We need local control to prevent fracking in our neighborhoods

[Towntalk]

AMEN my friend AMEN!
BG and his ilk should move to China and be done with America!

[ytowner]

We are not alone.  Many other communities across the United States are seeking local control of fracking to prevent this industrial operation from impacting our neighborhoods and our homes.

We need to restore local control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYdySnfbNk

VOTE NO ON THIS BILL!

[Youngstownshrimp]

No punks are going to away my land and mineral rights, no one.

[Rick Rowlands]

Just have to wonder who wrote this piece of garbage.  Certainly nobody with any law training. Here is the full text including a few comments

Section 4 COMMUNITY BILL OF RIGHTS
a. Right to Pure Water. All residents, natural communities and ecosystems in The City of
Youngstown possess a fundamental and inalienable right to sustainably access, use, consume,
and preserve water drawn from natural water cycles that provide water necessary to sustain life
within the City.
b. Right to Clean Air. All residents, natural communities and ecosystems in the City of
Youngstown possess a fundamental and inalienable right to breathe air untainted by toxins,
carcinogens, particulates and other substances known to cause harm to health.
c. Right to Peaceful Enjoyment of Home. Residents of the City of Youngstown possess a
fundamental and inalienable right to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes, free from
interference, intrusion, nuisances, or impediments to access and occupation.
d. Rights to be Free from Toxic Trespass. All residents, natural communities and ecosystems in
Youngstown possess a fundamental and inalienable right to be free from toxic trespass and to be
free from unwanted invasions of their bodies by any means, including but not limited to,
trespass by manufactured chemicals, toxins, pathogens, or radioactive substances and progeny.
e. Rights of Natural Communities, Natural communities and ecosystems, including, but not
limited to, wetlands, streams, rivers, aquifers, and other water systems possess inalienable and
fundamental rights to exist and flourish within the City of Youngstown. Residents of the City
shall possess legal standing to enforce those rights on behalf of those natural communities and
ecosystems.

Granting of legal standing in a city charter amendment has no relevance in county, state and Federal courts.
See Article 6, Clause 2 of the US Constitution.

f. Right to a Sustainable Energy Future. All residents in The City off Youngstown possess a right
to a sustainable energy future, which includes, but is not limited to, the development,
production, and use of energy from renewable and sustainable fuel sources.

Citizens already have this right making this clause redundant.

g. Right to Local Community Self-Government. All residents of The City of Youngstown possess
the fundamental and inalienable right to a form of governance where they live which recognizes
that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people's
authority and consent, and that corporate entities and their directors and managers shall not
enjoy special privileges or powers under the law which make community majorities subordinate
to them.
h. People as Sovereign. The City of Youngstown shall be the governing authority responsible to,
and governed by, the residents of the City. Use of the "City of Youngstown" municipal
corporation by the sovereign people of the City to make law shall not be construed to limit or
surrender the sovereign authority or immunities of the people to a municipal corporation that is
subordinate to them in all respects at all times. The people at all times enjoy and retain an
inalienable and indefeasible right to self-governance in the community where they reside.

The FBI considers those who believe in the popular sovereignty movement to be domestic terrorist threats  http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/september-2011/sovereign-citizens

i. Rights as Self-Executing. All rights delineated and secured by this Charter shall be self executing
and these rights shall be enforceable against private and public entities.
j. Securing and Protecting Rights. To further secure and protect the rights enumerated by the Bill
of Rights:
1. It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of shale gas or oil
using the method commonly known as "hydro-fracturing," within The City of
Youngstown.
2. It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation, or any director, officer, owner, or
manager of a corporation to us a corporation, to deposit, store or transport waste water,
"produced" water, "frack" water, brine or other materials, chemicals or by-products
used in the extraction of gas or oil, within, upon or through the land, air or waters of
The City of Youngstown.

Again see Article 6, Clause 2 as well as Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3, otherwise known as the Commerce Clause. It is illegal for a city to prohibit interstate commerce.

