Last Update: April 10, 2009
The petition is closed to new signatures. Thank you to those who signed! The petition and signers' names have been submitted to the IDA. You can still read the petition and see the names of the 190 signatories the petition received.
We say Fix The MLO
The FixTheMLO group and this web site were formed in 2004 in response to the International Dark-Sky Association's release of the first public draft of their proposed Model Lighting Ordinance (MLO). Our position then was that the first draft was severely flawed in many ways. We have reviewed the 2009 draft, and present our findings here.
February 2009 MLO Draft
In February 2009 the International Dark-Sky Association released a new draft of its proposed Model Lighting Ordinance. If you haven’t already seen it, there are links to the draft and associated documents on the IDA website at:
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=84399&orgId=idsa
Still missing is the User’s Guide that is supposed to accompany the MLO. IDA is receiving public comment on this draft until April 10, 2009. We urge you to take the time to provide your comments on this new draft MLO.
Our assessment
The MLO has been considered by an Ad Hoc Review Committee that spent six weeks analyzing and debating the present draft. The Committee is a broadly based group with diverse backgrounds, and its members represent, cumulatively, decades of experience working on dark-sky legislation.
In summary, our findings are that this new draft will not fulfill the IDA's mission to reduce the prevalence or impact of light pollution. We find the draft flawed in many ways. It needs significant changes to be a workable document and effective catalyst for change.
Click here to read the Committee’s conclusions.
Submit your comments
We urge you to participate in the public comment process.
You are welcome to use any or all of the Committee’s findings for your own comment submission. If you wish to adopt the full Committee report, you may simply say in your comment form something like “I support the findings of the Ad Hoc Review Committee submitted on March 22, 2009.” If you wish to adopt only portions of the Committee report, make sure that your additions/deletions are clearly identified for the comment reader.
Regardless of what form your comments take, be sure to submit them according to IDA’s precise instructions no later than April 10th. Each person may submit only one comment form.
(Members of the Ad Hoc Review Committee)
Sign our petition
Many people have come to the conclusion that the MLO is fatally flawed and that the process that produced this draft is simply not working. FixTheMLO has therefore started a petition asking IDA’s Board of Directors to cease work on this version and start anew.
It will obviously be an uphill struggle to persuade the Board to make this crucial decision. It is therefore very important that you make use of the existing public comment form to provide specific feedback in case the petition effort does not succeed.
In order to allow time for us to transmit the petition to the IDA Board, please be sure to sign the petition no later than April 8th.
Spread the word!
In addition to submitting comments and signing the petition, you can make a big difference to this effort by helping to spread the word. Please contact everyone you know who is concerned about light pollution and refer them to this site. And please ask all your contacts to do the same.
Thank you for your help!