Fracking Industrys New Plan? Prosecute Those Who Push Drilling BansBy Lauren McCauley In the face of federal governmental inaction, more and more local municipalities have passed bans on fracking to address the mounting public health and environmental problems caused by the toxic drilling process. In fact, according to the Post-Gazette, since Pittsburgh passed its ordinance in 2010, more than 100 other localities have followed suit. In Pennsylvania, which is the second largest producer of fracked gas in the nation, as well as elsewhere, the drilling industry has aggressively challenged these bans but, according to Kevin Moody, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Independent Oil Gas Association, that fight is draining and doesnt seem to be deterring municipal officials from attempting to block oil and gas development. Alternately, Moody told the Post-Gazette that hes been exploring the concept of criminal prosecution for years but finally found a fitting statute to test it out. Its called official oppression, the newspaper explained, and makes it a second degree misdemeanor for a public official to deny or impede someones rights or privileges with the knowledge such actions are illegal. The penalty is up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Moody specifically cited the recent action taken by Grant Township as an egregious example that should be challenged. In the face of ongoing litigation over its fracking ban, the Pennsylvania community last spring adopted the countrys first municipal charter establishing a local bill of rights codifying environmental and democratic rights. At the time of its adoption, noted climate activist Tim DeChristopher, called it one of the boldest moves to stop the natural gas industrys attacks on our communities, climate, and democracy. But Moody claims that the charter, which was drafted by the Franklin County-based nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), is illegal. If a judge agrees with him, Moody could use that decision to say municipal officials know what theyre doing is not legal when they deny gas companies the right to operate within their borders. From there, other options could surface, such as filing a private criminal complaint against or impeaching local officials, the Post-Gazette reported. Chad Nicholson, Pennsylvania organizer for CELDF, said the threat of criminal prosecution once again illustrates the sense of privilege and entitlement that the fossil fuel industry holds over the communities they try to bully into submission. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Lauren McCauley is a staff writer for CommonDreams.org, where this article first appeared. Top Image: Pennsylvanians demonstrate against fracking in their community. (Photo: Elias Schewel/cc/flickr) This is very dogmatic. Meanwhile the above the rule of law biped runs on the dems backs. No good protesting they will just laugh at you, and mow you down. Better to blow up every well they drill and keep blowing them up until they have run out of money, you make sure no one has their money invested in these companies. If we do not stand up to this insanity, then there will be no food, there will be no fish in the sea, the water will be poisoned. You know what makes me laugh is these university schools of fake science that claim to be there for the environment with their distorted information and if they were of any real use the knowledge would be so great about the damage being done to the planet, that no company would ever get away with what they are doing. It just goes to show who is funding who. 