Maine Town Passes Ordinance Asserting Local Self-Governance and Stripping Corpor

[MTPorcupine3]

http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1005707



        Today the citizens of Shapleigh, Maine voted at a special town meeting to pass a groundbreaking Rights-Based Ordinance, 114 for and 66 against. This revolutionary ordinance give its citizens the right to local self-governance and gives rights to ecosystems but denies the rights of personhood to corporations. This ordinance allows the citizens to protect their groundwater resources, putting it in a common trust to be used for the benefit of its residents. Shapleigh is the first community in Maine to pass such an ordinance, which extends rights to nature, however, the Ordinance Review Committee in Wells, Maine is considering passing one in their town.

[J’raxis 270145]

Didn't this "rights of ecosystems" silliness come up somewhere in New Hampshire last year? I take it this is some new collectivist-rights craze spreading across the nation.

[KBCraig]

Right to local self-governance: Good!

Denying "personhood" to corporations: Good!

Socialization of privately-held resources via "rights to nature": Very, very bad!

[John Edward Mercier]

Not sure if Maine is a Dillon's Rule State.

Corporations don't have personhood... the individuals that make up the corporation do.

Groundwater is not a privately held resource in New England... its common property.

[KBCraig]

Corporations don't have personhood...

Of course they do. That's why the statutes are full of convoluted language about "X if a natural person, or Y if any other person." Corporations and registered businesses are "any other person", since they're not natural persons.

[J’raxis 270145]

Corporations don't have personhood... the individuals that make up the corporation do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juristic_person

[Porcupine_in_MA]

*Waits for BillKauffman to chime in with some mutualist nonsense in reply to this*

[jaqeboy]

http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=1005707

        Today the citizens of Shapleigh, Maine voted at a special town meeting to pass a groundbreaking Rights-Based Ordinance, 114 for and 66 against. This revolutionary ordinance give its citizens the right to local self-governance and gives rights to ecosystems but denies the rights of personhood to corporations. This ordinance allows the citizens to protect their groundwater resources, putting it in a common trust to be used for the benefit of its residents. Shapleigh is the first community in Maine to pass such an ordinance, which extends rights to nature, however, the Ordinance Review Committee in Wells, Maine is considering passing one in their town.

This is a campaign led by celdf.org, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. I've met the leaders of the Maine campaigns. There are a couple of similar actions in New-Hampshire towns, esp. Barnstead and Nottingham. The water issue is a fight against fascistic power, ie privileged corporations (I know, redundant) taking water that flows beneath the surface of the land amongst many owners' (of the surface land) property in such a way that it negatively affects the water table (accessibility to the natural sources of water) of others. Tom Linzey and some of the other lawyers developed this strategy as a continuation of the American struggle against the East India Company and other chartered persons (the corporate onslaught that has followed EIC) that were gaining power over the rights of the people and exercising it in a cruel, irresponsible and amoral way (and, of course, getting away with it with state complicity). Tom conducts The Daniel Pennock Democracy School, which has held several sessions here in New-Hampshire. Looks like the next one is April 3-5, 2009 in Concord.

What they are doing to fight back against the coporations is awesome, to say the least. I like the idea of the trust concept for water protection, but not the use of the term "rights" (of nature), since that is inappropriate and meaningless. I talked to Tom at a Democracy School in Barnstead back in August or September and I got through to him on a couple of points. Everyone in this movement should go to the Democracy School - it'll open your eyes wide  to the corporation issue. I have the curriculum book if anyone wants to review it.

From their site:
The Daniel Pennock Democracy School is a stimulating and illuminating course that teaches citizens and activists how to re-frame exhausting and often discouraging single issue work ... in a way that we can confront corporate control on a powerful single front: people's constitutional rights.

Some very solid libertarian ideals, indeed.

From the website, the course helps you:
    * Learn the secret of how People's Movements have cut to the essence and won their struggles to be "found" in the constitution.
          o The Anti-Federalists
          o The Abolitionists
          o The Suffragists
          o The Populists
          o The Labor Movement
          o And learn about earlier Movements, including the Levelers and the Diggers.

Some good historical context, for sure.

Ayn Rand started trying to address the property rights issue of common resources, but I don't think she got too far. There has been some common law evolution on the subject, but obviously, libertarians could contribute to that thought with rigorous application of principles.

[John Edward Mercier]

Corporations don't have personhood... the individuals that make up the corporation do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juristic_person

'a group of natural persons to act as if they were a single composite individual'
Even though the natural persons are treated in a collective manner... its still the individual natural persons with the rights.

[jaqeboy]

An update on this from Mari Margil of CELDF:
==============================

Hi Folks,

I want to share a quick update with you on our work in New England.

We just had the first two towns in Maine adopt ordinances.  The ordinances ban corporations from conducting massive water withdrawals.  Bottled water companies continue to target New England communities for their water.

The Town of Shapleigh, Maine, adopted the ordinance at a recent Special Town Meeting.  The Town of Newfield, Maine, neighboring Shapleigh, voted to adopt the same ordinance at their Town Meeting this past Saturday, March 14.

Text from an article is below with the link.

Warm regards,

-          Mari

Here's a link and the text of an article on the USA Today site: http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Places,+Geography/Countries/Poland/0aRscxh9cZ3IN/1

Shapleigh Passes Ordinance To Protect Groundwater

SHAPLEIGH (NEWS CENTER) -- The town of Shapleigh voted Saturday to pass an ordinance that gives the people the right to control the water resources in town.

Under the ordinance, groundwater is put in a common trust to be used for the benefit of its residents. The vote was 114 in favor and 66 against.

Shapleigh is the first town in Maine to pass such an ordinance. It's a reaction to Poland Spring's interest in extracting town groundwater.

Poland Spring and its parent company, Nestle, have increasingly gotten resistance from Maine towns as the company tries to expand by finding new water sources in Maine.

------------------------------------------------
Mari Margil
Associate Director
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
126 NE Mason Street
Portland, Oregon   97211
(503) 284-2814

mmargil@celdf.org

[BillKauffman]

*Waits for BillKauffman to chime in with some mutualist nonsense in reply to this*

Hello there...I am back!

[BillKauffman]

All the groundwater and surface water over 20 acres is owned in common in NH as an individual equal access opportunity right.

The state just acts as the "public trustee"...

[jaqeboy]

All the groundwater and surface water over 20 acres is owned in common in NH as an individual equal access opportunity right.

The state just acts as the "public trustee"...

Is that in the statute law? and is it worded that way? just curious.

[BillKauffman]

All the groundwater and surface water over 20 acres is owned in common in NH as an individual equal access opportunity right.

The state just acts as the "public trustee"...

Is that in the statute law? and is it worded that way? just curious.

This attachment came from the State of NH but is no longer available on their site

[BillKauffman]

Right to local self-governance: Good!

Denying "personhood" to corporations: Good!

Socialization of privately-held resources via "rights to nature": Very, very bad!

The resources in question (water) are not "privately-held" or "collectively-held".

They are held "in common" as an individual EQUAL right. So your use of the word "socialization" is misplaced. Individual equal rights are the basis of classical liberalism (free speech/right of ways, etc).