Honoring the Legacy of Franklin Kury
This month we lost an environmental hero and author & champion of the first-ever Green Amendment, Senator Franklin Kury. Kury served as a Pennsylvania State Representative for Montour County and parts of Northumberland County from 1969-1972, before serving the Pennsylvania Senate for seven years (1973-1980) representing Columbia, Juniata, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union Counties.
At the time of Senator Kury’s elected service, Pennsylvania was an industrial hub of coal mines, railroads, steel mills, glass & textile manufacturing facilities, and more. The unfettered extraction and exploitation of natural resources left the environment shambles—it was not uncommon to see black waters running through your local creek as a result of mine drainage or walk down your city streets surrounded by a layer of smog. And unfortunately, there were all too many instances of PA politics favoring industry and profits over people and the environment.
Senator Kury saw the environmental crisis Pennsylvania was in and how the system of environmental protection was broken. As a result, he conceptualized and introduced to the legislature what would later be known as the Pennsylvania Green Amendment. The first of its kind, the Amendment would enshrine the people’s rights to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment in the Bill of Rights section of their constitution. Furthermore, the Amendment established a duty of Pennsylvania government to protect the state’s natural resources for the benefit of all people, including future generations. When put before a vote of the people on May 18, 1971, the Pennsylvania Green Amendment passed nearly 80% of voters (a higher percentage than the Equal Rights Regardless of Sex Amendment that was on the ballot that very same year!).
The true power of Senator Kury’s environmental rights amendment would not be realized until 42 years later in 2013, with the landmark Robinson Township, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, et. al. v. Commonwealth legal battle that stopped a dangerously pro-fossil fuel law in its tracks–a law that was passed by the legislature, signed by the Governor, and would have allowed industry to trample over environmental protection, community health & safety, and municipal rights. Following that victory which gave the Amendment legal life, it has been used in a growing number of PA advocacy efforts and legal cases since to safeguard natural resources and uplift our human right to pure water, clean air, and safe & healthy environments.
To this day, Senator Kury’s Amendment is the strongest, most powerful constitutional environmental rights language on the books. It is quite literally the blueprint for our Green Amendment movement and the protections we are working to secure nationwide.
Senator Kury was an active member and ally of our Green Amendment movement, and our organization has had the honor & privilege to share his story and celebrate his legacy with the nation. We were lucky enough to have him as part of several of our Green Amendment programs, including this interview from our Earth Day 2020 celebration.
The Senator honored Green Amendments Founder Maya van Rossum by including her in his most recent book – The Constitutional Question To Save The Planet, regarding the power of environmental constitutionalism.
We will never forget Senator Kury’s legacy, and are eternally grateful to his contribution to environmental environmental rights and our Green Amendment movement.
“Senator Kury will go down in history as a true champion for our environment, and securing its protection for present & future generations.”
– Maya K. van Rossum, Founder of Green Amendments For The Generations
Data Centers – Green Amendments Taking Them On
Across the nation, data centers have been charging into communities, including in Pennsylvania where there is a big push to develop quickly.
People are looking for the strategies they need to defend themselves. Pennsylvanians, unlike so many nationwide, have a Green Amendment they can use to secure essential protection. But to be most effective, we need to use the amendment strategically and we need to build strong precedent in the data center arena. To these ends, Green Amendments For The Generations is helping people put the PA Green Amendment to work in the hyperscale data center battle zone.
We are also helping states that do not yet have a Green Amendment, to understand how securing one can help them. If you are in a state still pursuing a Green Amendment, check out How Can Green Amendments Help Communities Threatened by Hyperscale Data Centers?, and consider inviting GAFTG to speak to this issue in person or via a webinar online.
Advocacy
GAFTG is joining with communities, working side by side, to directly advocate for environmental rights while developing and advancing a broader set of strategies needed to take on and chase out the data centers.
Our help has legal analysis, well-developed written comments and delivering powerful testimony to decisionmakers.
In Upper Mt. Bethel Township, we are helping the community defend against the underhanded tactics the data center company is using to bully township officials into signing away their independent decisionmaking authority, and to give the data center a seat at the decisionmaking table for development of a new ordinance while sidelining the community. There are alot of legal, factual and policy ins and outs on this one, and GAFTG is working hand in hand with the community on all of them. We have developed robust comments, talking points and delivered powerful testimony. You can see the many facets of our Upper Mount Bethel Data Center work here.
