New and protracted battles in the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) war are breaking out across Pennsylvania and other states near the Marcellus Shale over pipeline companies’ use of eminent domain.
Gayle McLaughlin, the bold mayor of Richmond, California is threatening to take underwater mortgages by eminent domain from Wall Street banks and renegotiate them on behalf of beleaguered homeowners. A member of the Green Party, which takes no corporate campaign money, she proved her mettle standing up to Chevron, which dominates the Richmond landscape. Richmond’s city council is only one vote short of the supermajority needed to pursue the eminent domain plan.
One of Wall Street’s most powerful trade groups, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), has been spearheading Wall Street’s fight against using eminent domain to mitigate the foreclosure crisis.
"The big banks took our homes away through predatory lending. Now, we're taking them back." - signs held by protesters in BlackRock's lobby.
An interview with the mayor of Richmond–a Green Party member who has been making corporations furious.
Scarcely touched by the nation’s housing recovery and tired of waiting for federal help, Richmond is about to become the first city in the nation to try eminent domain as a way to stop foreclosures.
In Richmond, California, home prices plummeted 58 percent since their peak. Now the city is trying out a new way to help homeowners refinance—and halt the slide into foreclosure.
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