RadioActive 8/2/18

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Penobscot Elder Butch Phillips Speaks on the Penobscot River

Today, Penobscot Elder Butch Phillips speaks about his experiences on the Penobscot River, the Penobscot River Restoration Trust’s impacts on sea run fish and tribal culture, the spiritual Katahdin 100 and the Penobscot Nation’s current legal struggle to have their relationship with the Penobscot River continue to be recognized by the State of Maine.

Butch Phillips served as the Penobscot Nation’s Lieutenant Governor from 1983-84, was a negotiator for the Penobscot Nation during the creation of the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, chaired the Tribes’ Fish and Game Committee for 15 years and was a tribal cultural ambassador for the Penobscot River Restoration Trust.

The Sunlight Media Collective sat down with Butch Phillips in his home for the Collective’s film project, The River Is Our Relative. He is interviewed by Dawn Neptune Adams, Joanna Weaver and Meredith DeFrancesco.

Joanna Weaver recorded audio. This program is a joint production with the Sunlight Media Collective.

Guest: Reuben “Butch” Phillips, Penobscot Nation Elder

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RadioActive 6/14/18

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Drilling and Bangor Summer Food Program

Despite decades of protection admidst a protracted fight by Alaskan politicians and oil interest to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, Congress and presidential vetoes have held efforts at bay. At the end of this year, however, Congress passed a tax bill which included the opening of the refuge for drilling and considered the federal revenue as part of the offset for the tax cuts included in the bill.

This summer the Bangor School Department, the Bangor Housing Authority, the Bangor Public Library and the Brewer Housing Authority have partnered with the Good Shepherd Food Bank to provide a free Summer Lunch Program for children below the age of 18.

The following five sites in Bangor and Brewer will be serving meals during the following dates and times:
·Capehart Community Center – Monday, June 25th to Friday, August 31st Monday through Friday, 12pm – 1pm
·Bangor Public Library – Monday, June 25th to Friday, August 31st Monday through Friday, 12pm – 1pm
·Fairmount School – Monday, July 2nd to Friday, July 27th Monday through Friday, 8:30am – 9:30am for breakfast and12pm – 1pm for lunch
·Brewer Housing – Monday, June 25th to Friday August 24th Monday through Friday, 12pm – 1pm for lunch

Guests:

Mitch Jones, senior policy advocate, Food and Water Watch (www.foodandwaterwatch.org/)
Melissa Huston, Good Shepherd Food Bank (www.gsfb.org/) and Bangor Summer Lunch Program

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RadioActive 5/31/18

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Puerto Rico Deaths After Hurricane Maria and LePage refuses to Expand MaineCare after Referendum

Key Discussion Points:

This week the New England Journal of Medicine published a Harvard study which places the death toll in Puerto Rico, as a result of Hurricane Maria, at 4,645, as opposed to the federal government’s official claim of 64. We speak with a nurse from Bangor, Maine who traveled to Puerto Rico twice as part of the RN Response Network following Hurricane Maria, and witnessed the conditions of an unaddressed medical crisis that indicated a much higher rate of deaths would result.

Last month, Maine Equal Justice Partners filed a lawsuit against the LePage Administration for its failures to implement the expansion or Medicaid, or Maine Care, as directed by the passage of last November’s referendum.

The LePage Administration has not met deadlines to expand Medicaid access to Maine residents in preparation for the set goal of July 2nd for new enrollment. 70,000 Mainers would be eligible to receive health care coverage under the expansion.

Guests:
Amy Tidd, Bangor RN, National Nurses United, RN Response Network
Robyn Merrill, executive director, Maine Equal Justice Partners

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RadioActive 5/17/18

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Environmental and Social Justice: Maine Climate Protectors Demand Maine DEP Adhere to Law Cutting Greenhouse Gases

Today we look at an effort requesting the Maine Department of Environmental Protection adhere to a 15 year old law in which Maine committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions “sufficient to eliminate any dangerous threat to the climate”.

