensefund.org</a></FONT> <<a href="http://">http://</a>moracountylegaldefensefund.org/> <BR>
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