"Sebastopol joins cities who support ban on fracking in California"

2014-05-21 by Magick Altman for [http://www.sonomacountygazette.com/cms/pages/sonoma-county-news-article-2708.html]: 

The Sebastopol City Council joined 13 other cities in supporting a Ban on Fracking in the state of California. Running the gamut from conservative LA and Beverly Hills to freewheeling Santa Cruz and Berkeley, local governments are taking the lead to pressure state and federal representatives to wake up. It’s past time to stop the toxic extraction industry from poisoning and wasting our precious water.
A young woman named Kusuma Rose gave an emotional appeal to the council because she has watched in horror at the devastating affects of fracking on her homes in both New York and Pennsylvania.
Mayor Robert Jacob took the lead by bringing this item to the agenda and after receiving full support of the people during public comment it was passed unanimously.
At the behest of Councilwoman Sarah Gurney, a copy of the resolution will be sent to the Sonoma County Mayors and Councilman's Association, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, our state representatives and Senators Feinstein and Boxer.
Holly Mitchell’s state bill SB 1132, that calls for a moratorium on fracking, has been sidelined into “the Appropriations Committee's suspense file which is often the place where bills go to die." according to the Sacramento Bee.
It is becoming abundantly clear that people who are working to save the place they live in and love are the most effective in stopping the forces of industry that only care about the bottom-line. These grassroots actions are the heart and soul of the move to protect the rights of nature, our community and consequently future generations. They get results fast because local city councils care and listen and corporations are less likely to be breathing down their necks.
Our representatives on the state and federal level are being lobbied and too easily bought by an industry that can’t unhook themselves from their addiction to oil, coal and gas.
The first Ban on Fracking was passed in Pittsburg, PA in 2010. It was the first ordinance in the US to include the Rights of Nature.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, CELDF, helped Pittsburg draft the ordinance and also helped Ecuador become the first nation in the world to incorporate the Rights of Nature in their constitution.
We have an opportunity as we update the Sebastopol General Plan, GP, to include the Rights of Nature in the GP, which is our town “constitution”.
For a copy of the Resolution contact: Sebastopol City Council @ 707 823 1153 online [http://ci.sebastopol.ca.us]
Link to The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: [CELDF.org]