Tag: EPA

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 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 2/19/15

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: EPA Decision: Maine Water Quality Standards are Not Protective of Tribes; The Environmental Impacts of Metallic Mining as Maine looks to Open the State for Irving Project

Key Discussion Points:

a) On February 2nd, the US EPA issued a decision that the state of Maine’s water quality standards are not stringent enough in tribal waters. Maine has been directed to strengthen these standards in compliance with protection of tribal sustenance fishing rights under the federal Clean Water Act.

b) We speak with Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis on the importance of this decision to the tribe. And we look at the State of Maine’s inflamatory public relations offensive, primarily through Pierce Atwood attorney Matt Manahan, to re-frame the issue as a tribal power grab that will cost dischargers all along the Penobscot River millions of dollars. We also look at the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, and a landmark case currently in the courts, Penobscot Nation v Mills, in which the Penobscot Nation is suing the Maine Attorney General’s office for it’s 2012 attempt to disassociate the water flowing through the Penobscot Nation from it’s tribal territory.

c) We also hear part of a presentation on the environmental destruction caused by metallic mining, given by Nick Bennett, staff scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Maine lawmakers are attempting to rush through previously rejected DEP rules that would open Maine to metallic mining. LD 146, is being hopscotched over the requirement under Maine’s Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA) that proposed rule changes must have a public hearing before the DEP, prior to proceeding to the legislature. Proponents of the rule changes say, the MAPA requirements can be worked around. The Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources is holding it’s public hearing on LD 146 on February 25th, at 9am at the Augusta State House.

Guests:
Chief Kirk Francis, Penobscot Nation, http://penobscotnation.org
Nick Bennett, staff scientist, Natural Resources Council of Maine www.nrcm.org

RadioActive 7/15/10

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Topics: EPA formulates Clean Water Act Permits required for pesticide applications;  Calais LNG is granted postponement of BEP permitting hearings

What are some of the concerns of Canada concerning LNG tankers in Passamaquoddy Bay?  What is Calais LNG’s connection to Goldman Sachs?  What are some of the areas EPA is still solidifying in it’s NPDES permitting requirements for pesticide applicators?

Guests: Sylvia Broude, Toxics Action Center; Elizabeth Martin-Craig, Pesticides Watch;  Bob Godfrey, Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-Nation Alliance

RadioActive 4/02/09

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco

Segment 1: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have scathing criticism of the Maine Department of Transportation’s plan to start a federal Umbrella Wetlands Mitigation Bank on Sears Island— and they have made their concerns known to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who is currently considering MeDOT’s proposal. We talk with Kyla Bennett, Director of the New England branch of PEER, to get the details. FMI: www.peer.org

Segment 2: Rob Brown, Executive Director of Opportunity Maine, talks about LD 1181, the “Green Jobs, Green Savings bill”, a proposal to create jobs and energy efficiency in Maine. Opportunity Maine authored the bill, it was sponsored by Rep. Seth Berry (Bowdoinham), and it has drawn an out-pouring of support from labor activists, environmentalists, students and others in recent public hearings. FMI: www.opportunitymaine.org