Archives for Tar sands

RadioActive 5/8/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Cowboy and Indian Alliance Demonstration Against Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline

Key Discussion Points:
a) The Cowboy and Indian Alliance, made up of tribal members, ranchers and farmers along the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, demonstrated for a week in Washington DC at the end of April.
b) Tipis were erected for the week on the mall, and a painted tipi was presented to the Smithsonian to represent the Alliance’s opposition to Keystone XL and tar sands mining and their demand that President Obama reject approval of the Keystone XL.
c) On Saturday, May 17th, the Tar Sands Coalition and Hands Across the Sand/ Hands Across the Land has called for a national day of action/ In Miane , a really in oppostion to the Keystone XL and the reversal of the Montreal Portland pipeline will take place at Deering Oaks Park in Portland at 11am.

Guests:
Casey Camp-Hornick, Ponca Tribe, Oklahoma region
Dallas Goldtooth, Lower Sioux Dakota Nation
Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska
Megan Hammond, Nebraska
Diana Harrelson, Nebraska
Eriel Deranger, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (AFCN), of Northern Alberta
Neli Young
Rubin George, Sundance Chief, member of Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, British Columbia

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RadioActive 3/6/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic:The Ngobe Peoples’ Resistance to Hydroelectric Dam in Panama; 3 Activists Sentenced for Tar Sands Pipeline Action in Michigan

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we speak with Lawrence Reichard, from Panama, on the resistance of a Ngobe indigenous people against the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam.
b) We also speak with a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI CATS). Yesterday, three activists were sentenced to time served and 13 months probation, for trespassing and obstruction, when they locked themselves to construction equipment at the site of Enbridge’s 6B pipeline expansion.
c) In 2010, Endbridge’s Line 6B ruptured and spilled 840,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamzoo River.

Guests:
A)Lawrence Reichard, freelance journalist, WERU contributor, co-director of Learning Center at H.O.M.E. Incorporated
B) Liz Starks, Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI-CATS) www.michigancats.org/

www.culturalsurvival.org/news/panamas-barro-blanco-dam-threatens-ngobe-people

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RadioActive 3/6/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic:The Ngobe Peoples’ Resistance to Hydroelectric Dam in Panama; 3 Activists Sentenced for Tar Sands Pipeline Action in Michigan

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we speak with Lawrence Reichard, from Panama, on the resistance of a Ngobe indigenous people against the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam.
b) We also speak with a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI CATS). Yesterday, three activists were sentenced to time served and 13 months probation, for trespassing and obstruction, when they locked themselves to construction equipment at the site of Enbridge’s 6B pipeline expansion.
c) In 2010, Endbridge’s Line 6B ruptured and spilled 840,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamzoo River.

Guests:
A)Lawrence Reichard, freelance journalist, WERU contributor, co-director of Learning Center at H.O.M.E. Incorporated
B) Liz Starks, Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI-CATS) www.michigancats.org/

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RadioActive 2/13/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Radio Consciencia; Rally of Unity speakers on University and State Fossil Fuel Divestment, Climate Change, South Portland Tar Sands Pipeline

Key Discussion Points:
a) The work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida based tomato farm workers association, has revolutionized a system which has held workers in abusive conditions, without a voice,and dismissed growers and retailers from responsibility or repercussions. One of the organizing tools for the CIW is their low power FM Station, Radio Consciencia.
b) We hear from some of the speakers of last month’s Rally of Unity, organized through the Alliance for the Common Good. Topics include the South Portland struggle to keep tar sands from being piped through Maine, and the student and state level efforts to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
c) Unity College was the first in the nation to begin the process of divestment from the fossil fuel industry. College of the Atlantic was the first to complete the process.

Guests:
A) Silvia Perez, farm worker and organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers www.ciw-online.org
www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/nov/17/radio_conciencia/?neapolitan

B) Jake Ratner, Just Harvest USA

C) Maria Giraurd, member of Penobscot Nation and Penobscot Tribal Council

D) Iris SanGiovanni, Maine Students for Climate Justice; student at University of Southern Maine
gofossilfree.org/maine-students-unite-against-climate-change/ www.350maine.org/divestment_campaign
www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/College-of-the-Atlantic-divests-of-fossil-fuels/15425/

E) Maine State Representative, Brian Jones, from Freedom

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RadioActive 1/30/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: The impacts of Tar Sands extraction on the First nations health, environment and autonomy; Update on South Portland Tar Sands Moratorium

Key Discussion Points:
a) Today we look at the impacts of the rampant contamination by tar sands oil extraction on First Nations communities health, environment and autonomy.
b) We speak with Eriel Deranger, member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation ,who will be on the “Tar Sands Exposed speaking tour in Maine, January 30th and 31st, sponsored by climate activist network 350 Maine.
We also speak with indigenous rights attorney,and Penobscot Nation member, Sherri Mitchell, who will talk about the patterns of i exploitation at the Orono talk.

c) We begin with an update on the current moratorium on tar sands export in South Portland, Maine.

