FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 28, 2013 Grassroots Coalition Launches Public Water Trust Charter Amendment Campaign On Monday morning, a grassroots, all volunteer group called the Cascadian Public Trust Initiative (CPTI) submitted paperwork to the City of Portland for an initiative to amend the City Charter and add a Public Water Trust. Citing concerns over high water rates, a lack of openness and transparency in City process, conflicts of interest, potential water privatization, and fears of interference with the Bull Run Watershed, CPTI aims to establish a series of rights and legal protections to ensure the integrity of Portland’s water supply. The Portland Water Trust would enshrine two fundamental and inalienable rights into law: Right to Water. All residents of the City of Portland possess the right to access and use clean and affordable water drawn from natural and human-altered cycles within the city limits and surrounding watersheds. Water is an essential common resource that shall be sustainably managed in public trust and stewarded for present generations and posterity. Right to Exist and Flourish. Natural communities and ecosystems possess the right to exist and flourish. The City of Portland and its residents shall collectively ensure that these rights are respected and protected by law. In order to make these rights more than feel-good rhetoric, the Portland Water Trust will create a legal relationship where the City of Portland acts as trustee of Portland’s water and is bound, by strict and enforceable duties of loyalty, to manage it in the interests of present residents and future generations. The Public Water Trust charter amendment will additionally: - Ensure that water rights are protected by creating a series of binding duties for elected officials, City administrators, and City contractors who make decisions about water; - Create enforceable conflict of interest rules, transparency provisions, and oversight mechanisms to ensure the loyalty of City officials and contractors; - Promote the mission of the Bureau of Environmental Services into a binding duty for all action and policy involving water; - Establish the precautionary principle as a binding legal principle in city policymaking (at present, it is non-binding); - Establish additional protections for the Bull Run Watershed; and - Allow any City resident to enforce the trust through a lawsuit, should the City of Portland or its agents fail to abide by the trust duties. Importantly, the rights, responsibilities, and duties of the Portland Water Trust would apply regardless of the outcome of the Portland Water District initiative campaign. “This proposal is entirely consistent with the way our local government is supposed to run: open, transparent, environmentally conscious, and loyal to residents,” said Jonah Majure, the chief petitioner of the Portland Water Trust campaign. “It should be obvious, but apparently we need to collectively declare that water is not a commodity to bolster the personal incomes of bankers, corporations, or those who travel through the revolving door from public service to the private sector. We need strong, comprehensive rules to ensure that local government is loyal to its residents and their well-being.” CPTI plans to build support at the grassroots level through teach-ins, volunteer canvassing, and fostering public dialogue. To get involved or to view the full text of the proposed charter amendment, please visit: CascadianPublicTrustInitiative.org Media contact: Nicholas Caleb – 5418916761 – nick.caleb@gmail Chief Petitioner: Jonah Majure – 6232623063 - [email protected] cascadianpublictrustinitiative.org/PWT.pdf
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 06:38:48 +0000
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