On March 28, Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) hosted a public forum to address options citizens have for returning democratic power to their communities. Eric Banford, deep democracy activist and member of the Danby drilling task force, shared strategies from communities in Pennsylvania and Maine.

Dr. Cecile Lawrence, who recently announced her candidacy for governor on the Green Party ticket, put drilling into context with social justice issues. Joseph Schwartz, professor of political science at Temple University and the national vice chairman of DSA, focused on problems with environmental deregulation.

Banford admitted that it’s hard to talk about vibrant local democracy when 50 percent of the people don’t even show up to vote. But if communities want self determination, if they want to be able to push back against demands of corporate interests, then people are going to have to reassert their rights, he said.

When the Declaration of Independence was conceived, corporate charters were established for a limited period and reviewed periodically, Banford explained. Not only were corporations expected to serve the greater good of the community, but they were held responsible for any damages. Not anymore. Now corporations are chartered indefinitely and must serve the financial interest of the stockholders. They also enjoy “limited liability,” Banford noted.

More importantly, since 1886 the Supreme Court has been blurring the lines between corporation and personhood, conferring upon corporations many of the Constitutional rights afforded people. Somehow a side note in a Supreme Court case ended up setting a precedent and “corporate personhood” became accepted, Banford explained.

For example, in 1922 the Supreme Court ruled that the Pennsylvania Coal Co. was entitled to “just compensation” under the Fifth Amendment. The company was fighting a state law designed to keep houses from collapsing as the mining company tunneled beneath them. That law, claimed Pennsylvania Coal, was unfair because it limited how much coal they could extract.

More recently, in January, the court’s decision on Citizens United gave corporations First Amendment rights, declaring that election financing was akin to freedom of speech.

“Democracy is the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you,” Banford said. “So how do we assert our democratic rights when corporate lobbyists help change the laws to allow more efficient resource extraction?”

One of the problems facing citizens is that, when a toxic spill occurs, they have to prove that the corporation is liable, Lawrence explained. With the amount of drilling projected over the next decade, there will be many opportunities for accidents with fracking chemicals, he added.

Many of these chemicals are endocrine disruptors, Lawrence said. Researchers haven’t studied the effects of chemicals working in combination. “There are so many possibilities of things that can go wrong,” Lawrence said. “And not just with chemicals, but with air quality, too.”

The situation with hydraulic fracturing is a result of weak environmental regulation, Schwartz added. Until upstate New York regains manufacturing and industrial opportunities, he believes that many people will be tempted by leases and royalties.

Individuals don’t have much power, but governments do, Lawrence said, and she proposed a number of steps that both state and local governments could take to assure public safety. Topping her list is reforming state and local statutes.

If current fines aren’t working we need to increase the fine and add jail time, Lawrence said. “Maybe we should confiscate property,” she added. “Why are drug traffickers treated more severely than corporate polluters?”

Lawrence also emphasized that the concept of “corporate personhood” must be clarified. Are they persons only when they need protection, she wondered, or are they persons all of the time?

Under the current Environmental Conservation Law, the only things towns and villages can regulate are taxes and roads. But that hasn’t stopped people in Caroline and Dryden from taking action.

Dominic Frongillo, Town of Caroline Deputy Supervisor, says that Caroline is posting weight limits on its roads. The town board will conduct a survey of all the roads so they can bond them. In addition, Frongillo says the town board recently conducted a survey to determine Critical Environmental Areas (CEA) in the town. The CEAs won’t halt drilling, he explained, but they will make the DEC and drilling companies pay attention to those areas as they fill out their environmental reviews.

Meanwhile, a group of Dryden residents is collecting signatures on two separate petitions they hope to present to their town board, says Marie McRae. One petition seeks to regulate industrial noise in an effort to protect health and preserve the rural, agricultural and residential character of Dryden.

A second petition seeks to restore home rule to the town. Citizens signing the petition are asking the town board to pass a local ordinance affirming that the people of the Town of Dryden have the right to determine rules and regulations pertaining to the use and exploitation of their own land, resources (including minerals and other extractives), water and air within the town for the benefit and health of its residents. Although state law currently does not permit this, a similar law was successfully challenged in Pennsylvania by a township. Dryden activists would like to see their town do the same thing.

TAGGED WITH: environmental issues, Eric Banford, Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America, local governmnt, Marcellus Shale