THE LEGACY OF RACHEL CARSON

Allow me to speak first on this Earth Day of the legacy of Rachel Carson, daughter of Pennsylvania, author of the book Silent Spring, considered a founding mother of the modern environmental movement, heralded as the most influential voice that led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies like it.

Sadly, the legacy of Rachel Carson is now a dead letter in Pennsylvania given the cozy alliance between the shale gas industry and the state’s department that is supposed to protect Pennsylvania’s environment for future generations. We Don’t Expect Protection anymore from an agency that has become so corrupted and politicized that its core mission has been lost altogether. If Rachel were alive today, she’d ask that her name be removed from the building in Harrisburg where the Don’t Expect Protection political lackeys are headquartered, gathering their taxpayer-paid salaries to usher in the industrialization and destruction of one-half the land mass of Pennsylvania. And she’d be right here with us kicking DEP’s butt. Since she cannot be here, it is our job to stand up and kick DEP’s butt to protect Pennsylvanians.

DR. ENGELDER’S “DEGRADING THE QUALITY OF THE PLAY.”

Secondly, a few words about the grand poobah and chief apologist of the shale gas boom in Pennsylvania, Dr. Terry Engelder of Penn State University, the man whose “find” of trillions of cubic feet of gas in the Marcellus shale formation got the gas companies slobbering with a new-found gluttonous appetite for more profits from a greenhouse gas whose full exploitation worldwide will, according to the International Energy Agency, raise the planets’ temperature by six degrees Fahrenheit and render it uninhabitable for many species including our own. This same good Dr. Engelder once told me that there was no chance that environmentalists could (quote) degrade the quality of the play (unquote) and stop the development of the Marcellus. By “play” he meant not the shale formation itself, which is of course just rock, but the Wall Street financed financial gamble, which is of course just greed, that propels the blasting of methane out of it.

Well I have news for Dr. Engelder.

Investors are starting to turn away from shale gas and other extreme forms of fossil fuel extraction. 51,000 people nationwide have signed up to risk going to jail in order to stop a pipeline that would carry the products from another form of extreme fossil fuel extraction, the tar sands of Canada, an extraction process fueled by shale gas. There is a grand movement getting underway to end the era of burning fossil fuels for our energy needs, and we in Pennsylvania fighting shale gas are part of that grand movement. Young people are demanding that their universities and churches shed their fossil fuel investments. PNC Bank is being pressured to stop funding mountaintop removal to get coal by people moving their accounts to other banks. The industry’s own risk analysis experts have declared resistance to shale gas as a serious threat to corporate profits. Today we join with Pennsylvanians across the state at every office of the Don’t Expect Protection agency to say that this fracking process cannot be done safely and that in any case we need to be leaving fossil fuels behind altogether if we are serious about protecting our Earthly homeland.

APPEAL TO DEP WORKERS TO COME OUT!

Now let me speak to the people inside that building there, many of them worthy public servants who got into the work of environmental protection out of the same motives that bring us here today. We have heard of the demoralization that has set in among some of you whose consciences are still alive. We know that some of you hold the papers and the evidence that proves the case that your agency has been hijacked by the shale gas industry and their political lackeys, elected and appointed, in Harrisburg. You know how the agency has covered up the environmental sins of the gas industry. We appeal to you to come out with that incriminating evidence. If you can do it openly, God bless you. If you cannot afford to lose your job, then leak the information. But get it out to the public before it is too late, and so you can rest easy that you have fulfilled the duties for which you signed on when your agency was still the Department of Environmental Protection.

RESIST!

Finally, let me speak of a mighty resistance to all forms of new and extreme forms of fossil fuel extraction with which we join hands today.

First, to speak personally, on May 10, 2012 I declared my 50-acre Paradise Gardens and Farm in Jefferson County to be “a farm forever inviolate” of shale gas extraction. On that day I stated “There is an increasing collusion between corporate power and the governmental powers of the United States of America, Pennsylvania and other states. Our founders warned against such collusion as a fundamental threat to our democracy and called for the people to be vigilant in resisting it.”  I followed up those statements by creating a deed restriction, a conservation easement, on my farm in the name of my late wife Dr. Lucinda Hart-González, The easement bans industrial activities like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and elevates the Rights of Nature above the powers claimed by extractive energy corporations to despoil the environment. The easement stands against any private property interests represented in deeds and leases that abet the despoliation of Nature by allowing fracking.

We can all do something to resist. We are all called to find, and every day we are finding, means to resist the corporate colonization of Pennsylvania that destroys the lives of many for the profits of few. Some like farmer Jenny Lisak do it by gathering the case record of shale gas destruction into her List of the Harmed because DEP is not doing that job. Some like Dr. Sandra Steingraber and others in New York are sitting in jail this Earth Day because they acted to resist shale gas extraction.

We are here today because DEP has betrayed its trust and failed to exercise its constitutional responsibilities. If DEP will not protect us, we will protect ourselves and defend the earth beneath our homes and farms. You hear that, DEP? Stand aside. The people will do what needs to be done to stop the destruction of Pennsylvania. You can count on that. We move today, we move tomorrow, and we will keep moving until we stop you and help you turn back to fulfilling the mission for which your agency was created. Then once again the words of Rachel Carson will be a living text by which the actions of DEP and all Pennsylvanians will be guided.

Good evening. I have been asked to talk about the impacts of fracking on our food system:  I will take these in somewhat reverse order of how often they are mentioned in literature on the impacts of fracking on farming and the food system. Impacts least mentioned may be the most important.

I will touch on oft-mentioned issues, too. These will be little more than bullet points because of tonight’s time limitations. If you want more detail, go to my farm website at www.paradisegardensandfarm.com where I have posted a PowerPoint on the need to stop this extreme form of natural gas extraction.  In addition, many reports on impacts to farms, farmers and livestock can be accessed by an Internet search of the phrase “List of the Harmed.”  http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/   More than 1,200 cases of harm are collected there, examining pathways of contamination via air, water, accidents and spills, you name it. An invaluable resource.

So here are some of the major impacts on farming and the food system that I see, and some connections between Big Oil/Gas and Big Agriculture.

• Climate Change: The big picture for farmers is the same as the big picture for all of humanity. A farmer watches the weather closely. Weather is changing and could change so drastically as to wipe out any need to feed humans because we will be gone.  The International Energy Agency has predicted that “Golden Age of Gas” will leads to more than 6°F warming and out-of-control climate change. Such a rise in temperature will have drastic consequences for the continuation of many species, including perhaps our own. NOAA reports 9% methane leakage form the natural gas infrastructure. Not only is there no climate benefit from the fact that gas burns more cleanly than coal at combustion, but there is a negative climate impact, increasing global warming in the short term with a greenhouse gas many time more potent than CO2 when we should be working on very energy front to reduce the causes of global warming.

• Increased natural gas development, the cheaper price of shale gas, and the deterioration of our food system are directly linked. From “The Surprising Connection Between Food and Fracking” by Tom Philpott in Mother Jones magazine. I quote:  “US agriculture is highly reliant on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and nitrogen fertilizer is synthesized in a process fueled by natural gas… Industrial agriculture’s reliance on plentiful synthetic nitrogen brings with it a whole bevy of environmental liabilities: excess nitrogen that seeps into streams and eventually into the Mississippi River, feeding a massive annual algae bloom that blots out sea life; emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide; and the destruction of organic matter in soil.

(At current prices) it takes about $82 worth of natural gas to make a ton of anhydrous ammonia, which is selling for about $800 per ton.”

Huge expansions of nitrogen fertilizer plants are underway, a move designed to “take advantage of low natural gas costs and high grain prices.” The American Farm Bureau Federation… supports additional access for exploration and production of oil and natural gas, including the use of hydraulic fracturing.”

• The fracturing of rural community.  Small farmers are part of a community that sustains itself on common values, a devotion to hard work and care for the land. Some of these values are inimical to the gas industry’s need to turn the countryside into an industrialized gas field that yields easy money for a few at the expense of the many. So the industry must first fracture the community before they can fracture the shale. An ethnographic study called “It’s Like We’re Losing Our Love” by Dr. Simona Perry has documented the loss of community cohesion as the land is commoditized for sheer profit – which is very unevenly distributed – and loses its moorings in Nature. The increase of “Haves” and Have Nots” is a common outcome in counties where energy extraction becomes dominant.

Now what about the water, the air and health of animals and people?

Very quickly!

• First the Big Picture – the scale and density of this development. We are talking about living in a gas field. This is an industry without boundaries, not subject to zoning restrictions we would normally use for such activities to set them off from human habitation. This extraction requires a relentless density of well pads (1 to 2 pads per square mile) and compressor stations and mid-stream facilities and new pipelines. What is happening is the overlay of an industrialized gas field onto a pre-existing rural landscape of farms, forests, homes and human communities, requiring every living being within that landscape to become subject to 24/7 exposure to hydrocarbons wafting un plumes through the air. There will be increasing exposure to stream or ponds or pastures or water tables into which toxic drilling and flowback fluids have spilled.

• Water is contaminated – short run and long run:  In the short run by spills, dumping of toxic wastes, burial of toxic waste pits, and by failed well casings (6-7% failure rate of the steel and concrete casings) allowing the migration of gases and liquids into underground strata or rock, perhaps into abandoned well bores, through per-existing fractures spaces in the rock, and into groundwater sources. Has happened hundreds if not thousands of times, but difficult to study and prove or else covered up by court settlement gag orders. Thus the industry claims “no documented case of groundwater contamination.” In the long run, speaking only of PA, one-half the land mass will receive 100,000 plus well bores over the next 50 years, each of these (even if perfectly capped) thousands of times more porous that the rock through which they were drilled, a conduit for future disaster, encased in steel and concrete that can fail at the outset and will certainly move and crack and fail over the next 50-100 years, allowing methane and other gases, perhaps fluids laced with carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals along with water soluble radioactive elements of the shale, to reach groundwater. No science says this cannot happen. The wells must hold up in perpetuity for it not to happen.

• Air is polluted and becomes a danger to human and animal health. Increases in ground-level ozone, random plumes of volatile organic compounds, flaring that releases dozens of sickening compounds into the air, people having nosebleeds and experiencing chemical contamination serious enough to cause loss of smell and neurological damage. More animals will experience and get sick from and die from aspiration pneumonia as their lungs take in the hydrocarbons of the gas field.

• Animals are sickened and dead. The Michele Bamberger-Robert Oswald study documented 24 cases of livestock and companion animals sickened and dead from exposure to toxic substances carried through water and air. The List of the Harmed that I mentioned reports many more cases.

• Farms and the countryside are becoming sacrifice zones for the energy needs of large urban areas, but not because the city people want that, but because our energy choices are constrained by the power of Big Oil & Gas that stand in the way of devoting appropriate resource to renewable and sustainable energy sources.

Fracking cannot be done safely as it is currently done and no amount of “green completion” regulation can remove its most serious long-term risks. And it is a stupid doubling-down on our reliance on burning fossil fuels for energy while the planet’s climate heats up around us.

****

Can I take just one more minute to say how I see the interconnectedness of all these issues and the kind of change in thinking we need to address this despoliation of our farms?

At the root of our problems is a human arrogance and disdain for Nature and its ways and gifts. Wendell Berry gives us an idea of the kind of respect for Nature we need.

Wendell Berry, from Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Rather than this vision of harmony with the ways of nature that we hear in Wendell Berry’s poem, we find ourselves living in the death grip of a fossil fuel era desperately trying to maintain its dominance over our lives, with its acolytes and servants proclaiming the good they do for humanity in powering our lives. Description of that death grip reads like a run-on sentence from hell itself:

“Under the capitalist imperative of profit we are steadily turning the earth into a blank medium into which genetically modified seeds and fossil fuel fertilizers are inserted by global chemical, oil and gas corporations that conspire with Big Agriculture to own the seeds and make the highest profits for a very few, at the expense of what goes on inside millions of our bodies, creating a brave new world of cheap food that yields Type-2 diabetes and food allergies and skyrocketing rates of autism and cancer, while all the while Big Insurance and Big Pharma build a bigger health care system that happily creates ever more jobs to pick up the pieces at the best profits that it too can achieve and the planet warms beyond recognition and those who call for a halt to the madness are deemed the mad ones by the powers that be in high political seats bought and purchased by the corporate titans of the fossil fuel era.”   

