Archives for East-West Corridor

RadioActive 6/6/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Maine’s proposed Omnibus Energy Bill and it’s connection to gas fracking; expedited wind corridor; moratorium on dump expansion passed

Key Discussion Points:
a) today we look at the Maine legislature’s Energy Omnibus Bill, which would accelerate and subsidizes the development of natural gas infrastructure in the state, which would increase the demand for fracked gas. Gas fracking has proved to be profoundly destructive extractive process, use has proliferated. Despite proponents heralding natural gas as transitional green fuel, today’s guests underscore that burning natural gas hydrocarbons contributes, as well, to climate change.
b) We also look at plans for an expedited wind power corridor with parallels to the East West Corridor and a legislative effort to re-initiate community rights to comment projects in currently expedited areas.
c)We also look at the passage of a bill which puts a year moratorium on dump expansions in Maine.
d) And we give a brief update on a First Nation action yesterday to oppose gas fracking at Elsipogtok, Big Cove , New Brunswick.

Guests:
Glenn Brand, Sierra Club Maine Chapter Director
Hillary Lister, Maine activist and independent researcher, who has worked on monitoring legislation and organizing around trash dumping and incineration issues, the East West Corridor, industrial wind, gas pipeline development and democratic process and participation.

WERU Special: East-West Highway/Corridor Controversy 5/31/12

Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: Joel Mann

Program Topic: The East-West Highway/Corridor Controversy
Key Discussion Points:
a) What information is being withheld from the public, and why?
b) What things that ARE known about the project are raising concerns?
c) Who stands to benefit?
d) Who stands to lose?

Guests:

Hillary Lister—she has followed the various incarnations of the East-West plans for the past decade, doing coverage for Maine Indymedia, and living in and growing up in the vicinity of the various proposed routes

Diane Messer–she has attended all of the legislative hearings, offering testimony at them, and has studied the impacts of the E/W proposal on the community

Organizer Chris Buchanan of “Defending Water for Life in Maine”, and journalist Lance Tapley, who has been covering this issue, also join us by phone.

We also invited proposal’s most vocal proponent, Cianbo CEO Peter Vigue to either join us or send someone in his place today, but he declined to do so. We’ll feature excerpts from an interview we recorded with him in early May.

Call In Program: Yes