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 12/8/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Program Topic: Update from Standing Rock; Solidarity Event in Bangor; Reaction to Trump EPA Nominee

Key Discussion Points:

1) Today we hear an update from Standing Rock where Water Protector camps reorganize, as the Army Corp of Engineers rules against an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under the Missouri River until an Environmental Impact Statement can assess alternative routes.
2) We also look at Trump’s nomination to head the EPA, Oklahoma State Attorney General , Scott Pruitt. Pruitt is known for his pro oil, gas and coal industry stances and his opposition to policies aimed at addressing air and water pollution and climate change.
3) We also hear from some voices from the Solidarity Rally with Standing Rock at the Penobscot River Waterfront in Bangor on December 5th.

Guests:
A) Kandi Mossett, Indigenous Environmental Network
indigenousrising.org/whats-next-for-the-water-protectors-at-standing-rock-coalition-statement/
www.ienearth.org/
indigenousrising.org/
B ) Bob Deans, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) www.nrdc.org
C) Kathy Paul, Penobscot elder, rally organizer, Sunlight Media Collective
D) Hope, Bangor resident
E) Barbra Moore, Penobscot Nation

RadioActive 12/1/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Police Attack on Standing Rock Water Protectors on Nov 20th

Key Discussion Points:
1) Today we hear more information about the police attack on Standing Rock Water Protectors on November 20th.
2) Standing Rock Sioux’s resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which is slated to carry Bakken shale oil through sacred grounds and underneath the Missouri River, a drinking water source for millions.
3) A number of Wabananki tribal members and other Mainers have been or currently are at Standing Rock. Tomorrow another delegation will travel our with winter supplies and people for the encampment.

Guests:
KT Crossman, attorney, Community Law Office, LLC, participant in Water Protectors Legal Collective
June Sapiel, Penobscot Nation, Standing Rock Water Protector

RadioActive 11/17/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Standing Rock Day of Solidarity Actions, the Minimum Wage Referendum Passes in Maine and the Annual Solidarity Harvest Efforts

Key Discussion Points:
1) Tuesday marked a day of national action in solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux’s resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which is slated to carry Bakken shale oil through sacred grounds and underneath the Missouri River, a drinking water source for millions.
2) Numerous rallies took place across Maine, including over 65 people in Ellsworth and over 200 in Bangor. Today we hear from three Penobscot women who spoke at the Bangor rally before people marched to the federal building. A number of Wabananki tribal members and other Mainers have been or currently are at Standing Rock. On December 2nd another delegation will travel our with supplies.
3) On this past election day, 4 states voted to pass a minimum wage increase. In Maine, voters passed Question 4, approving a $12 an hour minimum wag by 2020. We speak with labor organizer Jack McKay about this and the annual Solidarity Harvest, a Thanksgiving effort focusing on laid off workers in the area, while examining systemic changes needed to increase food security in the state.

Guests:
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobcsot Nation, Sunlight Media Collective
June Sappiel, Penobscot Nation, Standing Rock Water Protector
Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot Nation, Indigenous Rights Attorney
Jack McKay, director of Food AND Medicine, president of Eastern Maine Labor Council

RadioActive 11/10/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic:
Key Discussion Points: Potential Impacts of Trump Administration on Climate, Energy and Tribal Right; Standing Rock Updates

1) Today we begin to look at the potential impacts of a Trump administration on a number of issues nationally and internationally and how social movements anticipate the work going forward.
2) We speak with the director of the Global Justice Ecology Project about potential policy impacts on climate change, oil and gas development and tribal rights.
3) We also look at the current assault on water protectors at Standing Rock. A solidarity rally will be held at noon on Tuesday at Westmarket Square in Bangor. At the end of the month a Wabanaki delegation will head to Standing Rock to set up members for the winter.