Diagram that!

Thank you.

For me this document reads like a huge compliment to all of us who are resisting fracking. It is clear that this consultant at least takes our movement seriously.  And Josh Fox should be very proud of the degree to which Gasland made it all around the world as an impetus for resistance. Hopefully Matt Damon’s Promised Land and Josh’s Gasland II will keep building on gains we have made.

There is a lot of encouraging news in here about anti-fracking movements around the world, maybe even some good leads as to how groups might be connected up internationally. And from what I read here, the grassroots organizations have the full respect of this analyst, if not the industry tycoons. I really liked the following passage, especially the words I have highlighted:

“In general, the anti-fracking movement is gradually becoming a component of the broader environmental movement: the UK’s Frack Off – in line with its climate justice roots – has promoted campaigns against coal mining, while US and Australian anti-coal groups have launched anti-fracking campaigns. Other progressive movements have also conscientiously cultivated links to the anti-fracking movement, both out of solidarity and – likely – for the publicity value.”

Nice to be considered among the “progressive” movements of the world by this industry risk analyst. (Smiling here.)

The document is also useful in showing how the industry wants to “handle” the population in shale areas, and the sort of things they worry about instead of being remorseful in any sense for the damage they have already done.  But people don’t like to be “handled” toward an objective that in the final analysis threatens their way of life, so perhaps this document will backfire on the industry as it gets circulated. The document endorses further use of the “settlement and gag” practice as perhaps the most economic route for the industry to take, stating this:  “Yet, as in the Dimock case, settlement – rather than conceding the debate and fueling anti-fracking sentiment – may be the least costly course of action.”

As for its three semi-benign recommendations, I doubt the industry will pay much attention to any of them because they all require an attitude they do not possess and a commitment to outreach efforts and safety practices that will cost them more money. I seriously doubt we are going to see any gas money of a serious nature going into long-term economic development of communities.  At best I think the industry PR men and CEOs will give some lip service to the recommendations in this analysis, but given that current risks to them or their business (at least in Pennsylvania) are not high or extreme across the board, I’d expect business as usual.

The document does remind me of Dr Terry Engelder’s scoff at the environmentalists a few years back that we are not a serious threat that would in any way “degrade the quality of the play.” I’d bet even he thinks a little differently now.

What and Where: A first-in-the-nation Conservation Easement by a private landowner to declare and protect the Rights of Nature, ecosystems and natural communities present on his 50-acre organic farm at 2771 Paradise Road, Reynoldsville, PA (located in the Paradise Community of Henderson Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.

Who: An easement held jointly by Dr. J. Stephen Cleghorn, owner of Paradise Gardens and Farm, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and Nature itself. Contact Stephen at 814-568-1207

When:  Dated November 14, 2012, the first anniversary of the death of Dr. Lucinda Hart-González by lung cancer, in her honor and to protect her legacy of building this farm.

Why: To put the Rights of Nature first and ban all activities on the surface and below the surface of the property that would harm Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities. The practice known as “fracking” for methane gas in the Marcellus Shale below the property is thus prohibited

THE ENTIRE TEXT OF THE EASEMENT FOLLOWS:
(Note from Stephen Cleghorn: some of these items are specific to my farm and circumstances. Not all of these items are necessary to create such an easement. Those who might be interested in discussing such an easement for their land should get in contact with Thomas Linzey at the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, (717) 498-0054)

Prepared by:

Name:            The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Inc.

Address:        P.O. Box 360, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania 17236

Telephone:    (717) 498-0054

Tax Parcel(s): 13-488-131

GRANT OF “THE DR. LUCINDA HART-GONZÁLEZ CONSERVATION EASEMENT”

THIS GRANT OF CONSERVATION EASEMENT (this “Grant”) dated as of November 14, 2012 (the “Easement Date”) is by and between James Stephen Cleghorn (“the Owner”), Nature as present within and manifested by the Ecosystems and Natural Communities existing on the subject Property and those Ecosystems and Natural Communities dependent upon the subject Property, and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (collectively referred to as the “Holders”).

Article I.                                   Background

1.01            Property

The undersigned Owner is the sole owner in fee simple of the Property described in Exhibit “A” (the “Property”).  The Property is also described as:

Street Address: 2771 Paradise Road, Reynoldsville, PA 15851

Municipality: Henderson

County: Jefferson                                                                                   State:         Pennsylvania

Parcel Identifier: 13-488-131                                                               Acreage:            50 ±

1.02            Conservation Plan

Attached as Exhibit “B” is a survey or other graphic depiction of the Property (the “Conservation Plan”).

1.03            Conservation Objectives

By this Grant, the undersigned Owner imposes a conservation servitude (the “Conservation Easement”) on the Property that recognizes, creates and secures the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities present on the Property. Collectively, the “Conservation Objectives” set forth below prohibit and limit activities that would violate those Rights of Nature. In addition, this Conservation Easement requires that the Property remain forever in use as an organic farm abiding by guidelines and regulations promulgated either by the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards or by the nonprofit Certified Naturally Grown organization, or their successors in law and function

(a)     Rights of Nature Objectives – the primary objective of this easement is to recognize, create and secure the Rights of Nature as present within and manifested by the ecosystems and natural communities that exist on, and those that are dependent upon, the Property.  Nature, its ecosystems and natural communities possess rights to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve. Ecosystems and natural communities shall include, but not be limited to, the following systems and communities –

(i.)     Water Ecosystems. To recognize, create, and secure the rights of streams, rivers, groundwater, surfacewater, and waterways to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.

(ii)      The Atmospheric Ecosystem.  To recognize, create and secure the right of all life to clean air (all naturally occurring component gases, particulate matter and moisture of the atmosphere) insofar as that is intrinsically part of Nature’s physical means and environment for sustaining the lives of all vegetative, animal and human life.

(iii)     Forest, Woodland and Other Vegetative Ecosystems. To recognize, create and secure the rights of forests, woodlands, and other vegetative systems to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.

(iv)     Wildlife and Natural Communities. To recognize, create and secure the rights of wildlife, natural communities, and all subsurface life forms and ecosystems which comprise the “deep biosphere,” to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.

(v.)      Sustainable Land Uses. To ensure that Agriculture, Forestry, and other uses, to the extent that they are permitted, are conducted in a manner that do not, and will not violate the rights  of ecosystems and natural communities as created, recognized, and secured pursuant to this Grant.

(b) Organic Agriculture Objective – beyond certain permitted improvements as described in Article III below, the entirety of the Property shall remain in use as a certified organic farm.

1.04            Baseline Documentation

As of the Easement Date, the undersigned Owner and the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund have signed for identification purposes the report (the “Baseline Documentation”), to be kept on file at the principal office of the Legal Defense Fund, that contains an original, full-size version of the Conservation Plan and other information sufficient to identify on the ground the ecosystems and natural communities identified in this Article; that describes Existing Improvements; and that includes, among other information, photographs depicting existing conditions of the Property as of the Easement Date.

1.05            Structure of Grant

In Articles II, III and IV, the undersigned Owner imposes restrictive covenants on the Property in support of the Conservation Objectives. Then, in Article V, the Owner vests in Nature, as manifest in the ecosystems and natural communities existing on the Property, or those dependent upon the Property, certain rights, and they vest in the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund – and other persons with an interest in the protection of the rights of ecosystems and natural communities existing on the Property, or dependent upon the Property – the right to enforce the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities. Article VI addresses potential violations and remedies. Article VII addresses miscellaneous other matters.  Initially capitalized terms not defined in this Article I are defined in Article VIII.

1.06            Federal Tax Items

(a)     Qualified Conservation Contribution

The Conservation Easement has been donated in whole or in part by the undersigned Owner.  The donation of the Conservation Easement by this Grant is intended to qualify as a charitable donation of a partial interest in real estate (as defined under §170(f)(3)(B)(iii) of the Code) to a qualified organization (a “Qualified Organization”) as defined in §1.170(A-14(c)(1) of the Regulations. If the Conservation Easement is transferred to any Person, that Person must commit to hold the Conservation Easement exclusively for conservation purposes as defined in the Regulations.

(b)     Public Benefit

The undersigned Owner has granted the Conservation Easement to provide a significant public benefit (as defined in §1.170A-14(d)(4) of the Regulations).  In addition to the public benefits described in the Conservation Objectives, the Baseline Documentation identifies public policy statements and other factual information supporting the significant public benefit of the Conservation Easement.

(c)     Mineral Interests

Under this Grant, the Owner asserts the following:

A qualified mineral interest in the Property exists, and it is the intent of the Owner and Holders that the provisions of this Grant apply to the extraction of that mineral interest, requiring any mineral extraction to abide by the provisions of this Grant, and that the extraction is to be exercised only in a manner that does not violate the Rights of Nature as present within and manifested by the ecosystems and natural communities existing on the Property, or those that are dependent upon the Property. Any extraction of mineral interests that cannot be carried out without violating the rights of Nature is prohibited as constituting a de facto and de jure violation of this easement.

(d)     Notice Required under Regulations

To the extent required for compliance with §1.170A-14(g)(5)(ii) of the Regulations, and only to the extent such activity is not otherwise subject to Review under this Grant, Owner agrees to notify Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund before exercising any reserved right that may violate, or infringe upon, the Rights of Nature as present within and manifested by the ecosystems and natural communities as secured by this Grant.

(e)     Property Right

In accordance with §1.170A-14(g)(6) of the Regulations, the undersigned Owner agrees that, in addition to recognizing, creating and securing the Rights of Nature as present within and manifested by the ecosystems and natural communities, that the grant of this Conservation Easement gives rise to a property right, immediately vested in the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, that entitles the Holder to compensation upon extinguishment of the easement.

(f)      Qualification under §2031(c) of the Code. To the extent required to qualify for exemption from federal estate tax under §2031(c) of the Code, and only to the extent such activity is not otherwise prohibited or limited under this Grant, Owner agrees that commercial recreational uses are not permitted within the Property.

(g)     Acknowledgment of Donation

Except for such monetary consideration (if any) as is set forth in this Article, Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund acknowledges that no goods or services were received in consideration of this Grant.

(h)     No Representation of Tax Benefits

The undersigned Owner represents, warrants and covenants to Holders that:

                                                 (i)            The undersigned Owner has not relied upon any information or analyses furnished by Holders with respect to either the availability, amount or effect of any deduction, credit or other benefit to Owner under Applicable Law; or the value of the Conservation Easement or the Property.

                                               (ii)            The undersigned Owner has relied solely upon his own judgment and/or professional advice furnished by the appraiser and legal, financial and accounting professionals engaged by the undersigned Owner.   If any Person providing services in connection with this Grant or the Property was recommended by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, the undersigned Owner acknowledges that the Holders are not responsible in any way for the performance of services by these Persons.

                                              (iii)            This Grant is not conditioned upon the availability or amount of any deduction, credit or other benefit under Applicable Law.

1.07            Beneficiaries

This Grant confers rights and remedies upon persons other than the Owner and Holders specifically named in this Grant. Specifically, rights created, recognized, and secured by this grant may be enforceable by any natural person with an interest in the protection and preservation of the Rights of Nature, as present within and manifested by the ecosystems and natural communities existing on the subject Property, and those ecosystems and natural communities dependent upon the subject Property. Any such person may seek to enforce the rights created, recognized, and secured by this Grant, subject to the methods and process of enforceability outlined within this Grant.

1.08            Consideration

The undersigned Owner acknowledges receipt, as of the Easement Date, of the sum of $1.00 in consideration of this Grant.

Article II.                                 Transfer; Subdivision

2.01            Transfer

(a)     Notice Required

Not less than thirty (30) days prior to transfer of the Property or any Lot, Owner must notify Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund of the name(s) and address for notices of the Persons who will become Owner(s) following the transfer.

(b)     Prior to Transfer

Owner authorizes Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund to (i) contact the Persons to whom the Property or Lot will be transferred, and other Persons representing Owner or the prospective transferees, to discuss with them this Grant and, if applicable, other pertinent documents; and (ii) enter the Property to assess compliance with this Grant.

