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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

So far the Koch brothers haven't been able to overcome "home rule"

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The real secret to beating the Koch brothers: How our broken political system can still be won

A duo of activists has quietly bested the energy lobby, helping ban fracking in 172 towns. Here's how they did it

By Lindsay Abrams, April 30, 2014

You probably haven’t heard of Helen Slottje, or, for that matter, of her husband, David. But in the past few years, the former corporate lawyers have become arguably two of the most powerful opponents of fracking in New York — not to mention the most successful. As the (sort of) public face of the duo’s efforts, Helen Slottje on Monday was honored with the Goldman Prize, the world’s largest environmental prize.

Like most fracktivists, the Slottjes became embroiled in the issue when they moved to an area targeted by drilling companies — in their case, upstate New York, which sits atop the gas-rich Marcellus Shale, and where Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly put off making a decision about whether to lift the state’s five-year moratorium on hydraulic hydrofracking. Lacking confidence in the power of the picket sign or citizen engagement on oil-funded big government, they instead decided to approach the program at the most basic level. Their weapon of choice is a principle known as home rule: If individual communities decide that these industries pose a significant risk to common resources like air and water, then those communities can decide to keep those industries out, regardless of what state and federal laws say.

One by one, the Slottjes have helped small towns in New York enact such bans, to the point at which, even if New York’s moratorium were to be lifted tomorrow, the oil and gas industry would find itself effectively barred from drilling in 172 communities. After being decided in the towns’ favors at all of the state’s lower courts, two of those cases, in Dryden and Middlefield, are now up before the Court of Appeals. A decision, which will determine whether towns have the right to override state law, is expected this fall, and its anticipated impact can’t be overstated. As Thomas West, a lawyer for the energy company seeking to have the ban overturned, told the New York Times last year, “It’s going to decide the future of the oil and gas industry in the state of New York.” (The Slottjes, it should be noted, weren’t even mentioned in the piece.)

As for why you haven’t heard of the Slottjes? That, Helen told Salon, was entirely intentional — the due diligence of people who were making a powerful industry very, very angry. Up until the redesign hit several weeks ago, you couldn’t even find their names on their website. Winning the prize, which comes with $175,000 and an international spotlight, changes all that, putting them at potential risk. But, Helen said, it also presents the opportunity to teach their brand of gras-sroots legal activism to more communities, including those in other states. In that spirit, Helen ... stopped by Salon’s offices to open up about her personal story for one of the first times. Obviously, there was a lot to talk about ...

[MAJOR SNIPPAGE]

So are you going to keep working on a town-by-town basis, or do you have bigger plans in the works?

We started helping consult with lawyers and other groups in California, in Texas, across the country. The beauty of this was we could take it from one town to 180 towns in New York — we’d have to have it crafted for each state, and there are different rules, but this could happen across the country. Even in places where the laws aren’t necessarily as favorable to local control, it resonates with people. Who better to make decisions about what happens in our community? Should it be some business executive in Norway, or should it be the people who live in our town? Who gets to decide? In America, it’s supposed to be the people who get to decide. People feel disconnected from federal and state politics. You can get people involved at the local level. So we’d really like to try to spread that and get people involved in their local politics and use that as an entry point where you can begin to effect some change, despite the dysfunction at higher levels of government.

Are you worried about there being more industry blowback now that you’ve opened up about all this?

I’m sure that there is going to be. There are people who are going to be apoplectic. Local level industry people know who we are, and I’m sure this is going to cause them to be more upset. But we’re sort of at the point where we’re in front of the highest court in New York, the briefs have been filed, we’re confident that the court of appeals is going to do the right thing here. Even industry lawyers have said, they have to appeal — like, why wouldn’t you? — but they do not expect to win. We certainly don’t think they’re going to win either. So the personal attacks will not detract from the work.
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