WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives
Audio archives of spoken word broadcasts from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill (weru.org)
Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Segment 1: An interview with Nell Gluckman and John Christie of the Maine Center for Public Interesting Reporting (www.pinetreewatchdog.org) re: their latest report, released today, on Representative Chellie Pingree’s large increase in campaign donation since marrying a billionaire – and how that gels with her past work on campaign finance reform.
Segment 2: Short story/poems by Norman Snowden, about life in Maine.
Producer/Host: Amy Browne with special guest co-host, Ingrid Peterson
Segment 1: Last week we reported on proposed legislation calling for an investigation into the condition of the PanAm rail tracks between Bucksport and Brewer, where many derailments have occurred. Legislators at a public hearing in March expressed shock at the deterioration of the tracks, and disbelief that they were still in daily use.
Investigative reporter Lance Tapley has learned that fracked crude oil is being transported by PanAm rail, as well as MMA, the rail line involved in the catastrophe in Quebec. And PanAm has not been filing required reports with the state. Interview with Lance Tapley FMI: http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/abouttown/archive/2013/07/10/state-to-probe-missing-crude-oil-reports-panam-mepolitics-crudeoil.aspx
Segment 2: A local group is forming to explore ways people in this part of the state might work together on gun control issues. They are having a meeting this week. On our Peacetime segment today, organizer Mary Ann Royal joins us to tell us more FMI: northernme@mcahv.org
Segment 3: The Penobscot River will get one step closer to its wild state on Monday, when the Veazie Dam is removed. Nick Bennett is a Staff Scientist with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and has worked with the coalition of groups that comprise the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, which has been working for years to bring this to fruition:
FMI: www.nrcm.org
Producer/Host: Amy Browne & Jim Fisher
Segment 1: Bike Maine Trek
Key Discussion Points :
A) What is the Bike Maine trek?
B) How do you prepare to ride 70 miles per day?
C) How does the ride benefit the rider? How does it benefit Maine?
Guests:
Mark Ishkanian, Spokesperson for the Bicycle Coalition of Maine
Segment 2: Review of legislation we’ve been reporting on, as the Maine State Legislature recesses for the summer.
Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Segment 1: Just 8 days before the catastrophic train explosion in Quebec last weekend, several Mainers were arrested trying to block another train carrying fracked Bakken crude oil from crossing the state.
Barely a week after the arrests, a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train, headed for Maine carrying at least 2 million gallons of oil, derailed just 10 miles from the Maine border. The explosion killed a still-unknown number of people, and incinerated a large part of the town of Lac Megantic
At a press conference yesterday, held outside the headquarters of Montreal- Maine-Atlantic Railway, in Hermon, Maine, the arrestees explained why they did it, and expressed condolences to our neighbors in Canada
Segment 2: There have been several derailments on train tracks in Maine in recent years, several of which have involved PanAm rail, which runs alongside the Penobscot River. 4 PanAm rail tankers derailed near the Penobscot River in Veazie last week. In March of this year 13 of their 31,000 gallon crude oil tankers derailed near the Penobscot River in Mattawamkeag. The previous month, two boxcars on a Pan Am freight train also derailed near the Leeds-Wayne town line, and in March of 2012, 4 PanAm cars derailed, with two going into the river, near the Bucksport-Orrington town. Those rail cars carried clay slurry used in papermaking.
In March, we reported on a bill that was being introduced by Representative Richard Campbell of Orrington, that would initiated a study of the condition of PanAm rail lines. Many of the Transportation Committee members who attended the public hearing expressed shock when viewing photos of the condition of the PanAm tracks. The photos they were viewing are posted on the WERU facebook page, if you’d like to take a look while you listen to some of the discussion that took place in March
Producer/Host: Carolyn Coe
Issue: coal mining and alternatives for central appalachia
Program Topic: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth’s efforts in central appalachia
Key Discussion Points:
a) challenges to diversifying eastern Kentucky’s economy
b) KFTC’s energy audit and retrofitting project
c) environmental and health impacts of coal mining in eastern Kentucky
Guests:
Carl Shoupe, active member of the Harlan County chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Michael Prewitt of the Harlan Drive Band
FMI: www.kftc.org
Producer/Host: Amy Browne
In breaking news today, the US Supreme Court has ruled that DOMA- the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act”, is unconstitutional, and that same-sex couples who are legally married under state law should be afforded the same federally recognized rights and benefits as other married couples – including tax breaks, social security benefits, and family medical leave.
In Augusta today, both houses of the state legislature voted to override Governor LePage’s veto of the biennial budget, thus avoiding a state shut down. Here’s some of the debate that took place prior to the vote
Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by Matt Murphy
If you’re a regular listener to WERU, you’ve no doubt heard us mention the watering can we use for drawings during pledge drives. What you may not be aware of, is that the watering can is an award we received in 2004 from Maine Initiatives, an organization that coordinates funding for grassroots groups working for social and environmental justice in Maine – including WERU. Last week they marked their 20th anniversary and presented awards to this year’s recipients. Today we take you there, to hear from some of the people who were honored for their work. The first award was presenting by Portland Mayor Mike Brennan
Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Our neighbors to the north are engaged in a heated battle against fracking, the highly destructive and controversial process of extracting gas from shale. In New Brunswick, a company called SWN is conducting seismic tests, known as thumping, as a precursor to locating new fracking sites.
According to the website http://knowshalegasnb.ca/ 9 energy companies own 71 leases or licensing agreeements, covering 1.4 million hectares (about three and a half million acres) of land in New Brunswick, most of which overlap freshwater supply sources. The process of fracking consumes massive quantities of water, which is mixed with a proprietary cocktail of chemicals and blasted into shale to unleash the gas deposits. After being used in the process, the water is dangerously contaminated, and disposal becomes another problem. In addition, there have been spills, drinking water contamination, and earthquakes linked to fracking.
In New Brunswick, some of the new fracking sites that are being explored cross native land, and tribal members say they were not consulted. On Friday of last week several people were arrested engaging in civil disobedience to stop the process, and the tests were halted while negotiations took place. Earlier this afternoon as we spoke with some of the activists involved, they were watching for signs of how the negotiations were going — watching to see if the trucks engaged in the testing would start back up—and vowing to not back down