(c)     Ending Continuing Liability

Owner prior to transfer is liable, on a joint and several basis with the Owner(s) following the transfer, for the correction of violations and discharge of other obligations of Owner under this Grant. This provision continues to apply until Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund has been notified of the transfer, inspects the Property, and reports no violations observed during such inspection.

2.02            Prohibitions

No transfer of a Lot independent of the remainder of the Property; no change in the boundary of any Lot; and no other Subdivision is permitted, except as set forth below.

2.03            Permitted Changes

The following changes are permitted:

(a)     Transfer to Qualified Organization

Subject to Review, creation of a Lot for transfer to a Qualified Organization for park, nature preserve, public trail or other conservation purposes approved by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund after Review.

(b)     Transfer of Rights of Possession or Use

Subject to Review, transfer of possession or use (but not ownership) of one or more portions of the Property, including subsurface portions of the Property, for purposes permitted under, and subject to compliance with, the terms of this Grant.  Leases of space within Improvements are not subject to Review.

2.04            Requirements

(a)     Establishment of Lots; Allocations

Prior to transfer of a Lot following a Subdivision, Owner must (i) furnish Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund with the plan of Subdivision approved under Applicable Law and legal description of the each Lot created or reconfigured by the Subdivision; (ii) mark the boundaries of each Lot with permanent markers; and (iii) allocate in a document recorded in the Public Records those limitations applicable to more than one Lot under this Grant. This information will become part of the Baseline Documentation incorporated into this Grant.

(b)     Amendment

Holder may require Owners to execute an Amendment of this Grant to reflect any change to the description of the Property set forth in Exhibit “A” or any other changes and allocations resulting from Subdivision that are not established to the reasonable satisfaction of Holder Legal Defense Fund by recordation in the Public Records of the plan of Subdivision approved under Applicable Law.

Article III.                              Improvements

3.01            Prohibition

Improvements within the Property are prohibited except as permitted below in this Article.

3.02            Permitted Improvements

The following Improvements are permitted on the Property:

(a)     Existing Improvements

Any Existing Improvement may be maintained, repaired and replaced in its existing location.  Existing Improvements may be expanded or relocated if the expanded or relocated Improvement complies with requirements applicable to Additional Improvements of the same type.

(b)     Existing Agreements

Improvements that Owners are required to allow under Existing Agreements are permitted.

(c)     Additional Improvements

The following Additional Improvements are permitted:

                   (i)            Construction and use of two additional single-family homes, which may result in the development of up to ten acres of land covered by this easement, as chosen by the Owner. That improvement shall include the drilling and use of two new water wells to service those homes.

                 (ii)            Construction of additional shelters for livestock and farm equipment as needed.

               (iii)            Fences, walls and gates, not to exceed four (4) feet in Height or such greater Height as is approved by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund after Review.

              (iv)            Regulatory Signs.

              (v)            Habitat enhancement devices such as birdhouses and bat houses.

              (vi)            Trails covered (if at all) by wood chips, gravel, or other highly porous surface.

              (vii)            Subject to Review, footbridges, stream crossing structures and stream access structures.

              (viii)            Subject to Review, Access Drives and Utility Improvements to service Improvements within the Property but only if there is no other reasonably feasible means to provide access and utility services to the Property.

             (ix)            Subject to Review, Improvements for generating and transmitting Renewable Energy but only if located wholly beneath the surface at a depth at which there can be no impairment of water or other systems described in the Conservation Objectives.

Article IV.  Activities; Uses; Disturbance of Ecosystems and Natural Communities

4.01            Prohibition

Activities and uses are limited to those permitted below in this Article and provided in any case that the intensity or frequency of the activity or use does not materially and adversely affect maintenance or attainment of Conservation Objectives.

4.02            Density Issues under Applicable Law

(a)     Transferable Development Rights

Owner may not transfer for use outside the Property (whether or not for compensation) any development rights allocated to the Property under Applicable Law.

4.03            Permitted on the Property

The following activities and uses are permitted on the Property:

(a)     Existing Agreements

Activities, uses and Construction that Owner is required to allow under Existing Agreements.

(b)     Disturbance of Ecosystems and Natural Communities

                                                 (i)            Activities necessary for the construction and use of two additional single-family residential dwellings on the property, and the use of up to ten acres of the property for that use. The drilling and use of two new water wells to service those dwellings shall be included within this permitted use.

                                               (ii)            Cutting trees, Construction or other disturbance of existing ecosystems and natural communities, including removal of Invasive Species, to the extent necessary to protect the rights of ecosystems and natural communities under this Grant.  Owners must take such steps as are reasonable under the circumstances to consult with Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund prior to taking actions that, but for this provision, would not be permitted or would be permitted only after Review.

                                              (iii)            Planting a diversity of Native Species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plant materials in accordance with Best Management Practices.

                                             (iv)            Removal and disturbance of soil, rock and vegetation to the extent reasonably necessary to accommodate Construction of Improvements with restoration as soon as reasonably feasible by replanting with a diversity of Native Species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plant materials in accordance with Best Management Practices.

                                               (v)            Vehicular use in the case of emergency and, subject to applicable limitations (if any), in connection with activities or uses permitted on the Property.

                                             (vi)            Except within Wet Areas, cutting or removing trees, standing or fallen, but only if the aggregate inside bark diameter of stumps (one foot above ground on the uphill side) does not exceed 200 inches per year and only for use within the Property.

                                            (vii)            Subject to Review, removal of vegetation to accommodate replanting with a diversity of Native Species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plant materials.

                                          (viii)            Generation of Renewable Energy and transmission of such energy if and to the extent Improvements for that purpose are permitted under Article III.

                                             (ix)            Agricultural activities, but only such activities which conform to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards guidelines and regulations.

                                               (x)            Other management activities that Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, without any obligation to do so, determines are consistent with the rights of ecosystems and natural communities as delineated within this Grant.

(c)     Release and Disposal

                                                 (i)            Application of manure and plant material, both well-composted and raw, and, subject to compliance with manufacturer’s recommendations, other substances to promote the health and growth of vegetation.  These permitted substances do not include sewage sludge, biosolids, septic system effluent and related substances. “Sewage sludge” and “biosolids” shall be defined, for purposes of this sub-section, as defined under applicable Pennsylvania law.

                                               (ii)            Piling of brush and other vegetation to the extent reasonably necessary to accommodate activities or uses permitted within on the Property.

(d)     Other Activities

Activities that do not require Improvements other than trails and do not materially and adversely affect the Rights of Nature as present within and manifested by ecosystems and natural communities as created, recognized, and secured by this Grant, such as the following: (i) walking, horseback riding on trails, cross-country skiing, bird watching, nature study, fishing and hunting; and (ii) educational, interpretive, or scientific activities consistent with and in furtherance of the Conservation Objectives. Vehicular use is not permitted in connection with the activities permitted under this subsection, unless Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, without any obligation to do so, approves the use after Review.

Article V.                               Rights and Duties of Holder and Beneficiaries

5.01            Grant to Holder

(a)     Grant in Perpetuity

By signing this Grant and unconditionally delivering it to Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, the undersigned Owner, intending to be legally bound, grants and conveys to Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund a Conservation Easement over the Property in perpetuity for the purpose of advancing the Conservation Objectives and administering and enforcing the restrictions and limitations set forth in Articles II, III, and IV in furtherance of the Conservation Objectives. The Owner, intending to be legally bound, also grants and conveys to Nature as present within, and manifested by, the ecosystems and natural communities on the Property, or those dependent upon the Property, in perpetuity legal rights as delineated in this Grant, and recognizes the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund as a trustee of those rights for the sole purpose of entering into this Grant on behalf of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities.

(b)     Superior to all Liens

The undersigned Owner warrants to Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund that the Property is, as of the Easement Date, free and clear of all Liens.

5.02            Rights of Holder Ecosystems and Natural Communities

The items set forth below are rights recognized as essential to, and vested in, the Holder Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities by this Grant:

(a)     Rights to Exist and Flourish

Ecosystems and natural communities existing on the Property, and those dependent upon the Property, possess the right to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.

(b)     Right to Restoration

Ecosystems and natural communities existing on the Property, and those dependent upon the Property, possess the right to be restored in the event of the violation of their rights that results in a diminishment of the functioning or health of the ecosystem or natural community.

(c)     Enforcement

Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and any natural person with an interest in protecting and enforcing the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities, shall possess standing to enforce the Rights of Nature and its natural communities and ecosystems as created, recognized, and secured by this Grant, in any court of competent jurisdiction. Any damages recovered by those actions shall be paid to the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund to be used exclusively for restoration of the damaged natural community or ecosystem to its pre-damaged state. If the ecosystem or natural community is incapable of repair, those damages shall be used to either restore other ecosystems or purchase lands elsewhere that can be used to protect ecosystems of equal quality and extent.

(d)     Subordinancy of Corporate “Rights”

The rights created, recognized, and secured by this Grant for Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities shall never be subordinated to claimed corporate “rights.” Accordingly, corporations in violation of the provisions of this Grant, or corporations seeking to violate the provisions of this Grant, shall not possess the rights of “persons,” nor access to legal protections afforded to persons by the United States or Pennsylvania Constitutions, nor shall those corporations be afforded rights under the First or Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution or corresponding sections of the Pennsylvania Constitution, nor shall those corporations be afforded the protections of the Commerce or Contracts clauses within the United States Constitution or corresponding sections of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

(e)     Subordinancy of Corporate “Rights”

The rights created, recognized, and secured by this Grant for Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities shall never be subordinated to claimed corporate “rights.” Accordingly, corporations in violation of the provisions of this Grant, or corporations seeking to violate the provisions of this Grant, shall not possess the authority or power to enforce State or federal preemptive law to overturn provisions of this Grant.

(f)      Subordinancy of State and Federal Permits

No permit, license, privilege or charter issued by any State or federal agency, Commission, or Board that violates the rights of ecosystems or natural communities recognized by this Grant, shall be deemed valid.

5.03     Rights and Duties of Holder Legal Defense Fund

The items set forth below are both rights and duties vested in Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund by this Grant:

(a)     Enforcement

To enter the Property to investigate a suspected, alleged or threatened violation and, if found, to enforce the terms of this Grant by exercising Holder’s remedies in Article VI.

(b)     Inspection

To enter and inspect the Property for compliance with the requirements of this Grant upon reasonable notice, in a reasonable manner and at reasonable times.

(c)     Review

To exercise rights of Review in accordance with the requirements of this Article.

(d)     Interpretation

To interpret the terms of this Grant and, at the request of Owner, furnish Holder’s explanation of the application of such terms to then-existing, proposed or reasonably foreseeable conditions within the Property.

5.04            Other Rights of Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The items set forth below are also rights vested in Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund by this Grant; however, Holder, in its discretion, may or may not exercise them:

(a)     Amendment

To enter into an Amendment with Owner if Holder determines that the Amendment is consistent with and in furtherance of the Conservation Objectives; will not result in any private benefit prohibited under the Code; and otherwise conforms to Holder’s policy with respect to Amendments.

(b)     Signs

To install one or more signs within the Property identifying the interest of Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, or the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities, as recognized by this Grant.  Any signs installed by Holder do not reduce the number or size of signs permitted to Owners under Article III.  Signs are to be of the customary size installed by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, as the case may be, and must be installed in locations readable from the public right-of-way and otherwise reasonably acceptable to Owner.

(c)     Proceedings

To assert a claim, defend or intervene in, or appeal, any proceeding under Applicable Law that (i) pertains to the impairment of Conservation Objectives; or (ii) may result in a transfer, Improvement or use that violates the terms of this Grant.

5.05            Review

The following provisions are incorporated into any provision of this Grant that is subject to Review:

(a)     Notice to Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

At least thirty (30) days before Owner begins or allow any Construction, activity or use that is subject to Review, Owner must notify Holder of the change including with the notice such information as is reasonably sufficient to comply with Review Requirements and otherwise describe the change and its potential impact on Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities existing on, and dependent upon, the Property.

