Between The Lines - Dr. Dan Doyle: A Community Divided: Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining in Appalachia, Jobs vs. the Environment (Week Ending Aug. 24, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining Divides Communities Over Jobs and the Environment

RealAudio MP3

Posted Aug. 15, 2012

Interview with Dr. Dan Doyle, physician with the New River Health Association, serving Fayette County, W. Va., conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Tensions are rising in the coal fields of southern Appalachia, as more militant – though nonviolent – protests are being staged to end mountaintop removal coal mining, and the demand for coal and its availability in the region is declining. In West Virginia, even some pro-coal officials estimate that the coal industry will play out in the state over the next 20 years, although vast amounts will remain accessible in the American West for much longer.

In mountaintop removal coal mining, mountain ridges are blown up using millions of tons of dynamite and the dislodged rocks and earth are dumped in the valleys below. The process so far has obliterated 500 mountain ridges and buried 2,000 miles of fresh water streams.

Dan Doyle is a family physician who has worked at the New River Health Association serving Fayette County, W. Va., for the past 34 years. He also directs the health center’s black lung clinic. Over the past several years, underground coal miners have seen a spike in black lung disease, which restricts breathing and in the most serious cases, is fatal. Doyle notes that several recent studies have revealed a marked increase in both birth defects and certain cancers in residents of communities near mountaintop removal sites. His patients include many residents who depend on the coal industry for their livelihood. Sitting on the front porch of his home, Dr. Doyle spoke with Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus, sharing his views about the complicated nature of community support for and opposition to mountaintop removal coal mining.

DAN DOYLE: It's kind of almost a town/gown conflict, only it's not town/gown, it's more of a class thing, which is that the people most opposed to MTR, here in Fayette County, tend to be – people who are middle class, came from outside, are first generation here, have college education, often have professional jobs, or are employed often as owners and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. So they have an economic interest against MTR. In addition, they tend to be environmentally aware, and have kind of a global perspective on climate change and environmental destruction in general. Then, there's probably the majority of the population here, whose families have been here a long time, many of whom are employed directly in the coal mining industry not just as coal miners, because those jobs have shrunk to a handful. But there's so many other jobs that are related: equipment, supplies, electrical equipment, maintenance, tires, fuel, insurance – that the coal and gas industry here is so pervasive in our economy that there are many, many people – and they tend to be natives and people who have been here a long time and who are working class or below – very strongly identify with coal mining both as what's putting bread on the table in somebody's family in their extended family right now, and also because it's their history and heritage. And so that difference has been easy to exploit for the energy industry and the coal mining industry. They've done a great job of keeping people divided, keeping people at each others' throats, keeping people blaming each other and hating each other. And it's a really big challenge here.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I've read a number of polls over the last number of years that show that overall, statewide, more people are opposed to mountaintop removal mining than in favor. But when you get in southern West Virginia, it may not be so...maybe less than a majority.

DAN DOYLE: There's a wonderful way to appreciate that around here because all you have to do is look at all the Friends of Coal decals on people's cars and trucks, and if you start looking, Friends of Coal is basically a coal operator/Republican/lobby and media campaign that is aimed at maintaining mountaintop mining with minimal restriction and minimal interference as long as possible. They know the handwriting's on the wall; they know that this can't continue. My analogy is someone who's won a prize where they get 15 minutes in a grocery store to run around and put as much stuff in their cart as they can. And they get in there and they go straight to the meat dempartment and load their cart up with meat, and throw in liquor...they're on the clock, and they're going to get everything they can until the whistle blows.

So the Friends of Coal campaign is to do everything possible to extend that by a few years, so that they can cram as much coal wealth and energy wealth into their carts before it finally comes to a stop. But they have succeeded in getting people with that coal mining history and legacy – and who are depending on that for this month's food, and this month's college tuition for their children, and this month's car payment – to join with that.

In addition, those stickers are handed out at work – at union and non-union mines, and equipment shops, and electrical supply shops, and barber shops – and people are basically told, "Show your support, put this on your car." And if you're a coal miner at a non-union mine and your boss tells you to put it on your car, you put it on your car, and you take it home and tell your wife to put it on her car. So you see this stuff all over the place. So, that's one way that it's easy to see, if not active, thoughtful support, gut support and identification with this anti-government, anti-EPA, anti-regulation, anti-inspection, pro-corporate, anti-union, cause. It's actually quite a big paradox and contradiction that that is the case, but it is.

For more information on the Coal River Mountain Watch, visitCRMW.net.