Guests:

A) Emily Figdor, Environment Maine and Protect South Portland

B) Eriel Deranger, memebr of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) of northern Alberta, Canada; ACFN tar sands campaign and communication coordinator.

C) Sherri Mitchell, member of Penobscot Nation; indigenous rights attorney with Land Peace Foundation

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RadioActive 10/31/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Potential Tar Sands Pipeline and Waterfront Protection Ordinance in South Portland

Key Discussion Points:

a) On November 5th voters in South Portland will weigh in on proposed “Waterfront Protection Ordinance”.
b) The underlying motivation for it’s crafting is an attempt to stop a potential reversal of the Portland Montreal Pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Montreal to South Portland for export, linking to the Energy East tar sands pipeline project in Canada.
c) Portland Pipeline Corporation denies plans to reverse the pipeline at this time, and says the Waterfront Protection Ordinance will harm industry in South Portland.

Guests:

A) Sarah LaChance, 350 Maine

B)Jim Merril, Bernstein Shur Group, New Hampshire State Director (www.thebernsteinshurgroup.com/), spokesperson for Working Waterfront Coalition and Portland Pipeline Corporation (www.pmpl.com)

C)Bob Klotz, 350 Maine (350maine.org)

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RadioActive 5/16/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Two unsuccessful legislative attempts to block tar sands pipeline and metallic mining; developments in global retailers reaction to Bangladesh building collapse

Key Discussion Points:
a) This week, the Maine legislature’s Natural Resources Committee watered down a bill that would have set a two year moratorium on pumping of tar sands oil through the Montreal Portland Pipeline, 76% owned by Exxon Mobil. Changes were made to the bill after the Maine Attorney General’s office claimed such a moratorium would interfere with federal interstate commerce laws.
b) A bill (LD 1059) that would have reversed last year’s legislation that opens Maine to open pit metallic mining did not pass out of committee this week. Instead, LD 1302 was voted out of committee, a bill that only seeks to mitigate environmental damages. Though 350 Maine and others did not support this compromise, other environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine did.
c) Over 30, primarily European, clothing companies have signed onto a legally binding building and fire safety agreement for their Bangladesh factories. It requires independent safety inspections with public reports, mandatory factory building renovations, an obligation that brands and retailers underwrite the cost of repairs, and a genuine role for workers and unions. Us companies, such as Walmart and Gap have not signed on, making them the continued target of labor rights campaigns.

Guests:
A) Bob Klotz, organizer with 350 Maine Team, www.350maine.org
FMI:
thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/02/1952171/exxon-spills-tar-sands-oil-again-in-missouri-cant-find-126000-gallons-spilled-in-arkansas/?mobile=nc
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/

B) Liana Foxvog, organizer with International Labor Rights Forum, Sweatfree Communities campaign
FMI:
www.ilrf.org
corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/human-rights-for-all-walmart-workers-the-bangladesh-fire/petitions/demand-that-walmart-ensure-basic-safety-and-human-rights-of-its-workers-2
Laborrights.org/safety
Gapdeathtraps.com

C)Update on Coal is Stupid blockade in Somerset, MA
FMI: www.heraldnews.com/news/x438180711/Activists-declaring-Coal-Is-Stupid-attempt-blockade-of-coal-delivery-at-Somersets-Brayton-Point?zc_p=1

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RadioActive 1/24/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Tar Sands demonstration in Bangor, organizing in Maine

Key Discussion Points:

a) Demonstrators in Bangor and across the region rallied to oppose the use of a northeast pipeline for tar sands oil. The Portland Montreal Pipe Line (PMPL) corporation has plans to reverse it’s 70 year old pipeline to transport tar sands from Montreal to Portland, Maine’s harbor.

b) The demonstration took place in front of a TD Bank. TD is one of the largest financiers of the Alberta tar sands developments. Canadians have opposed this industry because of forest destruction, contamination and health impacts, specifically on First nations communities. Both in the US and Canada, people have opposed tar sands pipelines, because of the proven increased risk of spills, the toxicity of the bitumen crude, and threat to drinking water. It takes three times as much energy to produce a barrel of tar sands oil then conventional oil. Scientist James Hansen warns the production and use of tars sands oil will precipitate “game over for climate change.

c) For the first time in it’s history, Sierra Club is planning to engage in direct action this February to oppose tar sands production and climate change.

Guests:
A) Demonstrators at tar sands protest in Bangor
B) Andy Burt, Sierra Club activist and environmental justice coordinator for Maine Council of Churches

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