(b)     Notice to Owners

Within thirty (30) days after receipt of Owner’s notice, Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund must notify Owner of Holder’s determination to (i) accept Owner’s proposal in whole or in part; (ii) reject Owner’s proposal in whole or in part; (iii) accept Owner’s  proposal conditioned upon compliance with conditions imposed by Holder; or (iv) reject Owner’s notice for insufficiency of information on which to base a determination.  If Holder Legal Community Environmental Defense Fund gives conditional acceptance under clause (iii), commencement of the proposed Improvement, activity, use or Construction constitutes acceptance by Owner of all conditions set forth in Holder’s notice.

(c)     Failure to Notify

If Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund fails to notify Owner as required in the preceding subsection, the proposal set forth in Owner’s notice is deemed approved.

(d)     Standard of Review

                                                 (i)            The phrase “unless Holder, without any obligation to do so,” in relation to an approval or determination by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, means that, in that particular case, Holder’s approval is wholly discretionary and may be given or withheld for any reason or no reason.

                                               (ii)            In all other cases, Holder’s approval is not to be unreasonably withheld. It is not unreasonable for Holder to disapprove a proposal that may adversely affect the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems or natural communities described in this Grant.

Article VI.                             Violation; Remedies

6.01            Breach of Duty

If Holder Legal Community Environmental Defense Fund fails to enforce the terms of this Grant, or the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities as delineated by this Grant are not enforced by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund or by other natural persons, or Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund ceases to qualify as a Qualified Organization, then this Conservation Easement may be transferred to another Qualified Organization by a court of competent jurisdiction.

6.02            Violation

If Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, or natural persons with an interest in protecting and enforcing the rights of ecosystems and natural communities, determines that the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems or natural communities have been violated or that a violation is threatened or imminent, then the provisions of this section will apply:

(a)     Notice

Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, or any natural person with an interest in protecting and enforcing the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities, must notify Owner of the violation or threatened violation, if the Owner is responsible for the violation or is threatening to violate this easement. If another party is responsible for the violation then notice shall be sent to that party.  Notice may include recommendations of measures to be taken by Owner or by other parties to cure the violation and restore damaged ecosystems and natural communities to their pre-violation condition. Owner and other parties shall, upon receipt of any notification pursuant to this section, provide Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund with said notification within five (5) business days via a method of delivery specified under §7.01 of this easement.

(b)     Opportunity to Cure

Owner’s and other parties’ cure period expires thirty (30) days after the date of notice to Owner or other parties subject to extension for the time reasonably necessary to cure but only if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

                                                 (i)            Owner or other parties cease the activity constituting the violation promptly upon receipt of the notice;

                                               (ii)            Owner (or other parties) and the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and those giving notice agree, within the initial thirty (30) day period, upon the measures Owner or other parties will take to cure the violation;

                                              (iii)            Owner or other parties commence to cure within the initial thirty (30) day period; and

                                             (iv)            Owner or other parties continue thereafter to use best efforts and due diligence to complete the agreed upon cure.

(c)     Imminent Harm

No notice or cure period is required if circumstances require prompt action to prevent or mitigate the imminent violation of the Rights of Nature or its ecosystems and natural communities as recognized, created and secured through this Grant.

6.03            Remedies

Upon expiration of the cure period (if any) described in the preceding section, Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, or any natural person with an interest in protecting and enforcing the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities, may do any one or more of the following:

(a)     Injunctive Relief

Seek injunctive relief to specifically enforce the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities recognized, created and secured through this Grant; to restrain present or future violations of the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities; and/or to compel restoration of ecosystems and natural communities destroyed or altered as a result of the violation.

(b)     Civil Action

Recover from Owner, or other Persons responsible for the violation, all sums owing to Holders under applicable provisions of this Grant together with interest thereon from the date due at the Default Rate.  These monetary obligations include, among others, Losses and Litigation Expenses. All sums shall be dedicated to the restoration of Nature’s ecosystems and natural communities on the Property, and those dependent upon the Property, to their pre-damaged state. If such restoration is not possible due to irreparable harm, then damages shall be used to restore other ecosystems, or shall be used to purchase land for ecosystems similar in quality and extent to the damaged ecosystem.

(c)     Self-Help

Enter the Property to prevent or mitigate further violations of the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities as secured through this Grant.

(d)     Modification or Termination

If the Conservation Easement is or is about to be modified or terminated by exercise of the power of eminent domain (condemnation) or adjudication of a court of competent jurisdiction sought by a Person other than Holder the following provisions apply:

                                                (i)            Compensatory Damages

Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is entitled to collect from the Person seeking the modification or termination, compensatory damages in an amount equal to the increase in Market Value of the Property resulting from the modification or termination plus reimbursement of Litigation Expenses as if a violation had occurred.

                                              (ii)            Restitution

Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is entitled to recover from the Person seeking the modification or termination, (i) restitution of amounts paid for this Grant (if any) and any other sums invested in the Property for the benefit of the public, and for the benefit of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities existing on or dependent upon the Property, as a result of rights vested by this Grant plus (ii) reimbursement of Litigation Expenses as if a violation had occurred.

6.04            Remedies Cumulative

The description of Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s remedies in this Article does not preclude that Holder from exercising any other right or remedy that may at any time be available under this Article or Applicable Law.  If Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund chooses to exercise one remedy, it may nevertheless choose to exercise any one or more of the other rights or remedies available to it at the same time or at any other time.

6.05            No Waiver

If Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund does not exercise any right or remedy when it is available to it, that is not to be interpreted as a waiver of any non-compliance with the terms of this Grant or a waiver of rights to exercise its rights or remedies at another time.

6.06            Multiple Owners; Multiple Lots

If different Owners own Lots within the Property, only the Owners of the Lot in violation will be held responsible for the violation.

6.07            Multiple Owners; Single Lot

If more than one Owner owns the Lot in violation of the terms of this Grant, the Owners of the Lot in violation are jointly and severally liable for the violation regardless of the form of ownership.

Article VII.                           Miscellaneous

7.01            Notices

(a)     Requirements

Each party to this easement giving any notice pursuant to this Grant must give the notice in writing and must use one of the following methods of delivery: (i) personal delivery; (ii) certified mail, return receipt requested and postage prepaid; or (iii) nationally recognized overnight courier, with all fees prepaid.

(b)     Address for Notices

Each party to this easement giving a notice must address the notice to the appropriate party at the address listed below, or to another address designated by that party by notice to the other Party. Other parties served with notice shall be served either at their residential or business address.

If to Owner:

James Stephen Cleghorn

2771 Paradise Road

Reynoldsville, PA 15851

If to Holder:

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

P.O. Box 360

Mercersburg, Pennsylvania 17236

7.02            Governing Law

The law and rights established within this Grant shall govern this Grant. The law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall govern this Grant in all other respects, except when that law is inconsistent with, or violative of, the standards established by this easement.

7.03            Assignment and Transfer

Neither Owner nor Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund may assign or otherwise transfer any of their respective rights or duties under this Grant voluntarily or involuntarily, whether by merger, consolidation, dissolution, operation of law or any other manner except as permitted below.  Any purported assignment or transfer in violation of this section is void.

(a)     By Holder

Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund may assign its rights and duties under this Grant, either in whole or in part, but only to a Qualified Organization that executes and records in the Public Records a written agreement assuming the obligations of Holder Legal Defense Fund under this Grant.  The assigning Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund must deliver the Baseline Documentation to the assignee Holder as of the date of the assignment.  Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund must assign its rights and duties under this Grant to another Qualified Organization if Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund becomes the Owner of the Property.

(b)     By Owner

This Grant vests a servitude running with the land binding upon the undersigned Owner and, upon recordation in the Public Records, all subsequent Owners of the Property or any portion of the Property are bound by its terms whether or not the Owners had actual notice of this Grant and whether or not the deed of transfer specifically referred to the transfer being under and subject to this Grant.

7.04            Burdens; Benefits; Not Exclusive to Holders

Subject to the restrictions on assignment and transfer set forth in the preceding section, this Grant binds and benefits Owner and Holders and their respective personal representatives, successors and assigns.  Except for rights of Beneficiaries (if any) under Article V, the Holder and other natural persons with an interest in protecting and enforcing the Rights of Nature and its ecosystems and natural communities seeking to enforce the rights recognized, created and secured by this Grant, have the right to enforce the terms of this Grant. Only the Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund may exercise rights of Review, Waiver, Amendment or other discretionary rights of Holder.  Owners of Lots within the Property shall have the right to enforce the terms of this Grant against Owners of other Lots within the Property. Only the Owners of the Lot that is the subject of a request for Review, Waiver, Amendment, interpretation or other decision by Holder Legal Defense Fund have any right to notice of, or other participation in, such decision.

7.05            Requirement of Writing

No Amendment, Waiver, approval after Review, interpretation or other decision by Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is valid or effective unless it is in writing and signed by an authorized signatory for it.  This requirement may not be changed by oral agreement.  The grant of an Amendment or Waiver in any instance or with respect to any Lot does not imply that an Amendment or Waiver will be granted in any other instance.

7.06            Severability

If any provision of this Grant is determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this Grant remain valid, binding and enforceable.

7.07            Counterparts

This Grant may be signed in multiple counterparts, each of which constitutes an original, and all of which, collectively, constitute only one document.

7.08            Guides to Interpretation

(a)     Captions

Except for the identification of defined terms in the Glossary, the descriptive headings of the articles, sections and subsections of this Grant are for convenience only and do not constitute a part of this Grant.

(b)     Glossary

If any term defined in the Glossary is not used in this Grant, the defined term is to be disregarded as surplus material.

(c)     Other Terms

                                                 (i)            The word “including” means “including but not limited to”.

                                               (ii)            The word “must” is obligatory; the word “may” is permissive and does not imply any obligation.

(d)     Conservation and Preservation Easements Act

This Grant is intended to be interpreted so as to convey to Holder Legal Community Environmental Defense Fund all of the rights and privileges of a holder of a conservation easement under the Conservation Easements Act.

(e)     Restatement (Third) of the Law of Property: Servitudes

This Grant is intended to be interpreted so as to convey to Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund all of the rights and privileges of a holder of a conservation servitude under the Restatement (Third) of the Law of Property: Servitudes.

7.09            Entire Agreement

This is the entire agreement of Owner, Holder and Beneficiaries pertaining to the subject matter of this Grant.  The terms of this Grant supersede in full all statements and writings between Owner, Holder and others pertaining to the transaction set forth in this Grant.

7.10            Incorporation by Reference

Each exhibit attached to this Grant is incorporated into this Grant by this reference.  The Baseline Documentation (whether or not attached to this Grant) is incorporated into this Grant by this reference.

7.11            Coal Rights Notice

The following notice is given to Owner solely for the purpose of compliance with the Conservation Easements Act:

NOTICE: The Conservation Easement may impair the development of coal interests including workable coal seams or coal interests which have been severed from the Property.

Article VIII.                        Glossary

8.01            Access Drive(s)

Roads, drives or lanes providing vehicular access and located within the Property.

8.02            Additional Improvements

All buildings, structures, facilities and other improvements within the Property, whether temporary or permanent, other than Existing Improvements.

8.03            Agricultural Improvements

Improvements used or usable in furtherance of Agricultural uses such as barn, stable, silo, spring house, green house, hoop house, riding arena (whether indoor or outdoor), horse walker, manure storage pit, storage buildings, feeding and irrigation facilities.

8.04            Agricultural or Agriculture

Any one or more of the following and the leasing of land for any of these purposes:

(a)     Farming

                                                 (i)            Production of vegetables, fruits, seeds, mushrooms, nuts and nursery crops (including trees) for sale.

                                               (ii)            Production of poultry, livestock and their products for sale.

                                              (iii)            Production of field crops, hay or pasture.

                                             (iv)            Production of sod to be removed and planted elsewhere.

                                               (v)            Production of compost to be removed and used, or sold elsewhere.

(b)     Equestrian

Boarding, stabling, raising, feeding, grazing, exercising, riding and training horses and instructing riders.

8.05            Amendment

An amendment, modification or supplement to this Grant signed by Owners and Holder Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and recorded in the Public Records.

