Archives for Natural Resources Council of Maine

WERU News Report 4/11/12

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio contributed by: John Greenman
Issue: Alternative, Independent Local News
Program Topics:
Maine’s Legislative Session is winding down, and as law makers prepare to recess there are several pieces of important legislation that are moving quickly through the process, sometimes with changes that the public may not be aware of. One instance is the latest version of a worker’s comp bill that has raised concerns among worker’s rights advocates who held a press conference in Bangor on Monday. (FMI: www.foodandmedicine.org) Updates on other legislative action today, and an interview w/ Judy Berk, Natural Resources Council of Maine, re: the Maine mining bill and “takings” legislation (FMI: www.nrcm.org)

Key Discussion Points:
Worker’s Comp legislation
Other legislation voted on today
Mining bill update
“Takings” legislation

Guests:

Speakers recorded at a press conference re: Worker’s Comp legislation: Jack McKay, Director of Food AND Medicine; Rev. Mark Doty, Mark Richards, Dean Harding, Loren Snow

Interview with Judy Berk, Communications Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine

Call In Program: No

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RadioActive 2/16/12

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice
Host: Meredith DeFrancesco and Lawrence Reichard
Engineer: Meredith DeFrancesco
Broadcast Time:4-4:30PM

Program Topic: United States Postal Service Cuts Proposed, and Bill in Maine Legislature Aims for Major Change to LURC, the Land Use Regulatory Commission

Key Discussion Points:

a) Though not required of any other government agency, in 2006, Congress mandated that the US Postal Service pre-fund their future retiree health benefits. Meeting this mandate accounts for 84% of the postal service’s current debt, which a bill co-sponsored by Senator Collins and others asserts must lead to the closure of hundreds of post offices and processing centers through out the country, including 30 Maine post offices and the Hampden processing center.

b) LD 1798, “An Act to Reform Land Use Planning in the Unorganized Territory”, proposes to restructure and reassign the current make up and tasks of the Land Use Regulatory Commission (LURC). This includes : assigning the permitting of large scale projects to the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating the requirement that the developer of a project demonstrate that there is a “need” for it.

c. LD 1798 would also change LURC’s name to the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) and would be made up of nine members, six from the counties with the largest amount of Unorganized Territories. Count Commissioners could appoint themselves to the LUPC. The most impacting on the current mission of LURC, the bill would allow counties to opt out of the LUPC, as the Natural Resources Council of Maine says, could effectively dismantle the statewide land use system.

Guests:
A ) Jon Curtis, recently retired letter carrier
B) Cathy Johnson, Maine Woods Project Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine

Call In Program: No

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RadioActive 1/21/10

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco

The Natural Resources Council of Maine is calling upon it’s membership to attend public hearings in Augusta tomorrow on what it calls “Three of the most important bills of this legislative session”.   Matt Prindiville, the Project Director of the Toxics and Clean Production campaign at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, is with us today to tell us why the NRCM considers LDs 1662, 1631 and 1568 to be so important
And as we’ve reported in the past on RadioActive,  legislation has been introduced that would regulate the use of Solitary Confinement in Maine prisons, which many believe is being used abusively.    At a press conference in Augusta this morning it was announced that a coalition of groups has come together to work for the passage of LD 1611 “An Act to Ensure Humane Treatment of Special Management Unit Prisoners” (sponsored by Rep. Jim Schatz, Blue Hill), including the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Jeremiah Project, the Maine Psychological Association, the NAACP- Portland Branch, and the Maine Council of Churches. We speak to Emily Posner of Mainers Against the Abuse of Solitary Confinement.  FMI: maineprisonjustice.org

The Natural Resources Council of Maine is calling upon it’s membership to attend public hearings in Augusta tomorrow on what it calls “Three of the most important bills of this legislative session”.   Matt Prindiville, the Project Director of the Toxics and Clean Production campaign at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, is with us today to tell us why the NRCM considers LDs 1662, 1631 and 1568 to be so important.  FMI: www.nrcm.org

And as we’ve reported in the past on RadioActive,  legislation has been introduced that would regulate the use of Solitary Confinement in Maine prisons, which many believe is being used abusively.    At a press conference in Augusta this morning it was announced that a coalition of groups has come together to work for the passage of LD 1611 “An Act to Ensure Humane Treatment of Special Management Unit Prisoners” (sponsored by Rep. Jim Schatz, Blue Hill), including the Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Jeremiah Project, the Maine Psychological Association, the NAACP- Portland Branch, and the Maine Council of Churches. We speak to Emily Posner of Mainers Against the Abuse of Solitary Confinement.  FMI: maineprisonjustice.org

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RadioActive 5/21/09

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco
Topic: Federal Climate Change Legislation
An interview with Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Voorhees offers a critique of the current version of the proposed legislation and explains the importance of this issue to Mainers, as well as the impact Mainers can have on the outcome.
FMI: www.nrcm.org

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RadioActive 2/05/09

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFranscesco

Topic: Yesterday coporations denied the existence of climate change, today they say they can fix it.  What is their role?  An interview with Orin Langelle of the Global Justice Ecology Project’s “New Voices on Climate Change” Iniative.  We speak with him by phone from Paraguay where he is attending meetings following the recent World Social Forum in Brazil.  And we talk with Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy and Global Warming Project Director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.  That group, along with more than 100 Maine-based businesses, presented a letter to Maine’s Congressional Delegation this week, urging them to lead the fight to stop climate change.

FMI:  www.globaljusticeecology.org/newvoices  and www.nrcm.org

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