Guests:
Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project, http://globaljusticeecology.org/
Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot, indigenous rights attorney, facebook.com/sacredinstructions/info

RadioActive 10/13/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Food Security and the Minimum Wage; Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion

Key Discussion Points:
1) Today we speak with community and labor organizer Jack McKay about a forum on Food Security and the Minimum Wage taking place Wed. October 19th from 930-1130 at the Bangor Public Library.
2)McKay say, in the past decade, the Maine’s state food insecurity rating has risen from 33rd to 3rd, attributable to a number of administrative changes by Governor LePage restricting access to food stamps/ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. On November 8th, Mainers will vote on a referendum to increase the state minimum wage.
3) And we speak with Hillary Lister about the proposed Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. On Tuesday, October 18th, Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection will conduct a public hearing on the expansion. It will take place at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Starting at 9am applicants and intervenors will present. At 6pm the public may comment. Written comments are accepted until October 19th. There has been long opposition to the expansion of the landfill, including for it’s impact on water and the state operational policy to avoid restrictions to take out of state waste by minimal processing that re-classifies it as in state waste.

Guests:
Jack McKay, Director of Food AND Medicine, President of the Eastern Maine Labor Council
Hillary Lister, waste/landfill/incinerator activist

RadioActive 10/6/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: A New Study on Carbon Dioxide Emissions Mitigation Goals and Climate Action at Court Date for Clean Power Plan

Key Discussion Points:
1) Today we speak with the co-author of a new study showing the inadequacy of planned measures for the US to meet their internationally promised carbon dioxide emissions targets to fight climate change.
2) Last week, the US Circuit Court of Appeals in DC heard arguments in a suit aimed to stop the US EPA from implementing the so-called “Clean Power Plan” under the Clean Air Act. The plan is designed to reduce the power sector’s carbon emissions to 32% below 2005 levels. 27 states and a number of coal companies are suing the EPA to stop the plan.
3) Today we speak with Dawn Neptune Adams, who was on a delegation with the People’s Action Network to DC to participate in related climate actions with her daughter.

Guests:
Max Lei, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, co-author of study “Assessment of the Climate Commitments and Additional Mitigation Policies of the United States”, published in Nature Climate Change
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobscot Tribe, Peoples Action Network delegate to DC

RadioActive 9/29/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Juniper Ridge Landfill Expansion Public Forum

Key Discussion Points:
1) On Tuesday, October 18th, Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing on the renewed attempt to expand the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town, which is sate owned, but run by Casella Waste Systems. Casella and the State are looking to double the size of Juniper Ridge.
2) On September 27th, opponents of the landfill expansion held an informational forum at the Old Town high school. Organizers say it is usual for applicants of major projects, such as this, would be expected to hold a public information session. As Casella and the Bureau of General Services did not, local activist held their own forum.
There has been long opposition to the expansion of the landfill, including for it’s impact on water, it’s impact on local communities, including the Penobscot Nation, and the state’s operational policy to avoid restrictions to take out of state waste by minimal processing that re-classifies it as in state waste.
3) The Board of Environmental Protection will hold it’s public hearing on Tuesday, October 18th at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Starting at 9am applicants and intervenors will present. At 6pm the public may comment. Written comments are accepted until October 19th.

Guests:
Ed Spencer, Old Town resident and intervenor
Sarah Lakeman, Natural Resources Council of Maine
Cheryl Spencer, Old Town Resident
Paul Schroeder, Old Town resident
other participants

RadioActive 5/12/16

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Nurses Win Safe Staffing Measures, Guatemala’s Historic War Crimes Trial, Guatemalan Lote Ocho Mining Case

Key Discussion Points:
1)Today we speak with a representative of the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United. This week nurses at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth finally won the inclusion of safe staffing criteria in their contract with management.
2) And we speak with independent journalist, Lawrence Reichard about his recent coverage of the historic Sepur Zarco war crimes trail in Guatemala;
3) and another human rights case, Lote Ocho, currently being brought by a Guatemalan woman against the Canadian mining company Hud Bay Mineral, Inc, for rape murder allegedly committed by mine security personnel.

Guests:
A) Vanessa Sylvester, Maine Sate Nurses Association/National Nurses United
B) Lawrence Reichard, independent journalist, contributor to WERU FM, The Progressive, Counterpunch and columnist, “Bricks and Mortars”, published in Republican Journal, Camden Herald, Rockand Courier Gazette and VillageSoup.com.

http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/05/188718/gary-tyler%E2%80%99s-long-road-justice