8.06            Applicable Law

Any federal, state or local laws, statutes, codes, ordinances, standards and regulations applicable to the Property, the Conservation Easement or this Grant as amended through the applicable date of reference.  If this Grant is intended to meet the requirements of a qualified conservation contribution, then applicable provisions of the Code and the Regulations are also included in the defined term.

8.07            Best Management Practices

A series of guidelines or minimum standards (sometimes referred to as BMP’s) recommended by federal, state and/or county resource management agencies for proper application of farming and forestry operations, non-point pollution of water resources and other disturbances of soil, water and vegetative resources and to protect wildlife habitats. Examples of resource management agencies issuing pertinent BMP’s as of the Easement Date are: the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (with respect to soil resources); the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (with respect to soil erosion, sedimentation and water resources) and the following sources of BMP’s with respect to forest and woodland management: the Forest Stewardship Council principles and criteria, Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards, Forest Stewardship Plan requirements, American Tree Farm standards and Best Management Practices for Pennsylvania Forests.

8.08            Code

The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended through the applicable date of reference.

8.09            Conservation Easements Act

The Pennsylvania Conservation and Preservation Easements Act, the act of June 22, 2001 (P.L. 390, No. 29) (32 P.S. §§5051-5059) as amended through the applicable date of reference.

8.10            Construction

Any demolition, construction, reconstruction, expansion, exterior alteration, installation or erection of temporary or permanent Improvements; and, whether or not in connection with any of the foregoing, any excavation, dredging, mining, filling or removal of gravel, soil, rock, sand, coal, petroleum or other minerals.

8.11            Corporation

Includes any corporation, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or under the laws of any country, and any other business entity that possesses government-conferred limited liability attributes for its owners, directors, officers, and/or managers.  The term shall also include any business entity in which one or more owners or partners is a corporation or other entity in which owners, directors, officers and/or managers possess limited liability attributes. The term shall also include any individual or group of individuals acting in an agency capacity for a corporation.

8.12            Deep Biosphere

A phrase as defined by F. Reith in “Life in the Deep Subsurface,” Geology 39 (2011): 287-88 and further discussed by Ricardo Guerrero in “Crucial crises in biology: life in the deep biosphere” International Microbiology: (1998) 1:285–294.

8.13            Default Rate

An annual rate of interest equal at all times to two percent (2%) above the “prime rate” announced from time to time in The Wall Street Journal.

8.14            Dwelling Unit

Use or intended use of an Improvement or portion of an Improvement for human habitation by one or more Persons (whether or not related).  Existence of a separate kitchen accompanied by sleeping quarters is considered to constitute a separate Dwelling Unit.

8.15            Existing Agreements

Easements and other servitudes affecting the Property prior to the Easement Date that constitute legally binding servitudes prior in right to the Conservation Easement.

8.16            Existing Improvements

All buildings, structures, facilities and other improvements, whether temporary or permanent, located on, above or under the Property as of the Easement Date as identified in the Baseline Documentation.

8.17            Forestry

Planting, growing, nurturing, managing and harvesting trees whether for timber and other useful products or for water quality, wildlife habitat and other Conservation Objectives.

8.18            Height

The vertical elevation of an Improvement measured from the average exterior ground elevation of the Improvement to a point, if the Improvement is roofed, midway between the highest and lowest points of the roof excluding chimneys, cupolas, ventilation shafts, weathervanes and similar protrusions or, if the Improvement is unroofed, the top of the Improvement.

8.19            Improvement

Any Existing Improvement or Additional Improvement.

8.20            Indemnified Parties

Holder, each Beneficiary (if any) and their respective members, directors, officers, employees and agents and the heirs, personal representatives, successors and assigns of each of them.

8.21            Invasive Species

A plant species that is (a) non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration; and (b) whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.  In cases of uncertainty, publications such as “Plant Invaders of the Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas”, by the National Park Service National Capital Region, Center for Urban Ecology and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office are to be used to identify Invasive Species.

8.22            Lien

Any mortgage, lien or other encumbrance securing the payment of money.

8.23            Litigation Expense

Any court filing fee, court cost, arbitration fee or cost, witness fee and each other fee and cost of investigating and defending or asserting any claim of violation or for indemnification under this Grant including in each case, attorneys’ fees, other professionals’ fees and disbursements.

8.24            Losses

Any liability, loss, claim, settlement payment, cost and expense, interest, award, judgment, damages (including punitive damages), diminution in value, fines, fees and penalties or other charge other than a Litigation Expense.

8.25            Lot

A unit, lot or parcel of real property separated or transferable for separate ownership or lease under Applicable Law.

8.26            Native Species

A plant or animal indigenous to the locality under consideration.  In cases of uncertainty, published atlases, particularly The Vascular Flora of Pennsylvania: Annotated Checklist and Atlas by Rhoads and Klein and Atlas of United States Trees, vols. 1 & 4 by Little are to be used to establish whether or not a species is native.

8.26      Nature

The physical world including all living things as well as the land and the seas and the atmosphere, inclusive of the forces that control the physical world and life itself.

8.27      Owners

The undersigned Owner or Owners and all Persons after them who hold an interest in the Property.

8.28      Person

An individual natural person or group of natural persons.

8.29      Public Records

The public records of the office for the recording of deeds in and for the county in which the Property is located.

8.30      Qualified Organization

A governmental or non-profit entity that (a) has a perpetual existence; (b) is established as a public charity for the purpose of preserving and conserving natural resources, natural habitats, environmentally sensitive areas and other charitable, scientific and educational purposes; (c) meets the criteria of a qualified organization under the Regulations; and (d) is duly authorized to acquire and hold conservation easements under Applicable Law.

8.31      Regulations

The provisions of C.F.R. §1.170A-14, and any other regulations promulgated under the Code that pertain to qualified conservation contributions, as amended through the applicable date of reference.

8.32      Regulatory Signs

Signs (not exceeding one square foot each) to control access to the Property or for informational, directional or interpretive purposes.

8.33   Renewable Energy

Energy that can be used without depleting its source such as solar, wind, geothermal and movement of water (hydroelectric and tidal).

8.34   Residential Improvements

Dwellings and Improvements accessory to residential uses such as garage, swimming pool, pool house, tennis court and children’s play facilities.

8.35   Resource Management Plan

A record of the decisions and intentions of Owners prepared by a qualified resource management professional for the purpose of protecting natural resources described in the Conservation Objectives during certain operations potentially affecting natural resources protected by this Grant.  The Resource Management Plan (sometimes referred to as the “RMP”) includes a resource assessment, identifies appropriate performance standards (based upon Best Management Practices where available and appropriate) and projects a multi-year description of planned activities for identified operations to be conducted in accordance with the plan.

8.36   Review

Review and approval of Holder under the procedure described in Article V.

8.37   Review Requirements

Collectively, any plans, specifications or information required for approval of the Subdivision, activity, use or Construction under Applicable Law (if any) plus (a) the information required under the Review Requirements incorporated into this Grant either as an exhibit or as part of the Baseline Documentation or (b) if the information described in clause (a) is inapplicable, unavailable or insufficient under the circumstances, the guidelines for Review of submissions established by Holder as of the applicable date of reference.

8.38  Site Improvements

Unenclosed Improvements such as Access Drives, Utility Improvements, walkways, boardwalks, retention/detention basins and other storm water management facilities, wells, septic systems, bridges, parking areas and other pavements, lighting fixtures, signs, fences, walls, gates, man-made ponds, berms and landscaping treatments.

8.39   Soil Conservation Plan

A plan for soil conservation and/or sedimentation and erosion control that meets the requirements of Applicable Law.

8.40   Steep Slope Areas

Areas greater than one acre having a slope greater than 15%.

8.41   Subdivision

Any division of the Property or any Lot within the Property; and any creation of a unit, lot or parcel of real property, including subsurface portions of the Property, for separate use or ownership by any means including by lease or by implementing the condominium form of ownership.  The term “Subdivision” includes any “subdivision” as defined in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, as reenacted and amended as of the applicable date of reference.

8.42   Utility Improvements

Improvements for the reception, storage or transmission of potable water, stormwater, sewage, electricity, gas and telecommunications or other sources of power.

8.43   Waiver

A written commitment by which Holder, without any obligation to do so, agrees to refrain from exercising  one or more of its rights and remedies for a specific period of time with respect to a specific set of circumstances if Holder is satisfied that the accommodation will have no material effect on Conservation Objectives.

8.44   Wet Areas

Watercourses, springs, wetlands and non-impounded standing water and areas within 100-feet of their edge.

8.45    Woodland Areas

Area(s) within the Property described as “wooded” or “forested” in the Baseline Documentation or identified as such on the Conservation Plan, or if not wooded or forested as of the Easement Date, are designated as successional woodland areas on the Conservation Plan.

Pennsylvania Landowner Recognizes Rights of Nature through a First-in-the-Country Deed Easement: Bans Fracking for Shale Gas

Urges Other Landowners Across the Country to Follow His Lead

Contact: J. Stephen Cleghorn, PhD

(814) 568-1207
http://paradisegardensandfarm.com/

[A press conference will be held at 2771 Paradise Road, Reynoldsville, PA 15851, on November 14^th at 1:00 pm.  Cleghorn and representatives of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund will give a presentation and be available for interviews.]

Paradise Community, Henderson Township, Jefferson County, PA, November 14, 2012 – J. Stephen Cleghorn, PhD, a Pennsylvania organic farmer, has become the first landowner in the United States to use a conservation easement (a kind of deed restriction) to recognize, create and protect the Rights of Nature. The easement then bans activities like hydro-fracking for shale gas which would violate those rights, and elevates the Rights of Nature above the power claimed by extractive energy corporations to despoil the environment.

Cleghorn is the owner of Paradise Gardens and Farm– a fifty acre organic farm that sits above the Marcellus Shale formation in Henderson Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.

Cleghorn established the easement in memory of his late wife, Dr. Lucinda Hart-González who died of lung cancer on November 14, 2011. On May 10 of this year Ms. Hart-González’s ashes were scattered on the property and the farm was declared forever inviolate and off-limits to shale gas fracking. The easement is dated as of the first anniversary of her death.

Over the last six months, Cleghorn has worked with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), a nonprofit, Pennsylvania-based law firm, to create an easement which secures the Rights of Nature legally on this property. The Legal Defense Fund has assisted over three dozen municipal governments in eight states to create local laws that recognize the Rights of Nature, and assisted in the drafting of the declaration of rights in the new Ecuadorian Constitution, through which Ecuador became the first country in the world to recognize the Rights of Nature.

Although warned by his lawyer that the easement might reduce his property’s value, Cleghorn states: “It’s not really my property. Nature had it first. Human laws that carve it up into market commodities that can be traded and sold matter less to me than the first rights of Nature. Besides, a recent study showed that shale gas drilling reduces the property value by 24% when that property depends on private water wells as mine does. For me this easement preserves this land for organic farming and protects it from an extreme form of fossil fuel extraction. I know plenty of potential buyers who would go along with those conditions. In the long run as we try to save this planet from us, I think I’ll be just fine on property value.”

Thomas Linzey, the Executive Director of CELDF, applauded Cleghorn’s actions, stating that “the time has come for the corporate ’right’ to destroy the earth be subordinated to the rights of our communities and nature. Stephen’s actions, in honor of his late wife, represent an expansion of the resistance against gas corporations in the State.”

Both Cleghorn and Linzey called on other landowners across the state, in addition to municipal governments, to take action to recognize the rights of communities and nature through both easements and local laws. A new Pennsylvania-based organization, the Terra Conservancy, is being established by CELDF to receive and enforce rights of nature easements.

###

Franny and Zooey…Beulah, Bambi, and Bonnie…Myrtle, Mimi, and Maybelline…Scout and Scamper. Candy and Brigid. Billy Boy and Pirate. These are just a few names from the roster of 51 goats on my farm for whom I am responsible. These are not just “livestock” to me. These are beautiful creatures of Nature with names that cause them to turn their heads towards me when I call. They have personalities that I recognize. They come running to me from the pasture when I call out ‘”Goats!” I have been there with them on 10-degree February mornings when their slick and steaming kids emerged from their bodies. I have been with them when they got sick and needed help them recover. I have pressed their warm udders with my hands twice a day for six years now as they gave me their milk for my farm’s cheeses and yogurts. These are my goats. I know my goats, and they know me.

