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Braden Crooks (bradencrooks@gmail.com) sent a message using the contact form at http://occupychi.org/contact.

Groundswell Press Release

**STATE COLLEGE VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVE COMMUNITY BILL OF RIGHTS TO BAN FRACKING**

What: 72% Yes: The first popular vote in the nation on Community Rights to Ban Fracking, see the legislation: http://www.groundswell.gs/statecollege.html
When: Tuesday November 8th
Where: Borough of State College, PA
Who: The voters of State College, Groundswell PA, Sierra Club Moshannon Group, Environmental Coalition of Centre County, Eco-Action Student Club, The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Tuesday was a historic day for State College. With 72% yes for Community and Environmental Rights, the voters did something the whole community can be proud of.

The voters sent a clear and loud message Tuesday: We have the right to a sustainable future. We will stand up for local democracy and stand up against corporate industry.

The Charter Amendment creates the rights to clean water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It enfranchises local decision-making on environmental issues, and bans the commercial extraction of natural gas within the borough. It effectively removes corporate rights, and inshrines communities over corporations.

This vote was made all the more important by the recent push in Harrisburg to keep communities from having a say in their future when it comes to fracking. HR 1950 is anti-democratic and wrong. Any American, for or against fracking, can see the obvious injustice of limiting local democratic decision-making on any issue.

The voters have made a statement: Corporations might run our state and federal government, but they don’t run our town.

The task now is clear: to respect and implement the will of the people. Whether for or against, everyone in elected office and borough government has a duty to carry out what the people have made it clear they want. This is the first amendment petitioned on the ballot by citizens in State College, and with the Yes Vote is now the most formally supported issue the Voters of State College have ever presented to their local government. We are confident our local government will support the will of the citizens.

This was the first popular vote to enact a Community Environmental Bill of Rights in the nation, and there will surely be many more. Citizens are pushing for change all across America, and this is an incredible example of democracy at work to create positive change for a sustainable future.

www.groundswell.gs
Contact Braden Crooks: 703.863.1003 info@groundswell.gs, bradencrooks@gmail.com