Letter to the Editor: Support Community Rights movement

We all love our community and take pride in what we have built together. By working carefully with our assets, and planning for the future, Decorah has become a regional economic hub, and Winneshiek County continues to draw new businesses and residents because of our quality of life. However, there is more that needs to be done.

Two recent developments should make us question whether we have adequate safeguards in place to protect our future. One is the recent CAFO expansion by Millennium Ag. The other is the imminent arrival of frac sand mining. Both demonstrate the ability of corporate power to threaten our assets and our way of life. The CAFO expansion is proceeding despite being strongly opposed by the community and the entire Board of Supervisors.

To those who understand the political and legal power available to corporations this was not a surprise. Under existing law, communities are so boxed in by legal doctrine that they are basically limited to doing three things: appealing permits issued by the state, lobbying state legislators to give local governments more authority (and state regulatory agencies like the DNR to enforce state regulations), and requesting corporations to limit the damage from practices like trucking and pollution.

There are four legal doctrines that allow this to happen:
1.    Dillon's Rule - local governments are treated as "children of the state" and allowed to do only what the state authorizes.
2.    State Preemption - local ordinances or decisions are trumped by state law.  
3.    Nature as Property – nature and ecosystems have no rights and may be exploited because they are property.
4.    Corporate Constitutional " Rights" – Corporations can claim that local laws and decisions "take" property from them (state-issued permits are considered property) and are in violation of corporate constitutional rights. In addition, corporations can claim that resource extraction (oil, gas, and coal, sand), the application of sewage sludge, the disposal of garbage, etc., is interstate commerce. Under the commerce clause of the Constitution, they are given the right to nullify local decisions and to sue the community for damages.
                                                          
The history of how corporations have gained the status of super-citizens, possessing far more rights and power than you and I, is fascinating and frightening. In the limited space of this letter, let's summarize by saying that the legal regulatory system intended to control their actions is a sham. Originally requested BY industry, to give the appearance of accountability, regulatory agencies are actually most effective at limiting and controlling the ability of the public to respond.

Not surprisingly, almost all communities fail in taking on corporations. The communities that pursue the standard regulatory approach might win a few initial rounds on legal technicalities, but the real legal battle is over before they even begin to fight. In the end the corporation gets its permit to operate, and the community might get some small limitations on the damage inflicted. Then comes the never-ending battle to enforce those limitations/regulations.

But there's another way, and it's gaining momentum. 160 communities (including the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mora County, New Mexico) have successfully prevailed against corporate interests, and they have done so by taking a different approach, very much like the one taken by our forebears in the American Revolution, like the abolitionists who struck down slavery and like the Suffragettes who won the right to vote. All these folks demanded rights, justice and self-government. They used civil disobedience to stand up to unjust power and to rally the public support that would bring positive change.

The Community Rights movement follows their example. By composing a Community Bill of Rights, communities reclaim their right determine their own destiny, and to negate corporate privilege if it denies that right. There are reasons why this is an effective legal tactic. For one thing, stating that a community has a right to simple, straightforward things like clean air, clean water etc. is hardly unreasonable. Most people assume that legal protection for such obviously necessary things already exists, and are surprised to learn this is not the case.

Once a community lays claim to these basic rights, corporate lawyers are left with the difficult job of making a case that the community is not in fact, entitled to those things because the corporation has a higher right to pollute while making a profit. Taking these arguments to a local court--and to the people who will suffer the damage--is a hard sell, and exposes how corrupt these arguments are.

Most of us have heard of the Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations "personhood", and the recent Citizens United, that allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money in elections. And so it goes, as they further tighten their grip on politicians, ballot initiatives and legislative outcomes. The frightening absurdity of corporate "personhood" is demonstrated by legislation recently brought by a state legislator to allow corporations the right to vote.

The American Revolutionaries knew that corporate power (in their case, demonstrated by the East India Company) needed to be limited so that corporations would serve constructively, not rule destructively. Revolutionary legislatures passed state laws giving the people authority over corporations and limiting corporate privileges.

Thomas Jefferson said the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. It is long past time to rein in corporate power, and we can start right here, right now. It's time to lay claim to our future. After all, it's a fine American tradition. If you would like to know more about the Community Rights movement, and a local Community Bill of Rights, please contact me, John Beard.