Along with my dogs Wyatt and Bella. And a kitten abandoned at our barn, still to be named as we get to know him. And my laying hens and two roosters named NuRoo and Socks.

Living alongside them and me are the fauna and flora of my home place, inclusive of deer, rabbits, foxes, raptors, wrens, red winged blackbirds, swallows, doves, groundhogs, field mice, rats, chipmunks, possums, snakes, frogs, crickets and grasshoppers and earthworms, sugar maples, blueberry bushes, apple and pear trees, alfalfa and clover and timothy and native grasses, Queen Anne’s Lace and wild daisies and many other species of wild flowers.

All these lives, and mine, are sustained by the sweet air that blows across my 50-acre organic farm, and by the pure water running above and below the ground.

It is a beautiful, peaceable farm, except that now its peace and sustainability is threatened because one mile below my farm runs the Marcellus Shale – target of an extreme form of energy extraction that threatens my farm and all its inhabitants, domestic and wild, animal and plant, with sickness and destruction.

How do I know this? How do I know my farm is mortally threatened?

Because I have read the stories of Deborah Rogers in Texas, who suffered the deaths of two kid goats when they were asphyxiated after the flaring of a well. I have read of Tina Antes of Silt, Colorado whose goats suffered spontaneous abortions and stillborn kids after severe air pollution from gas drilling. And Darrel Smitsky of Hickory, PA who had eight healthy goats become paralyzed and die after drilling started. And Brian Beadle of Grandview, TX who lost five goats after his well went bad.

And I have read the veterinary literature that shows that “The most common cause of illness or death following exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons is aspiration pneumonia, which may cause a chronic progressive deterioration of health, with death after several days or weeks.” I have read the critical study by Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald of Cornell University on the “Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health” that provides 24 case studies of livestock and domestic animals who were sickened and killed by drilling activities. More than 100 cows dead at two farms from exposure to tainted water. I have read reports of rural communities fractured and shattered by the arrival of gas drilling, and the drop-off of milk production in Pennsylvania counties where the drilling is heaviest. I have read the studies that show vibrant, diversified rural economies – many now supporting a renaissance of small, sustainable organic farming – are decimated by boom-bust energy extraction industries that take their profits and leave their waste behind.

The evidence is in. The science is clear. The people inside that Convention Center are on the march to destroy my farm and many others in the pursuit of their short-term riches. They have a business model that allows them to get away with this. It goes like this.

Contaminate. Deny contamination. Litigate if the truth might become known. Settle with those who are losing everything. Gag them with court orders. Then deny again by saying the contamination never happened. Then crow about there being no proven cases of water contamination or sickness or deaths among animals and people. Get your bought-and-paid-for politicians like my state senator Joseph Scarlatti to make sure no systematic studies of human or animal health are ever funded or performed.

Well I am here to tell the people in that Convention Center: Not on my farm, not with my goats! If they are going to sicken or kill my goats, they will have to come through me to do it!

Dear friends, let us be clear about this. A crime of global proportions is underway. The water and air of Pennsylvania are under attack. And as bad as that is, it is only part of the criminal enterprise by which these people in that Convention Center are making their living. Because thanks to Bill McKibben who will speak to us shortly, we know this:

Oil and gas interests like those meeting here in Philadelphia already have on their balance sheets five times the fossil fuel assets that that it will take to destroy the planet’s climate and warm it beyond recognition. Their intention is to burn it all and to find even more to burn. We are witnessing the pre-meditated murder of the planet’s climate that sustains life as we know it. We are out of time. The resistance to fossil fuel dependency must begin now!

Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters speaks of “full spectrum resistance.” We must battle them in the courts, as Pittsburgh and other communities are doing with drilling bans. For my part I will soon file “The Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez Conservation Easement” to memorialize and protect the legacy of my wife who died last November of lung cancer. Her ashes lie interred at the top of my farm in the roots of a white eastern pine growing in her name. The easement, based on an assertion of certain Rights of Nature, will defend my farm against any who would attack the ecosystems present at the surface and in the earth below.

Beyond bans and other legal protections, we must resist the frackers in the court of public opinion, in the classrooms and community meetings, on the movie screens and TV screens, in the frackers’ offices, in the offices of their bought-and-paid-for public officials, in their planning meetings, and on their well pads. Wherever these climate criminals meet, wherever these masters of war against our environment gather, wherever they act to carry out their crimes against nature, we must be there.

So may I suggest that by next year, instead of speaking and marching in these streets, we organize 100 people, no, 200, however many it takes, to shut down this gas industry conference. They don’t get to meet in Philadelphia to plan the destruction of our state. Let’s let them know that next year they may not come back here.

Buffalo State College

Buffalo, New York

June 2, 2012

Address given by Stephen Cleghorn

Nature’s Justice

Good morning. I have some remarks regarding Nature’s Justice.

My name is Stephen Cleghorn. I live and farm in a place called Paradise. Paradise is about 160 miles south of Buffalo in the southeast corner of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.  It is an unincorporated area of such beauty in the Allegheny Plateau that it exists in the oral history of at least five generations of people who live there as “the Paradise community.”  I am new to this place, having arrived there in 2005 with my wife Lucinda to establish a 50-acre organic farm and build a goat creamery business.  Last November I lost my wife to lung cancer, so I am there by myself now.

Just over three weeks ago, on May 10^th, in the presence of more than 40 people who are fighting fracking, I spread some of Lucinda’s ashes at the top of our highest pasture, as she had requested.  From that pasture Lucinda and I would gaze upon rolling fields of crops, alternating green and brown. We could see our neighbor’s cows, gorgeous Jerseys with their big soulful eyes, framed against their emerald pasture. We would smile at our dairy goats lazing away a summer’s afternoon in the shade of maple trees as they chew their boluses of cud from the sweet grass

As I dropped my wife’s ashes onto that field, I invoked her name and spirit three times. I asked that she partner with me again – and do so forever as I live and stand – to protect this small piece of Paradise from unnatural gas extraction. I asked her to take new spiritual action as guardian of this farm that she loved, to be present in her ashes to mingle with earth and water below our feet, to protect that soil and water and all the organic lives which they sustain; to speak with her ashes words of peace and ongoing healing for her beloved farm.   And in her name I declared our farm forever inviolate of shale gas drilling or any other attack upon it as a living system. I declared a new right of love on the surface and below this farm that no gas drill will ever penetrate, a right rooted in the Rights of Nature. A right that declares null and void any “law” of private property that facilitates and allows the destruction of Nature and its ecology that sustains us.

And now, more so than ever, more so than when I first got involved in this fight against fracking – now when I go up to that hill to the Eastern Pine tree we planted on May 12, three weeks ago today, in Lucinda’s memory, her ashes mixed into its roots, now I recall those terrific words from a Wendell Berry poem called “On a Hill Late at Night” which ends like this:

I am wholly willing to be here

between the bright silent thousands of stars

and the life of the grass pouring out of the ground.

The hill has grown to me like a foot.

Until I lift the earth I cannot move.

Now I am rooted to my place that I call Paradise Gardens and Farm.  Now I have stories to tell about it. Now I can see the faces of new and old friends who gathered with me on May 10 to declare my farm forever inviolate of shale gas drilling. They will stand with me again when the big rig moves my way.  I can feel in my sense-memory Jenny and Carol and Briget, Doug and Aaron and Ben and Ken, Iris and Dana and Elizabeth and Loretta and Julie, Bill and Mary, Diane and Denise and so many other wonderful people who stood with me that day. I can also see the faces of family and neighbors who stood with me on May 12 to plant that tree at the highest point of my farm. My brothers and Lucinda’s sister Enid and her daughters Analiese and Carla, and all my children and grandchildren who shoveled in the dirt, now they know where my heart resides and how the one we all loved continues to protect me.

I am placed there.  It is my place in Paradise.  And I will defend it with my life if need be

Why do I mention all this to you?  Because it speaks to what we are up against.  The enemy we face is a marauding army of rootless gas companies that do not give a damn about my place, per se, nor any other place of human and animal habitation except as something they can exploit. The “shale army” has declared war on my piece of Paradise – which is but a piece of the Good Earth, in my view a piece of God’s Very Own Creation, for which I am responsible. Their attack on me is but as part of a wider war for cheap energy that casts a shadow over our planet and its future habitability.  The gas companies cannot even see me or my place memories, because they are sanctioned by law to plunder and destroy my place and its memories to service the rapacious energy appetite we have all unfortunately developed in the era of cheap fossil fuels.

Their power is everywhere.  Multinational energy companies are dictating the laws of Pennsylvania such as the recently passed Act 13.  Act 13 is nothing less than a corporate-sponsored form of organized crime perpetrated upon the people and democracy of Pennsylvania, written by politicians purchased for that purpose by lubricious campaign contributions that exceeded $4.4 million in the 2010 election cycle. We are being systematically colonized by multinational corporations who give no quarter. Wendell Berry in his poem “Look Out” speaks of the shadow of energy wars without end that has fallen upon us all:

Come to your windows, people of the world,
look out at whatever you see wherever you are,
and you will see dancing upon it that shadow.
You will see that your place, wherever it is,
your house, your garden, your shop, your forest, your farm,
bears the shadow of its destruction by war
which is the economy of greed which is plunder
which is the economy of wrath which is fire.
The Lords of War sell the earth to buy fire,
they sell the water and air of life to buy fire.
They are little men grown great by willingness
to drive whatever exists into its perfect absence.
Their intention to destroy any place is solidly founded
upon their willingness to destroy every place.

Every household of the world is at their mercy,
the households of the farmer and the otter and the owl
are at their mercy. They have no mercy.

It is not surprising to me that the corporate frackers are nomadic types such as Wallace Stegner mentions in his essay “The Sense of Place,” nor that they are having trouble setting up shop in a place like Pennsylvania or New York which many people know as an ancestral home, a real place where they would like to live out their lives peaceably in enjoyment of the land and their loved ones.  The corporate frackers bring with them the lure of money and temptations of a better life elsewhere, or even some respite from poverty on the old home place, insinuating themselves into long-stable communities and blasting them apart as sure as the shale gets fracked. Community is weakened and a kind of “rights of property” without traditional community constraints becomes the order of the day, leading to a feeling expressed by a long-term resident of Bradford County, Pennsylvania as: “It’s like we’re losing our love.”  Dr. Simona Perry, an ethnographer at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute has reported that the people of Bradford County, Pennsylvania – the second most heavily drilled county in my state – are seized by anger, confusion, a deep sense of loss, and bitter divisions between neighbors.

If we are fighting a marauding army without mercy, then it becomes our job to have mercy enough for ourselves, for our divided and troubled neighbors, and even for our adversaries.  We must get about building a nonviolent movement in the shale areas of Pennsylvania, New York and throughout the Americas and the world, to interfere with and stop fracking once and for all.  We must join in solidarity with those who are fighting all forms of extreme fossil fuel extraction.  We must transition to a sustainable energy future with joy of purpose and love for the struggle.

This fight forced upon us has that one tangible benefit:  it puts us square in the middle of moving toward a new paradigm of how we live within nature, respectful of nature, apologetic to nature for how we are living now and have been living for centuries, and affirming and defending the “rights” of ecosystems that sustain all life. Through a combination of legal moves and nonviolent direct action we must find ways to move to sustainability of the living systems of this Good Earth in the places where we live that are now threatened.

Writes farmer-poet Berry, “We have reached a point at which we must either consciously desire and choose and determine the future of the earth, or submit to such an involvement in our destructiveness that the earth, and ourselves with it, must certainly be destroyed.”

If we have to be in a fight, this is a good one to take on.  It must come from a people’s movement.  Our political leaders at all levels, beholden to corporations to fund their campaigns, refuse to lead us out of a fossil fuel era that is warming our planet, and refuse to prevent the chemical contamination of our environment and food for corporate profits. The environment is becoming more and more toxic. Species are disappearing by the hundreds annually and many of our own human kind are finding themselves dealing more and more with the calamities of climate change

On May 10^th at my farm as I declared it forever inviolate of drilling, I said to my friends – echoing the final words of our nation’s Declaration of Independence – that our liberty, our fortunes, our sacred honor and maybe even our lives will be required of us as we resist the shale army.  But we are willing to pay those costs. We shall pledge all that to Nature and to our fellow human beings who are part of Nature, even those who perpetrate the harm.  And we shall do so without any assurance of victory.