A campaign called Maine Climate Protectors, made up students, organizations and others through out the state, testified on Tuesday before the Department of Environmental Protection, demanding lawmakers take action on climate change, as they are committed to by law.
c) Written comments for the Greenhouse Gas Petition Rule making are being accepted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection until June 29th. Email: [email protected]. Mail: GHG Petition Rule making, Attn Jeff Crawford, Maine Department of Environmental Protection,17 State House, Augusta , ME. 04333August ME 04333

Guests:
Charles Spanger, Maine Climate Protectors, Scarborough Climate Action, 350 Maine, Scarborough Conservation Committee
Beth Fuller Valentine, attorney, Maine Climate Protectors
maine-climate-protectors.org/
maine-climate-protectors.org/uploads/Petition%201-23-18%20FINAL.pdf

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RadioActive 5/10/18

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Rob Shetterly Speaks with Rob McCall, Latest Portrait in American Who Tells the Truth

On May 12th, Robert Shetterly’s portrait and education project Americans Who Tell the Truth will unveil a portrait of Rob McCall. Rob McCall is the recently retired pastor of the First Congregational Church in Blue Hill, and for the past 25 years he’s shared his poetic insights on nature, politics, spirituality and humanity in his Awanadjo Almanak, broadcasting on WERU FM, publishing in local newspapers and in book form, Small Misty Mountain.

We sat down in the studio last week with both Rob Shetterly and Rob McCall. We share some of that conversation today.

On Saturday, May 12th, Americans Who Tell the Truth, the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and WERU FM are hosting an event for McCall’s portrait unveiling at the Blue Hill Public Library from 530-7pm.

Guests:
Rob McCall, Awanadjo Alamanak www.awanadjo.com/?page_id=24. Listen: archives.weru.org/category/awanadjo-almanack/
Robert Shetterly, Americans Who Tell The Truth www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/

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RadioActive 5/3/18

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Call for Removal of EPA’s Administrator Scott Pruitt and Rob Shetterly Speaks with Rob McCall, Latest Portrait in American Who Tells the Truth

This morning, the Natural Resources Council of Maine held a press conference with healthcare providers and others calling for the removal of Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruitt and the need for urgent action to address clean water, air, climate change and keep or install environmental protections to protect public health.

On May 12th, Robert Shetterly’s portrait and education project Americans Who Tell the Truth will unveil a portrait of Rob McCall. Rob McCall is the recently retired pastor of the First Congregational Church in Blue Hill, and for the past 25 years he’s shared his poetic insights on nature, politics, spirituality and humanity in his Awanadjo Almanak, broadcasting on WERU FM, publishing in local newspapers and in book form, Small Misty Mountain.

We sat down in the studio last week with both Rob Shetterly and Rob McCall. We share some of that conversation today.
On Saturday, May 12th, Americans Who Tell the Truth, the Blue Hill Heritage Trust and WERU FM are hosting an event for McCall’s portrait unveiling at the Blue Hill Public Library from 530-7pm.

Guests:
Emmie Theberge, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Federal Project Director www.nrcm.org
Bob Duchesne, Maine Representative(Hudson), Chair of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. member of Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Dr Noah Nesin, Bangor.
Jim Glavine, Oli’s Trolley’s tour guide, Acadia National Park
Dr Bob Holmberg, Brooksville
Rob McCall, Awanajo Alamanak www.awanadjo.com/?page_id=24
Robert Shetterly, Americans Who Tell The Truth www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/

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RadioActive 2/22/18

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Casella Waste Systems Applies for Expanded Waste Acceptance at Juniper Ridge Landfill

On Wednesday February 28th, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public meeting in Bangor to examine Casella Waste Systems request to continue receiving Municipal Solid Waste from Southern Maine at the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town.
This fall, the state owned, privately run, Juniper Ridge Landfill was approved for a major expansion, despite a long and exhaustive citizen effort to stop it.
Area residents, including members of the Penobscot Tribe, have protested the continuing dumping of leachate liquids into the Penobscot River, with minimal testing and treatment. They also continue to underscore the acceptance of out of state waste to a state owned facility, a practice disallowed by Maine law, but circumvented by minor processing, which allows trash to be re-classified as in-state waste.

Guest: Ed Spencer, Old Town resident, stakeholder and intervenor in Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion process

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RadioActive 1/25/18

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Nestle/Poland Spring Manager Appointed to Maine Board of Environmental Protection and Trump Moves to Open Offshore Drilling

-Today, we look at the appointment and confirmation of Nestle/Poland Springs natural resources manager Mark Dubois to Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection (BEP), and the close relationship between industry and regulators in the state.

-Poland Springs, a subsidiary of Nestle, has been pursuing aggressive expansion of their wells in Maine. Dubois oversees the selection of new spring sites.

-In April, President Trump signed an executive order instructing the Dept of Interior to write new rules for offshore oil and gas drilling, as part of “America First Offshore Energy Strategy”. The Trump Administration’s new plan aims to open close to 90% of the US outer continental shelf for drilling, including off the coast of Maine. The Dept of Interior is accepting public comments on the plan until March 9th.

Guests:
Nickie Sekera, Community Water Justice www.facebook.com/communitywaterjustice/
Lisa Pohlmann, Natural Resources Council of Maine www.nrcm.org

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