Tag: Fracking

WERU News Report 12/17/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Studio Engineer: John Greenman

It’s Wednesday, so we’ve just got a few short news clips and we’re opening the phone lines for your calls for most of the half hour. We’re working on a theme of local solidarity today. How do we keep power, control and resources in LOCAL hands? How do we get it back when it’s been lost?

*Judy Robbins from “Let Cuba Live” with a reaction to today’s news about normalizing relations with that country *Audio from a rally that just ended, outside the mill in Bucksport this afternoon as the last shift of workers leaving the mill were met by supporters
*A report on a donation to the solidarity fund for Fairpoint workers made earlier in the week
*News about a fracking ban in New York that was announced today
*Listener calls

WERU News Report 11/12/13

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco

Around 50 people braved the cold and rain on a busy intersection near the Bangor Mall on Sunday, in solidarity with the people of the Elsipogtog/Mi’kmaq First Nation in New Brunswick, who are engaged in a battle to protect their land from hydraulic fracturing, known commonly as fracking …

The Texas-based Southwestern Energy company (aka SWN) has been conducting seismic testing, (“thumping”) the earth, looking for possible sites to frack in New Brunswick. The Elsipogtog people in the area say that some of the testing is being done on land they never ceded by treaty – but they are quick to point out that this is not only their issue, as the impacts of fracking could affect everyone in the region. They and their non-native allies have drawn international attention and support for their campaign, especially following a violent police crack down last month, which resulted in 40 arrests. Several police vehicles were burned that day, and everyone we’ve interviewed who is involved with the resistance campaign has speculated that the police burned the vehicles themselves, as an agent provocateur tactic and/or in an attempt to undermine the high level of support for the protesters. Today 4 people remain in jail, and there have been unsubstantiated reports that they have been abused while in custody.
The solidarity rally in Bangor on Sunday drew people from the Penobscot Nation and across Maine, as well as New Brunswick, and a lot of supportive honks and waves from cars passing by – Meredith DeFrancesco and I spoke with some of the participants:

WERU News Report 10/23/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

The Mi’kmaq people and their supporters are continuing to fight back against fracking exploration in New Brunswick, despite a violent police crackdown last week. Greg Cook, who coordinates a website that has become a hub for information-sharing about the situation, joins up today for an update

WERU News Report 6/19/13

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

RadioActive 6/6/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Maine’s proposed Omnibus Energy Bill and it’s connection to gas fracking; expedited wind corridor; moratorium on dump expansion passed

Key Discussion Points:
a) today we look at the Maine legislature’s Energy Omnibus Bill, which would accelerate and subsidizes the development of natural gas infrastructure in the state, which would increase the demand for fracked gas. Gas fracking has proved to be profoundly destructive extractive process, use has proliferated. Despite proponents heralding natural gas as transitional green fuel, today’s guests underscore that burning natural gas hydrocarbons contributes, as well, to climate change.
b) We also look at plans for an expedited wind power corridor with parallels to the East West Corridor and a legislative effort to re-initiate community rights to comment projects in currently expedited areas.
c)We also look at the passage of a bill which puts a year moratorium on dump expansions in Maine.
d) And we give a brief update on a First Nation action yesterday to oppose gas fracking at Elsipogtok, Big Cove , New Brunswick.

Guests:
Glenn Brand, Sierra Club Maine Chapter Director
Hillary Lister, Maine activist and independent researcher, who has worked on monitoring legislation and organizing around trash dumping and incineration issues, the East West Corridor, industrial wind, gas pipeline development and democratic process and participation.

WERU Community SoapBox 3/27/12

Issue: Open-mic style call-in show
Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: Joel Mann

Key Discussion Points:
Carbon pollution standards, Vigilantism, Solar storms, Accuracy in reporting, “Gasland” film, Fracking, LPG, School consolidation

Guests by name and affiliation: n/a

Call In Program: Yes