Our individual acts of resistance will become part of an ongoing organization to create a new foundation of law based on the Rights of Nature. In taking up this fight, we can do many things, including electoral politics.  We can run for office.  We can alter our land titles to incorporate an easement that gives us standing in law to defend the ecosystem against any and all attacks upon it.  We can pass municipal bans on fracking.  Many things we can do.

But in an era where our repeated petitions on behalf of Nature have been answered only by the repeated injuries of the tyrants Big Oil, Big Gas and King Coal, we must act and act swiftly. Our time is limited, as Wendell Berry warned all of us when he spoke to students at the College of the Atlantic in 1989:  “Beware the justice of Nature. Understand that there can be no successful human economy apart from Nature or in defiance of Nature.”[1]

In this fight now enjoined upon all of us, science and truth-force and the rigorous economy of Nature are on the side of we who call for a ban on fracking.  Money and power and fat-n-easy living are on the side of those who would destroy Nature and its protectors. In the final analysis, it’s not really a fair fight. Even if we protectors of Nature do not stop the frackers, Nature will. Nature will not be made the fool by small-minded men and women who perpetrate the despoliation of living systems for short-term monetary profits. That is an economy doomed to fail.  Nature will have its justice, and that justice – unfortunately – will be visited upon the guilty and innocent alike.

Thank you for having me.

Accounts of the impacts of shale gas drilling on people and animals

List compiled by J. Lisak of Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air (PACWA)

pacwa@ymail.com

INTRODUCTION by Stephen Cleghorn of PACWA

This is a compilation of more than 200 cases that have appeared in the press about people and animals living in gas fields who have become sick and even died from exposure to air and water contamination associated with gas field facilities. More than half of these cases, by number of people affected, are from the Pennsylvania gas fields above the Marcellus Shale.

These cases have been assembled by citizen activists who are part of a small grassroots organization, with no resources other than their computers and thousands of hours of volunteer time trying to find what they can about the impacts and risks of “high volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing of long lateral well bores from multi-well pads” to extract methane and other hydrocarbons from tight shale formations (an entire process above and below ground that the public has come to know simply as “fracking.”

These citizens are paying attention. They are seeing the stories reported here and many others not reported here as evidence of grave harm to the environment, humans and animals. However, these stories come and go in the press. Only a very few attract extended follow-up investigation from the media. If the story is too damaging to the gas industry, the PR apparatus rises up and acts to destroy the credibility of people who are reporting that they are sick or their water has gone bad. The gas industry says “you cannot prove that we caused this,” and the people affected say, “My water and health was fine, my animals were fine, before the drilling came, but now they are ruined.” That is called “both sides of the story.

After the “he said/she said” moment has passed, after the richly endowed gas industry PR machine has done its work of sowing doubt and confusion, after people have been silenced by nondisclosure agreements from ever speaking of their problems again, after officials responsible for looking into these matters say they cannot say for sure what made people’s water go bad or made them sick, then the press moves on.

They leave behind the people living with “water buffalos” – if they are lucky – to have some clean water. They leave behind farms ruined, livestock buried and composted. They leave behind and forget about the ones whose health is ruined. Some people move out of the gas fields for the safety of themselves and their families. Some have become so depressed that suicide was their way out.

These are Pennsylvania’s new “disappeared ones.” Until there is a serious, ongoing, peer-reviewed scientific study of cause-and-effect, the industry can cry “All anecdotes!” The press will say, case by case, “End of story.” But there will be no such study in Pennsylvania because legislators refuse even to fund a health registry to collect the data. The new Pennsylvania law known as Act 13 prohibits doctors from sharing with other doctors at professional conferences what they find out in treating people sickened by exposure to drilling chemicals. There can be no gathering of essential public health and veterinary health information because the power of the gas industry over state legislators prohibits it.

These are the “disappeared” people and stories from the gas fields of Pennsylvania and other gas “fracking” fields of America. Attention must be paid to them.

############################################################

[Note: this list is a living document. It keeps changing as people point out additions and corrections to it. The list can be accessed on the blog site of the Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air. Its compiler and author  J.Lisak of PACWA invites comments to be made on the PACWA site so that she can continue to grow and improve the list. Link follows below.]

http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/

The statement

Goats bearing witness to the blessing

Blessing the land with Lucinda’s ashes

(Note: this is the complete statement I had prepared. Because of a sudden, gusty spring rain that had soaked us pretty well, I did not speak every word of this. But in my heart I meant every word of it.)

Welcome, everyone.

Today I act to declare my farm, all that lives above on its surface, the very air and sunlight that caresses and enlivens all of us here today, and all that lies below it as firmament, I hereby declare off-limits from shale gas extraction and its toxic impacts, in perpetuity.  Some will say what I do is against the law.  But I say this: I act in the spirit of the founders of this nation who proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence that “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” entitled them to throw off the oppression of the British Crown.  I act to throw off an oppression manifesting itself in the threat of “fracking” for methane gas, an extreme form of fossil fuel extraction that is but representative of a much bigger oppression that is bearing down on all of us.

There is an increasing collusion between corporate power and the governmental powers of the United States of America, Pennsylvania and other states.  This flag beside me is losing its potency as a symbol of justice and freedom. The republic for which it stands is being bought and sold as though being traded on the commodities market. We are losing our democracy.  Governments are protecting corporations, not people.

Seeing energy companies dictate laws such as the recently passed Act 13, I can now understand better what our nation’s founders discovered in trying to negotiate with the British Crown. Act 13 is a corporate-sponsored form of organized crime perpetrated upon the people and democracy of Pennsylvania, written by politicians purchased for that purpose by lubricious campaign contributions that exceeded $4.4 million in the 2010 election cycle, more than one-third of which went to Governor Corbett, and almost two-thirds of which went to Gov. Corbett, Senator Joe Scarnati, Speaker Sam Smith and the Republican Party Committee.  That is not to count the $5 million in gas company lobbying in Harrisburg and being the Gold Sponsors of the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

We are being systematically colonized by multinational corporations who give no quarter.  There has come a time when negotiation is capitulation, when our petitioning for redress “in the most humble terms” has failed, and when our “repeated Petitions” are being “answered only by repeated injury.”

The America we love is fast becoming America, Inc. – a wholly owned subsidiary of faceless corporations that get to speak with money to get the politicians they want to make the laws they need to despoil our environment and even what we eat for their exorbitant profits. Monsanto is buying up and patenting our seeds and poisoning us with their genetically engineered crops. The USDA and Food Safety Administration – at the behest of the industrial food lobby – are preventing the labeling of genetically modified food products that a super majority of Americans want to see labeled. Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources and CONSOL Energy and EXCO Resources (allied with British Petroleum) and Cabot Oil & Gas and Shell Oil and many others are being given license to run roughshod over local zoning protections. Their transgressions against water and air and human and animal life where they drill are being shielded by court gag orders.  PNC and other banks are financing mountaintop removal of coal that is destroying entire ecosystems in West Virginia.

Our political leaders, beholden to corporations to fund their campaigns, refuse to lead us out of a fossil fuel era that is warming our planet, and refuse to prevent the chemical contamination of our environment and food for corporate profits. The environment is becoming more and more toxic. Species are disappearing by the hundreds annually and many of our own human kind are finding themselves dealing more and more with the calamities of climate change.

Act 13 codifies injuries against our democracy and our earth itself. It was an outright victory for the “Shale Army” of which one energy executive boasted: “The shale army has arrived. Resistance is futile.”

But resistance is not futile. The “shale army” will find that out soon enough, after we have taken more losses at their hands, to be sure, but soon enough.  Resistance can be liberating.  It is also a little scary, of course.  That is why our Declaration of Independence ends, knowing that war is at hand, on a somber note that appeals “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” and comes to a close with these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

That is what today is for me.  And I dare say many of my friends gathered here.  Our lives. Our fortunes. Our sacred honor. Maybe even our liberty will be required of us as we resist the shale army. But we shall pay those costs. We shall pledge all that to Nature and to our fellow human beings who are part of Nature, God’s Nature, even those who perpetrate the harm.

I am putting all of that into this fight, risking it all without any assurance of victory.

Why?  Because we need a new paradigm for how we live on this Earth.  Our individual acts of resistance such as this one today must be part of an ongoing organization to create a foundation of law based on the Rights of Nature.

Now, for a moment, let me turn to those who were invited but chose not to come today.  Mr. & Mrs. Burkett.  Senator Scarnati and Speaker Smith. J. Brett Harvey of CONSOL Energy and Douglas Miller of EXCO Resources.

Mr. & Mrs. Burkett – If you were here I’d say this to you. When you bought the deed to the gas rights for $150 in 1995 from a previous heir of this farm, you could not have known anything about the highly invasive and toxic processes of drilling into an unconventional gas field such as the tight shale of the Marcellus.  No one did.  And you could not have known that someday two people would come and pour their entire life savings into making this an organic farm.  And when you made a smart deal for $80,000 in leasing bonus and looked forward to 12 ½% royalties, it must have seemed such a good thing for your family, but you had no idea that this type of drilling could destroy another family’s dreams for sustainable farming and nurturing a new generation of young farmers.  But now you do know, and when you told Lucinda and me that you were not interested in selling the gas rights back to us, you said it was because you were “greedy.”  I asked how you could allow the earth to be destroyed for some money, and you told me that it did not really matter because at the end of time, according to your faith, Jesus Christ would return and make the world whole again for his faithful, and those people who did the damage to the world would receive their just due.  But don’t you see, Mr. & Mrs. Burkett, that “those people” are you?  “Those people” are all of us if we allow the destruction of our earth

Senator Scarnati, for two years I have tried to get you to understand the suffering that afflicts people and animals in contact with this drilling, wherever it has occurred.  You refuse to take in any information about that. In fact you recently blocked a $2 million fund to develop a health registry that would track cases of people who are being sickened.  Today we have presented news accounts of more than 115 such cases, but for you (on purpose) you will not pay attention to these.  These are all the “disappeared ones” for you (on purpose).  They do not exist for you, they cannot exist for you, and you do not want information about them to exist for anyone else.  I pity you, sir, and – believe it or not – I continue to keep you in my prayers.

Speaker Smith, Mr. Harvey and Mr. Miller – let me offer this to all of you who have refused to be here today.  Also to you, Mr. & Mrs. Burkett and Senator Scarnati.  If you were here I’d ask you to stand up, turn slowly and look around this beautiful farm, this beautiful farmland and woods before you.  Just turn your bodies slowly around and see all of it, see and imagine it as habitat for me, my family and friends, my neighbors, these goats, the fox and the deer and the moles and the mice and the groundhogs, the ground-nesting birds and peeping frogs and the slithering snakes. “Look Out” on this place and see it as a home for many, not a commodity to be exploited.  “Look Out” on this particular place, which in some ways stands for all places where earth and sky and water and air and life are under threat by our insatiable “economy” built on fossil fuels, built on wars for fossil fuels, and try to hear there words from a poem called “Look Out” by the farmer Wendell Berry.  Hope that these words are not about you. Hope that some day these words will not describe any of us:

Look Out – by Wendell Berry

Come to the window, look out, and see
the valley turning green in remembrance
of all springs past and to come, the woods
perfecting with immortal patience
the leaves that are the work of all of time,
the sycamore whose white limbs shed
the history of a man’s life with their old bark,
the river quivering under the morning’s breath
like the touched skin of a horse, and you will see
also the shadow cast upon it by fire, the war
that lights its way by burning the earth.

Come to your windows, people of the world,
look out at whatever you see wherever you are,
and you will see dancing upon it that shadow.
You will see that your place, wherever it is,
your house, your garden, your shop, your forest, your farm,
bears the shadow of its destruction by war
which is the economy of greed which is plunder
which is the economy of wrath which is fire.
The Lords of War sell the earth to buy fire,
they sell the water and air of life to buy fire.
They are little men grown great by willingness
to drive whatever exists into its perfect absence.
Their intention to destroy any place is solidly founded
upon their willingness to destroy every place.

