Category: RadioActive

RadioActive is a grassroots environmental and social justice news radio journal hosted by Amy Browne and Meredith DeFrancesco and heard Thursdays from 4:00 – 4:30 pm on WERU FM 89.9 Blue Hill and 102.9 Bangor, Maine in the United States.

RadioActive 6/15/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla

1) Today we hear some audio from Saturday’s Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla on the Bangor Waterfront, where people gathered to support the Penobscot Tribe’s struggle for continued stewardship of the River, and other local and statewide struggles for clean water and clean energy.
2) Over 30 organizations co-sponsored the event, which showed support for the Penobscot Nation’s efforts to retain sovereignty and stewardship on the section of the river passing through their island territory. In 2012, the Maine Attorney General’s office sought to establish that section as State territory. The Tribe has sued the State in an on going legal case: Penobscot Nation v Attorney General Janet Mills.
3) Speakers broadcast in this program address the Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion in Old Town and the dumping of toxic leachate into the Penobscot River and on state bills and policies that could support or paralyze the development of solar energy in Maine.

Guests:
Ed Spencer, Old Town resident, logger and intervenor in Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion process
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobscot tribal member and activist
Fred Greenhalgh, ReVision Energy and solar activist
Jim Freeman, Flotilla organizer, Alliance for the Common Good,

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 6/8/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

BEP Proposed Rule Changes to Allow Increased CDD Import; Solar Legislation; Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla

1) Today we look at rule changes the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) is poised to make which would allow for the increased importation and incineration of toxic Construction and Demolition Debris (CDD) in Maine. The BEP will be accepting comments on the rule changes until June 25th.
2) We also look at two solar energy bills currently before the Maine legislature: LD 1504: An Act Regarding Solar Power for Farms and Businesses and LD 1444: An Act Regarding Large Scale Community Solar Procurement.
3) We also look towards Saturday’s Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla, where people will gather to support the Penobscot Tribe’s struggle for continued stewardship of the River, and other local and statewide struggles for clean water and clean energy. Over 30 organizations are co-sponsoring this event.

Guests:
Hillary Lister, waste activist, Maine Matters Research, Consulting and Advocacy. ( BEP Rule Changes Summary : https://app.box.com/s/acwa9mqnl7firfw9y5ori9ua40oim60y)
Dylan Voorhes, Clean Energy director at Natural Resources Council of Maine
Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot Tribe, indigenous rights attorney, Land Peace Foundation

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 6/1/17

Guest Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion Approved by BEP; Trump Withdraws from Paris Climate Agreement

-Today the Maine Board of Environmental Protection approved the expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town.
-Local activists have strongly opposed the expansion, underlining the amount of out of state waste that is reclassified as “in-state waste” and disposed at Juniper Ridge, which is state owned, but privately operated by Casella Waste Management. Opponents, including members of the Penobscot Nation, are alarmed by potential impacts on ground water and the continued dumping of leachate by product into the Penobscot River.
-We also examine Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord

Guests:
Ed Spencer, Old Town resident and intervenor in Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion
Erika Lennon, senior attorney for the Center for International Environmental Law

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 5/25/17

Guest Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Trump Proposed Budget Cuts to EPA and Social Safety Net

1) This morning, a coalition of organizations gathered to voice opposition to President Trump’s deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency proposed in his 2018 budget.
2). 60 organizations will present a letter to Maine’s Congressional delegation today imploring them to push back against the deep cuts and program eliminations that would impact Mainers. These include cuts to clean water protections, funding to brownfield and Superfund sites, indoor and outdoor pollution. climate change and the EPA lead program.
3) We also look at the Trump Administration’s deep proposed budget cuts to social safety net programs. These include a 29% to Food Stamps, a 19% cut to the Children’s Heath Insurance Program, a 17% to Medicaid, a 13% to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and a 12% to Unemployment insurance.

