Land owners and small farmers are an important Fair Shake constituency, so I listened with interest to a recent radio story on WHYY’s News Works about how the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture closed a local seed library.  According to the story, the seed library was started by the Cumberland County public library to allow people to take seeds at the beginning of the season and replace them after harvest. But, according to the source story in the Cumberland Sentinal, this practice violates the 2004 Pennsylvania Seed Act, which requires seeds to be tested in various ways.  This is due to concerns including the spread of invasive species and agri-terrorism.  According to the Sentinal story, the Ag Department’s lawyer also indicated an intention to crack down on other seed libraries around the state.

There’s a movement afoot to do what we set out to do a long, long time ago: provide access to justice for all. You would think that we would have figured out how to at least make justice accessible for all since “Equal Justice Under Law” is a phrase chiseled into the building housing our highest court and we often recite the words “justice for all” when prompted to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Yet, the task has proven daunting. 

After years of planning, we're ready to roll with the Nation's first environmental legal services residency program. We're excited and want to kick things off by celebrating with an open house in our Pittsburgh office. You'll be able to meet our staff, many of the members of the Board of Directors, and the design gurus who came up with our logo.