Every household of the world is at their mercy,
the households of the farmer and the otter and the owl
are at their mercy. They have no mercy.
Having hate, they can have no mercy.
Their greed is the hatred of mercy.
Their pockets jingle with the small change of the poor.
Their power is the willingness to destroy
everything for knowledge which is money
which is power which is victory
which is ashes sown by the wind.

Leave your windows and go out, people of the world,
go into the streets, go into the fields, go into the woods
and along the streams. Go together, go alone.
Say no to the Lords of War which is Money
which is Fire. Say no by saying yes
to the air, to the earth, to the trees,
yes to the grasses, to the rivers, to the birds
and the animals and every living thing, yes
to the small houses, yes to the children. Yes.

My friends, please, now join me as we set aside this farm from the destruction of shale gas drilling.

The Invocations:

(To those gathered). As I move now to release a portion of my wife’s ashes upon this land, I will end each invocation with her name.  When I do that, please say with me “¡Presente!” to recognize that she is here with us in spirit. “¡Presente!” is a way of saying that she here with us to take new spiritual action as guardian and protector of this farm that she so loved. So… (lifting the first handful ashes)

1. May she who was soft, warm and moist to me – now made dry by cancerous death – come now in these ashes to mingle with earth and water below our feet, come to protect the soil and water of this farm and all the lives which they sustain. Come now, Dr. Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez!  (¡Presente!)

2.  May she who was quench to my thirst, who was water of this good earth’s loving waters – now made grit and grief to me by cancerous death – may she come now to her final home, come speak with these ashes her final words of peace and wellness for her beloved organic farm. Come now, Dr. Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez. (¡Presente!)

3. May she who was tender and close and loving of me – now made dust and distant from me by cancerous death – come now in these ashes to declare this farm forever inviolate of shale gas drilling or any other attack upon it as a living system. Here now she declares a new right of love on the surface and below this farm that no gas drill will ever penetrate.” Come, be with us now, Dr. Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez. (¡Presente!)

Thank you. Now we will take your questions.

http://www.butlereagle.com/article/20120424/EDITORIAL02/704249853/-1/Editorial 

If Act 13 is such a good law as Senator White thinks it is, why does the Act time and again shroud its implementation and administration in secrecy?  Why does it exempt from the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act the deliberations of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) that will make critical judgments about local zoning laws that PUC determines (in the dark) to be contrary to Act 13?

PennFuture (a leading environmental organization that supports shale gas development if it is properly regulated) has just published a “plain language” overview of Act 13 which is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how this Act places its most important decisions in the dark and thus abrogates democratic protections for the people of Pennsylvania. That report can be accessed through their website: http://www.pennfuture.org/ 

At the very heart of Act 13 are new powers for the PUC. Yet the public will not be allowed to see how these powers are being exercised.

 ”2313(b). The statute provides that any information obtained by or submitted to the PUC as a result of any report, investigation, examination or hearing shall be kept confidential and only used for official purposes….This provision precludes the public from accessing through a public information request records used by the Public Utility Commission to fulfill its statutory duty of ensuring compliance with the law. In other words, the public may find it very difficult to ensure that public officials are fulfilling their statutory obligations under this law.” (PennFuture)

Act 13 eliminates the ability of a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) field inspector to shut down a drilling operation gone bad. Oddly, this idea that inspectors would be handcuffed in this way created a big scandal when it was first reported as part of the new Corbett Administration’s way of doing business with the gas companies, but now the complete politicization of DEP has become our law, without a whimper in the mainstream press about it.

“Unlike other environmental laws, cease orders under the oil and gas law may only be issued by the secretary of DEP. Under most environmental statutes, DEP inspectors – the persons trained to observe violations of law – have the right to stop unlawful conduct by issuing field orders to the person suspected of violating the law. Under the new oil and gas law, DEP inspectors cannot cease drilling operations – only the secretary of the DEP can take that action.” (PennFuture)

The gas companies will not necessarily have to provide ongoing critical information to DEP as to how much wastewater they are producing and what becomes of it. Only if this information is requested by DEP will it become public record.

“The well operator must keep track of the amount of wastewater generated during drilling and hydraulic fracturing, the company that transported the wastewater off-site, where the waste was taken (whether for processing, re-use, or disposal), the quantity of waste taken, and the disposal method. These records must be made available to the DEP upon request….This means that only those records requested by DEP, on a site by site basis, will be available to the public for review. The same standard applies to the increasing number of facilities that process gas well wastewater for re-use. Unless the agency later requires it by regulation, nothing in the statute requires the companies to submit a comprehensive summary of their records to the agency on a regular basis. Consequently, these records will not be available for public scrutiny and inspection. 3218.3.” (PennFuture)

So do we really think DEP Secretary Michael Krancer, who has in his career provided legal services to the energy industry, is going to task his department with a rigorous collection of wastewater information?  The answer is “We don’t really know.” The public is left totally dependent on the good graces of the people in high office like Krancer to ask for and make public the information we need to know to protect the waters of the Commonwealth. Trust us, says DEP. That’s the best you are going to get.

So now DEP has its own version of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the books – the less they ask the gas companies about what they do with that toxic wastewater, the less they have to reveal about that to the public.

But what about all those new setbacks, those new environmental protections?  “DEP may grant a waiver if an operator shows that a setback requirement would deprive the operator of its rights in oil and gas resources. 3215(a)” states PennFuture. Who do we think is going to win that dispute?

And what about the gas industry now having to reveal all those chemicals they use?

“(T)he bottom line is that certain chemicals used in fracking fluids can be kept secret under certain circumstances…. if a company claims that a chemical or concentration is a Trade Secret or confidential proprietary information, then the company can submit more generic information to the DEP and (chemical disclosure) registry…. Such a claim will prevent the public from getting that information…. The law does not plainly set out a process for interested persons to challenge the company’s claims.”

No sunshine there, it appears. The gas companies have the final say-so on what they reveal about their chemicals.

Then there is this on what Act 13 makes unlawful:

“The law makes it unlawful for any person to….conduct any activity related to drilling contrary to the law or DEP regulations, or in a manner that creates a public nuisance or adversely affects public health, safety, welfare or the environment.” (PennFuture)

This provision has the fingerprints of Senator Joe Scarnati all over it. He has long held an interest in criminalizing dissent and declaring those who stand in the way of gas development “eco-terrorists.”  This part of Act 13 is so vague (“any activity”) that people who assemble in front of a well pad to call for it to be shut down could be subject to criminal prosecution. 

There is much more in the PennFuture report about how Act 13 is a gas industry lawyer’s dream for limiting their liability and accountability.  For example, Senator White’s comparison of the new powers of the PUC to how the ACRE program is set up is inaccurate.  Under Act 13 the PUC gets to be “advisor” to the same municipalities for which it is also the “judge” as to whether their zoning law contradicts Act 13. If the PUC “advice” is not taken, then the PUC can cut off the municipality from any impact fee, and they get to keep the reasons for that a secret.

If ever there was an unlucky number for the fate of local democracy in Pennsylvania’s laws, it would be Act 13.  We live in an era where corporations can essentially buy the politicians they want (as in $1.6 million going to Gov. Corbett’s campaign for office and almost $300,000 going to Senator Scarnati’s from the gas industry, plus a Super Bowl trip). Senator White, for the $18,000 she got from energy companies, no doubt would argue that such money has no influence on how she thinks.  They all say that.

The corporate paymasters of the corporate politicians in Harrisburg have had their way with this Act. Our legislators have turned over to these corporate titans the ability to manipulate the levers of political power out of sight of the people of this state. Why has our state government decided that it needs to abrogate so severely the mechanisms of democracy and local control, just to get some gas out of the shale? What are they afraid of? Who are they serving?

We owe a debt of gratitude to PennFuture for their excellent summary of Act 13 in plain language.  Yet Act 13 also stands as a cautionary tale for PennFuture and anyone else that thinks they can negotiate with the gas industry to protect the waters and environment of Pennsylvania.  Try that and this industry will have you back on your heels taking blow after blow from them.  This law giveth lip service to some new environmental protections for which PennFuture and its consultant John Quigley had lobbied very hard, but then taketh away those protections with waivers and secrecy about what will really be happening.  The Act is pretty good evidence of what Dr. Sandra Steingraber meant when she said “To advocate for mitigation is to sanction gas drilling.” http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/data/Steingraber.pdf

Of course PennFuture does sanction gas drilling, so they are being consistent in publishing a piece that they hope will shine a light on yet another thing that is now wrong and needs to be fixed – i.e., the very landmark legislation based on the premise that the drilling for unconventional gas should happen.  Too late? Too little?

Act 13 is an outright victory for the “Shale Army” of which Bill Gwodz, VP of gas services for Ziff Energy Group of Calgary, has famously written: “The shale army has arrived. Resistance is futile.”  Yet I must take issue with that sort of defeatism. I plan to do that on May 10^th at my organic farm in Jefferson County.

Toward Resistance and a Declaration of the Rights of Nature

When we gather at my farm on May 10 (of which I have written elsewhere on this blog) to declare these 50 acres “inviolate” of gas drilling forever, we will perhaps be convening an illegal assembly under Act 13 “contrary to” the new law, and other laws that protect property rights over human rights and the rights of nature.  We will take that chance.  We will do so to expand upon what the founders of this nation proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence when they referenced “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” as entitling them to throw off the oppression of the British Crown. 

For Nature, the Good Earth, that we will vow to protect on May 10, the oppressors to be thrown off are the dangerous, profit-hungry energy corporations aided and abetted by paid-for politicians who do their bidding in crafting an unjust law like Act 13.  As our nation’s founders discovered in trying to negotiate with the British Crown, there comes a time when negotiation is capitulation. There comes a time when petitioning for redress “in the most humble terms” fails, and when “repeated Petitions” are “answered only by repeated injury.”

That time has arrived for us with the energy companies that despoil our world; and that time is here with political leaders who refuse to lead us out of a fossil fuel era that is warming our planet to the point that species are disappearing by the hundreds annually and many of our own human kind are finding themselves dealing more and more with the calamities of climate change.

Not all my neighbors will agree with me, certainly not those who hold the so-called “gas rights” to gas in the shale a mile below my farm. Our founders who signed the Declaration were sorely grieved by the fact that their warnings to their fellow Americans of “attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction” over them had fallen on deaf ears. I too am grieved. I am grieved that appealing to my neighbors’ “native justice and magnanimity” has not convinced them of what our founders would have called the “usurpations” of the gas companies and their acolytes in Harrisburg who would control their lives without respect to their hard-won democratic protections and institutions of local determination. 

So there is no help for that. I love my neighbors, but I must act on May 10, and some others will join me in acting, to declare independence for the land beneath our feet and for all life sustained by this land, so that it shall never again be considered mere private property for human consumption.  We will recognize that Nature has rights, too, a part that our founders left out of their Declaration and our nation’s Constitution.  We will recall the words of Tom Paine, author of Common Sense, the man known as the propagandist of the American revolution, who wrote in his tract “Agrarian Justice” that “Man did not make the earth, and, though he had a natural right to occupy it, he had no right to locate as his property in perpetuity any part of it; neither did the Creator of the earth open a land-office, from whence the first title-deeds should issue.” 

Resistance is not futile.  The “shale army” will find that out soon enough, after we have taken more losses at their hands, to be sure, but soon enough.  Resistance can be liberating.  It is also a little scary, of course.  That is why our Declaration of Independence ends on a somber note that appeals “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” and comes to a close with these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

May 10 will be that for me. My life. My fortune. My sacred honor. Maybe even my liberty. Pledged to Nature and to my fellow human beings who are but part of Nature, God’s Nature as I understand it within my Catholic faith tradition.

I am putting it all into this fight, risking it all without any assurance of victory.

So be it.  I am so proud to count as friends all those who will join me on that day as we combine an individual act of resistance with our ongoing organization of a foundation of law based on the Rights of Nature.  We need a new paradigm for how we live on this Earth.  Please come join me if you can.