County responsibility in the face of BP and other corporate crimes

As commissioner, I will begin drafting a state wide, county based ordinance that clearly delineates county powers that protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens as superior to those rights currently enjoyed by corporations.
As we see from the ongoing BP Gulf disaster, any pollution that Tecton , or any other corporate entity, may have caused to Santa Fe County’s aquifer would have been very hard, if not impossible, for the county to either fix or collect damages from. This violates the lawful charge that the county is given to protect human health, safety and welfare. This is a basic constitutional issue, not lightweight tea bag stuff, and it may be THE constitutional issue of our times. I will work to get other counties on board – many are already in the midst of fighting corporate injustices.( I’ll update this info as I collect info.) I do know that right now Catron County is fighting corporate water withdrawal of some 1.5 billion gallons/year from their aquifer. Mora, Rio Arriba and San Miguel counties are encountering corporate oil/gas exploration and drilling efforts. The community of Mesquite in Dona Anna county is fighting a toxic landfill as is Wagon Mound in Colfax county. There is an ongoing effort among the traditional farming community to pass a seed sovereignty ordinance that would diminish the power that any corporation producing genetically engineered seed would have if their product infected native seed stock.  We now see clearly the shocking and deep power that big corporations have over our elected representatives, and our democratic process. Corporations will not relinquish this right unless we stand up to them. We can do this most effectively as united counties.
My late, great friend Russell Grider from Clovis got 30 of 33 counties in NM to pass a declaration of local agricultural emergency. This was a truly wonderful grassroots action. I feel we need to build on Russell’s work to pass a county powers declaration . The building of this declaration in and of itself will be very empowering in furthering grassroots democracy at the county level.