Guests:
Jeff Wallace, Housing Rehabilitation Coordinator, City of Bangor
Samantha Paradis, Staff Nurse, Waldo County General Hospital
Patrick MacRoy, Epidemiologist, Environmental Health and Strategy Center
Pete Didisheim, Advocacy Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine
Ann Woloson, Policy Analyst, Maine Equal Justice Partners

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 5/11/17

Guest Producer/Host: Carolyn Coe

Topic: Robin Wall Kimmerer, indigenous science

Robin Wall Kimmerer teaches botany and plant ecology at SUNY in Syracuse and is the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. She is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatami Nation and a resident of Maple Nation. In May she will speak in Blue Hill and her portrait, as part of Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth series, will be unveiled.

Robin Wall Kimmerer explores the importance of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility as humans interact with the natural world. She also speaks about the role of indigenous science as individuals, communities, and nations strive to address the challenges of climate change.

FMI:
Center for Native Peoples and the Environment: http://www.esf.edu/nativepeoples/
Americans Who Tell the Truth: americanswhotellthetruth.org

RadioActive 4/6/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic: President Trump’s Executive Order on Climate and Energy and Environmentalist Split on Metallic Mining in Maine

1) Today, we look at a split between grassroots environmentalists and non-profit environmental groups over legislation that could open Maine to devastating metallic mining ground water pollution.
2). Seven bills are currently before the Maine legislature’s Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources. LD 160 would ban mining outright. LD 253 would repeal a 2012 rule change which negated more protective standards that had been put in place in 1991. Today we look at LD 820, which a number of non-profits have supported, while others in the environmental community reveal would allow substantial and irreversible onsite groundwater pollution by mining companies. The bill sponsor now seeks amendments to the bill for further protection, but it is now in the hands of the Committeee.
3) We also look at President Trump’s sweeping executive order on climate and energy, with Janet Redman, the US policy director from Oil Change International.

Guests:
Janet Redman, US policy director for Oil Change International and Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Lew Kingsbury, activist with Alliance for a Common Good and freelance journalist for The Cryer http://thecryeronline.com/. Find his article “ Twice Defeated Metallic Mining Rules Faces Third Vote in Legislature”“ in the April edition.

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

RadioActive 3/30/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic: Juniper Ridge Landfill “Making Contact” Piece and Interviews

Today we hear a report from Meaghan LaSala and Lisa Bartfai on the proposed expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. Juniper Ridge is state owned, but privately operated by Casella Waste Management. The State’s Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) is expected to release a Draft Decision on the proposed expansion this month, after which the public will have time to submit comments. There is no public meeting scheduled by the BEP on this Draft Decision.

Guests:
A) Meaghan LaSala, activist and freelance journalist, Making Contact, Sunlight Media Collective
B) Lisa Bartfai, freelance journalist, Making Contact
C) Interviewees in Making Contact piece: Kathy Paul, John Banks, Ed Spencer, Paul Schroeder, Cheryl Spencer, Kenny Chamberlain, Bob Duchesne, Ryan Parker, Andy Jones

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.
Meaghan LaSala and Lisa Bartfai’s piece will be broadcast nationally on Making Contact in June. www.radioproject.org

RadioActive 3/23/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Legislative Hearing on Metallic Mining in Maine

Key Discussion Points:

1) On Monday, the Maine Legislature’s Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources held a public hearing on seven different bills pertaining to metallic mining in Maine.
2). The issue came front and center in 2012, when JD Irving sought to change Maine’s rules to allow metallic mining at Bald Mountain in Aroosook County. Despite two legislatures voting down rule changes on the basis of environmental and clean up concerns, the State Dept. of Environmental Protection continues to push similar rule changes in this session.
3) We hear testimony from Rep Ralph Chapman who is co-sponsoring three bills. LD 253 would repeal the 2012 rules back to the protective 1991 standards. LD 254, seeks a moratorium until sound policy can be implemented. LD 685 would establish a panel of mining to ensure protection of Maine’s environment.

Guests:
Representative Ralph Chapman of Brooksville, sponsor of LD 253, LD 685, LD 254
Maine Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Melanie Loyzim

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.