3. It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation, or any director, officer, owner, or
manager of a corporation to use a corporation, to engage in the siting of production and
delivery infrastructures, such as pipeline, processing facilities, compressors, or storage
and transportation facilities supporting the extraction of shale gas or oil within The City
of Youngstown.
4. It shall be unlawful for any corporation or for any director, officer, owner, or manager of
a corporation to use a corporation to engage in the extraction of water from any surface
or subsurface source within Youngstown for use in the extraction of shale gas or oil
within Youngstown.
5. Corporations and persons using corporations to engage in gas or oil extraction in a
neighboring municipality, county or state shall be strictly liable for all harms caused to
natural water sources, ecosystems, human and natural communities within the City of
Youngstown, including Meander Creek and its tributaries, the water of which is used for
domestic purposes by residents of the City of Youngstown

Author should have consulted the Clean Water Act before writing this obviously redundant paragraph.

6. Corporations in violation of the prohibition against gas and oil extraction, or seeking to
engage in gas or oil extraction shall not have the rights of "persons" afforded by the
United States and Ohio Constitutions, nor shall those corporations be afforded the
protections of the commerce clauses within the United States 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 Ohio
Constitution.

Nice Try!  Article 6, Clause 2 begs to differ.  But really!  What was the point of this paragraph other than to remove all doubt as to the intelligence and training of the author of this amendment?

7. Corporations engaged in the extraction of gas or oil shall not possess the authority or
power to enforce State or federal preemptive law against the people of The City of
Youngstown, or to challenge or overturn municipal laws or Charter provisions adopted
by The City of Youngstown Council.

Clearly illegal and unenforceable. 

8. No permit, license, privilege or charter issued by any State of federal agency,
Commission or Board to any person or any corporation operating under a State charter,
or any director, officer, owner, or manager of a corporation operating under a State
charter, which would violate the prohibitions of this Charter provision or deprive any
City resident(s), natural community, or ecosystem of any rights, privileges, or
immunities secured by this Charter, the Ohio Constitution, the United State
Constitution, or other laws, shall be deemed valid within The City of Youngstown.

9. Any person, corporation, or other entity that violates any prohibition of this Law shall
be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction shall be sentences to pay the
maximum fine allowable under State law for that violation, and shall be imprisoned to
the extent allowed by the law. A separate offense shall arise for each day or portion
thereof in which a violation occurs and for each section of this Law found to be
violated. Enforcement of this article may be initiated by the Youngstown Police
Department, the Director of Public Safety, or other designee of City Council.
Youngstown may also enforce this Law through an action in equity. In such an action,
Youngstown shall be entitled to recover damages and all costs of litigation, including,
without limitation, expert and attorney's fees.
10. Any City resident shall have the authority to enforce this Law through an action in
equity. In such an action, the resident shall be entitled to recover damages and all costs
of litigation, including, without limitation, expert and attorney's fees. Any person who
brings an action to community or ecosystem in a court of competent jurisdiction.
Damages shall be measured by the cost of restoring the natural community or ecosystem
to its pre-damaged state, and shall be paid to Youngstown or other applicable
government entity, to be used exclusively for the full and complete restoration of the
natural community or ecosystem.
11. The provisions of this section are severable. If any court of competent jurisdiction
decides that any sub-section, clause, sentence, part, or provision of this section is illegal,
invalid, or unconstitutional, such a decision shall not affect, impair, or invalidate any of
the remaining sub-sections, clauses, sentences, parts, or provisions of this Bill of Rights
and its prohibitions. The People of The City of Youngstown hereby declare that in the
event of such a decision, and the determination that the court's ruling is legitimate, they
would have enacted this amendment even without the sub-section, clause, sentence,
part, or provision that the court decides is illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional. All
inconsistent provisions of prior Laws and zoning ordinances adopted at any time by The
City of Youngstown are hereby held in abeyance, but shall take immediate effect in the
event this Bill of Rights and its protective prohibitions are overturned

[BG]

[Youngstownshrimp]

The Mayor lately said it best, we are not qualified to be and extension of the ODNR.
"Be smart enough to know when you don't know"

[Rick Rowlands]

Since mineral extraction often times spans multiple jurisdictions, state control is best to assure that energy companies have a uniform set of rules to comply with.  If every jurisdiction could make up their own rules the complexity of compliance would be astounding.

This is the same legal theory behind federal preemption on regulations regarding railroads.  If each town or even state could make their own rules, you could just imagine the difficulty in trying to run a train from New York to Chicago for example.  Each level of government has its own role to play. 

[BG]

We are not alone.  Many other communities across the United States are seeking local control of fracking to prevent this industrial operation from impacting our neighborhoods and our homes.

We need to restore local control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYdySnfbNk