There is currently no fracking taking place in Ferguson Township, and any possibility of fracking can and should be handled by changing the local zoning regulations.

The fracking issue is being used as a distraction to the real purpose of the proposed amendment to the Ferguson Township Charter, which is to limit our individual property rights as guaranteed to us by the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions.

According to the website of the group pushing this amendment — Groundswell PA — the amendment was written by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, an organization based in Mercersburg.

According to the CELDF website they have “... assisted communities ... to craft and adopt new laws that change the status of natural communities and ecosystems from being regarded as property ... to being recognized as rights-bearing entities.”

They further state that these new laws would “[eliminate] the authority of a property owner to interfere with the functioning of ecosystems and natural communities that exist and depend upon that property for their existence. ...”

The term “community rights” is not what you probably think. As used in the upcoming referendum, it refers not only to the rights of residents of the township but also of the “natural community” and ecosystems; and in applying such “inalienable” rights to “natural community” and ecosystems we only serve to jeopardize our individual property rights.

Please visit www.twp.ferguson.pa.us for additional information.

Protect your individual property rights and vote no to the “Community Rights” referendum on Nov. 6.

Paul Kozlovsky State College