<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>No idea who wrote this, Ben just forwarded to me. Seems our article with your thoughts on Denton and community rights will be quite timely. Hoping to have that done tomorrow, if anyone wants to send me their quotes in addition to what Charles was so lovely to capture, today not too late. Thanks. Shannon <br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="" id="field-wrapper-attribution"><div class="">Published on </div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><span class="">Wednesday, November 05, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="">by</div><div class=""><a href="http://www.commondreams.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Common Dreams</a></div></div><h1 class="">'Just the Beginning': Communities Across Nation Ban Fracking</h1>
<div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p>In Ohio, California and Texas, voters took to ballots to say no to fracking, yes to communities' health</p></div></div></div><div class="" id="field-wrapper-authors"><div class="">by</div><div class=""><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/author/andrea-germanos-staff-writer" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Andrea Germanos, staff writer</a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><img class="" src="http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/headlines/facesoffracking-a.jpg?itok=PuS_77ua" alt="" height="500" width="955"></div></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p>Fracking
ban supporters Margaret Moreales-Rebecchi with her husband Larry
Rebecchi outside the Measure J office in Hollister, California. (Photo:
<span class=""><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128012869@N08/15668074385">Sarah Craig/Faces of Fracking</a>/via flickr/cc)<br></span></p></div></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p>Opponents
of fracking scored a handful of victories Tuesday, with voters choosing
bans on the extraction process in communities in Texas, Ohio and
California.</p>
<p>One of these wins was in the birthplace of fracking—Denton, Texas.</p>
<p>The ordinance prohibiting fracking within the city limits <a href="http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/TX/Denton/53684/147600/Web01/en/summary.html%20">passed</a> 58.64% to 41.36%, making Denton the first city in the state to enact such a ban.</p>
<p>Bruce Baizel, Energy Program Director of the environmental organization <a href="http://www.earthworksaction.org">Earthworks</a>, said the vote for the ban in Denton was a victory not only for the city but for communities nationwide.</p>
<p>"Denton, Texas, is where hydraulic fracturing was invented. It’s home
to more than 275 fracked wells. It’s a place that knows fracking
perhaps better than any other. If this place in the heart of the oil and
gas industry can’t live with fracking, then who can?" Baizel said in a
press statement.</p>
<p>"The answer, at present, is ‘no one.’ That’s why fracking bans and
moratoria are spreading like wildfire across the country," he stated.</p>
<p>While welcoming what she said was a victory for families and public health, Cathy McMullen, President of <a href="http://frackfreedenton.com">Frack Free Denton</a>,
warned that legal challenges were likely on the way. "Oil and gas
industry is going to try to use our own state government against us by
directing its paid flunkies to overturn the ban in the legislature,"
McMullen stated.</p>
<p>But the "ban is the voice of the citizens of Denton speaking directly
to the fracking industry, and local, state and national government: We
have had enough." Pursuing a lawsuit would show that industry and
government is "on the side of corporate interests and against the
people."</p>
<p>Athens, Ohio, one of four municipalities in the state where voters
faced fracking bans, also saw a victory for opponents of the practice.</p>
<p>The ban, which comes via a Community Bill of Rights, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/05/%20http%3A//results.ohioboe.com/athensoh/results.htm">passed</a> overwhelmingly—78.28% to 21.72%.</p>
<p>Jeff Risner of the Athens Community Bill of Rights Committee, which put the measure on the ballot, <a href="http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/athens-anti-fracking-bill-of-rights-gets-thumbs-up-from/article_f297892e-80b4-58e0-b8d9-a87f1951d44d.html%20">told</a> the Athens <em>Messenger</em> that the city's ban, and its wide support, could catalyze other municipalities in the state to push forth with their own bans.</p>
<p>Voters dealt a blow to the fracking industry in California as well, where two counties voted for bans.</p>
<p>In San Benito County, Measure J <a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/11/05/47869/fracking-bans-pass-in-2-counties-fail-in-santa-bar/">got</a>
the support of almost 57% of voters—despite millions the energy
industry spent to defeat it—and marks a victory environmental groups
hope can be repeated in other municipalities in the state.</p>
<p>As in Athens, the ban in Mendocino County—which <a href="http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/acr/current.htm">passed</a> 67.18% to 32.82%—comes through a community bill of rights. San Francisco-based <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/">Global Exchange</a>, which helped bring forth the measures, called it a historic and huge win.</p>
<p>Global Exchange’s Shannon Biggs, who organized the ballot effort
stated: "With the passage of Measure S, residents in Mendocino County
made history as the first California community to adopt a Community Bill
of Rights, placing their rights above corporate interests. Residents
see enactment of this ordinance as the first step in asserting their
right to local self-government, and a rejection of the idea that their
community will be a sacrifice zone for corporate profits."</p>
<p>"This is just a beginning for the community rights movement in California," Biggs stated.</p>
<p>Other fracking opponents say these Election Day victories show the start of a nationwide movement. </p>
<p>"The public tide is turning against fracking, not just in California but around the country," stated Hollin Kretzmann of the<a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org"> Center for Biological Diversity</a>.
"As voters from San Benito to Denton, Texas, showed, if regulators
won’t protect them from fracking pollution, local communities can and
will use the ballot box to protect themselves."</p></div></div></div><br></div>
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