Or, for a more exciting view, check out this video of testimony from a recent hearing.
Municipal Guidance for PA Towns
A strong ordinance with constitutional Green Amendment grounding can be a powerful first line of defense against a proposed data center, and we want to be sure communities are taking full and effective advantage of their constitutional rights.
GAFTG has been developing a series of toolkits and trainings that can help put the PA Green Amendment to work to help defend against hyperscale data center development. Our latest toolkit has focused on how to proactively, and robustly, use the PA Green Amendment to develop strong local ordinances. Go to this hotlink to receive a downloadable version of Including the Pennsylvania Green Amendment in Municipal Ordinances to Protect & Empower.
Giving the kind and quality of hands on support communities need to put their constitution to work to defend against data centers takes resources – legal resources, advocacy resources, time, travel and more. Please donate today so we are able to work side by side with more and more communities seeking to use their environmental rights to defeat the threat of a data center.
While a toolkit anyone can access is a help, we recognize that more hands on support is often what is really needed. And we are here to give it.
- In Lower Mt. Bethel Township, a data center ordinance was proposed that lacked Green Amendment supporting language. We provided line by line ordinance review and comments, attended meetings and created a community sign-on letter to help community members make the case. And when the township solicitor told the community and officials that the PA Green Amendment did not apply to them, we showed up at the next township hearing to challenge that false information.
- While Smithfield Township had Green Amendment supporting language in its proposed data center ordinance, they didn’t get it quite right, so we are now advocating for even more robust language to be included.
- In addition to communities and municipalities, we are starting to see counties reach out for advice and input. Direct conversation and suggested language are helping us advance a county-wide strategy that should help us reach more municipalities faster – BEFORE the data centers get to them.
Education
There is a lot to learn when it comes to the constitution, the law and data centers. And so this month GAFTG partnered up with the Better Path Coalition to present two educational webinars to help advocates in their data center battles. Each one was met with great turnout, poignant discussion, and connections to more data center efforts where the Pennsylvania Green Amendment could help communities in need.
Article 1 Section 27 and Data Centers: How to Properly Use It
Maya K. van Rossum, Founder of Green Amendments For The Generations, discusses Pennsylvania’s Green Amendment and how it should be used to fight data centers.
Curative Amendments – What Is Their True Effect on Data Centers & Other Threats
This webinar features Mark Freed, Partner at Curtin & Heefner, LLP, and provides legal knowledge on the impact of curative amendments when used in data center advocacy.
More data center resources, including a PA-specific guide on how to exercise your constitutional environmental rights in data center battles, can be found here.
More updates on our ongoing data center advocacy can be found here.
Clearing the FOG (Forces of Greed) Podcast Feature
Listen to Maya K. van Rossum’s interview on the Clearing the FOG podcast with host Margaret Flowers! In this thoughtful discussion, Maya discusses our current, flawed system of environmental protections, the founding of the transformative Green Amendment movement, and how Green Amendments are being used TODAY to make a difference–from climate change to data centers. Listen to the full episode HERE.
Upcoming Events
- September 1 | Washington – Gonzaga University Talk
- Join us on Tuesday, September 1 to learn how elevating environmental rights to the highest legal level is driving real change across the U.S. and empowering individuals to lead the fight for environmental justice where they live. Green Amendments Founder Maya van Rossum speaks at the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment.
- September 2 | PA, NJ, DE, NY – Frack Ban Coalition Press Conference
- Join us on September 2 at the DRBC meeting to support the frack ban! Green Amendments For The Generations will be speaking at this press event regarding the implications of the Pennsylvania and New York Green Amendments on the Delaware River Frack Ban.
- September 29 | Colorado – Community Picnic
- You are invited to participate in our Community BYO Picnic by the Dolores River under the cottonwoods at the Dolores Community Center featuring Maya van Rossum speaking about the Colorado Right to a Healthy Environment Amendment on Tuesday September 29th from 4-8PM.
Grow the Green Amendment Forest Update
Last month, we launched our Grow The Green Amendment Forest campaign to help establish a legacy fund for much-needed Green Amendment work across the nation. We are slowly but surely climbing towards our $50,000 goal, and along the way we are seeing our forest grow!
Here is our forest community so far! Help it continue to flourish at bit.ly/GAForest.
