<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">FYI folks, <div><br></div><div>Mora County’s ordinance was struck down in court, as expected. Here is CELDF’s press release. <br><div apple-content-edited="true">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div>- - -</div><div>Shannon Biggs</div><div>Director, Movement Rights</div><div><a href="mailto:shannon@movementrights.org">shannon@movementrights.org</a></div><div><br></div><div>Rights and real democracy. Empowering communities to write new rules. Please join us today: <a href="http://www.movementrights.org/donate.html">http://www.movementrights.org/donate.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>Fracking and Rights of Nature: Read our latest news from the UK Guardian <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/dec/10/fracking-redd-lima-climate-talks-slammed-nature-tribunal">http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/dec/10/fracking-redd-lima-climate-talks-slammed-nature-tribunal</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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<div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica';">Mari Margil <<a href="mailto:mmargil@celdf.org">mmargil@celdf.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica';"><b>Mora - CELDF Press Statement</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica';">January 20, 2015 at 10:56:06 AM PST<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica';">Thomas Linzey <<a href="mailto:tal@pa.net">tal@pa.net</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Cc: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica';">Stacey Schmader <<a href="mailto:stacey@celdf.org">stacey@celdf.org</a>>, Ben Price <<a href="mailto:bengprice@aol.com">bengprice@aol.com</a>>, Chad Nicholson <<a href="mailto:ctnicholson@gmail.com">ctnicholson@gmail.com</a>>, Gail Darrell <<a href="mailto:gail@celdf.org">gail@celdf.org</a>>, Michelle Sanborn <<a href="mailto:michelle706988@gmail.com">michelle706988@gmail.com</a>>, Kai Huschke <<a href="mailto:kai@celdf.org">kai@celdf.org</a>>, Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin <<a href="mailto:lindsey@world.oberlin.edu">lindsey@world.oberlin.edu</a>>, Ann Kneeland <<a href="mailto:annbkneeland@yahoo.com">annbkneeland@yahoo.com</a>>, Dan Brannen <<a href="mailto:dbrannen@brannenlawllc.com">dbrannen@brannenlawllc.com</a>>, <a href="mailto:shannon@movementrights.org">shannon@movementrights.org</a>, Cliff Willmeng <<a href="mailto:bigreddog1934@yahoo.com">bigreddog1934@yahoo.com</a>>, Elizabeth Comeaux <<a href="mailto:eacomeaux.atty@outlook.com">eacomeaux.atty@outlook.com</a>>, Elizabeth <<a href="mailto:edunnelaw@gmail.com">edunnelaw@gmail.com</a>>, lorraine <<a href="mailto:lorrainel43@fastmail.fm">lorrainel43@fastmail.fm</a>>, "Tish O'Dell" <<a href="mailto:tish@celdf.org">tish@celdf.org</a>><br></span></div><br><div><div dir="ltr">Folks,<div><br></div><div>Press statement went out to media. Will be posted on the website and to social media. Attached and text below.</div><div><br></div><div>- Mari</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Mora County, NM:
Court Finds that Fracking Ban </span></b><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Does Not Violate Certain Corporate “Rights”</span></b></p><p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></b></p><p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Strikes law as violating New Mexico Oil and Gas Law,
</span></b></p><p class="" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">finds communities do not have authority to say “no”
to fracking </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><br>
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">MEDIA STATEMENT</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">January 20, 2015<br>
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<b><u>Contact</u>:<u></u></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Thomas
Linzey, Esq., Executive Director</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><a href="mailto:tal@pa.net"><span style="color:windowtext">tal@pa.net</span></a>,
(978) 282-0110</span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">MORA COUNTY, NM:
In 2013, the Mora County Commission enacted the <i>Mora County Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance </i>establishing
the right to local, democratic self-governance, and rights to water and a
healthy environment. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">The Ordinance prohibits
fracking for shale gas and oil as part of its ban on the extraction of
hydrocarbons in the County. Those
activities are prohibited as a violation of the rights of the people and
ecosystems of the County. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">In doing so, Mora
County became the first County in the U.S. to adopt a local bill of rights
banning commercial oil and gas extraction within a municipality. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Energy corporations
promptly filed two lawsuits against Mora County, <b>claiming that the community does not possess the right to protect
itself from fracking and oil and gas extraction</b>. Mora County is defending the Ordinance in
both lawsuits.</span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">A decision in one
of the cases – <i>SWEPI v. Mora County</i> –
was issued yesterday by the United States District Court for the District of
New Mexico. In its decision, the Court
found for Mora County in part, and for the corporations in part, and then
determined that the Ordinance could not stand without the parts that had been
struck. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">In his decision,
U.S. District Judge James Browning wrote that <b>Mora County had a “legitimate county interest”</b> in enacting the
Ordinance, specifically because protecting the County from damage that could be
caused by oil and gas extraction supported the adoption of the Ordinance. However, <b>the
Court found, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Act preempts the community’s authority
to ban commercial oil and gas extraction</b>. Judge Browning also held that even a temporary
moratorium on oil and gas drilling would violate the state Act. </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">In its defense,
Mora County argued that the people’s right to local, community self-government provided
the authority for the Ordinance to override corporate “rights” and state
preemption, precisely because those “rights” and preemption are routinely used
to override local lawmaking across the United States. <b>Mora
argued that in a competition between corporate “rights” and the right of local,
community self-government, that the people’s rights must prevail over corporate
ones.</b></span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">In his ruling,
Browning affirmed that corporations have such rights, but indicated that the
District Court did not have the authority to change them. He wrote:</span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">“The Defendants' argument that corporations should not be
granted constitutional rights, or that corporate rights should be subservient
to people's rights, are arguments that are best made before the Supreme Court
-- the only court that can overrule Supreme Court precedent -- rather than a district
court.” </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">In response to the
Court’s ruling, Executive Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense
Fund (CELDF), Thomas Linzey, Esq., stated, “With this decision, the <b>Court affirms what our communities already
know, that the existing structure of law denies local, democratic
self-governance</b>. The existing
structure of law denies communities the authority to protect themselves from
fracking. <b>The</b> <b>existing structure of
law denies communities the authority to protect their water and the natural
environment</b>.” </span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">He stated further
that, “Mora County has been at the forefront of a movement of communities that
is building across the country, joining together to say that they are unwilling
to live under a structure of law which denies their democratic decision making
authority. Mora County, in enacting this
Ordinance, said that it was no longer willing to accept the existing structure
of law which denies people and their communities the authority to protect their
water and environment.”</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"></span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Linzey added, “As
with communities in other states, New Mexico communities must grapple with the
way that the law is constructed by <b>building
a statewide movement that eventually changes the state constitution to
recognize the people’s right to adopt laws like Mora’s</b>.”</span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Late last year, the Court granted the Mora Land Grant the
authority to intervene in the case. The
parties are now considering appealing the Court’s decision.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><br>
<span style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Through grassroots organizing and public
interest law, the <a href="http://www.celdf.org/"><span style="color:windowtext">Community
Environmental Legal Defense Fund</span></a> works with communities across the
country to establish Community Rights to democratic, local self-governance and
sustainability. CELDF has assisted close
to 200 communities to ban shale gas drilling and fracking, factory farming,
water privatization, and other threats, and eliminate corporate “rights” when
they violate community and nature’s rights. </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">This
includes assisting the first communities in the U.S. to establish Rights of
Nature in law, as well as the first communities to elevate the rights of
communities above the “rights” of corporations.<span class=""> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><br>
<br>
<span style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:16.8pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">###</span></p><div><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></div>
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