Between The Lines - Mary Grant:Privatization of Public Water Resources Jeopardizes the Affordability and Quality of Water Supplies (Week Ending Nov. 6, 2015)

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.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

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.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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Privatization of Public Water Resources Jeopardizes the Affordability and Quality of Water Supplies

Posted Oct. 28, 2015

Interview with Mary Grant, director of the Food and Water Watch Public Water for All campaign, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

With the deterioration and lack of investment in the nation's public water supply delivery systems, more water disasters are in the headlines – from a chemical spill in a West Virginia river in January 2014 that affected 300,000 people to the reports this month of serious contamination of the water in Flint, Michigan.

More efforts are underway to privatize water that has historically been a public resource, both in the U.S. and around the world. At the same time the growth in the sale of bottled water that consumers purchase on their own has accompanied and exacerbated the privatization trend.

Corporate water privatization deals appeal to many cash-strapped cities and towns in need of costly infrastructure retrofits. But once in control of a vital public resource, corporations often use their monopoly to raise the cost of drinking water, without public accountability. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Mary Grant, director of the Food and Water Watch Public Water for All campaign. Here, she describes her group's work promoting the protection and affordability of the nation's water supply by fighting privatization bids and advocating for increased federal investment.

MARY GRANT: In our Public Water for All campaign, we coordinate with local communities that are working to prevent privatization of their water system, to support community efforts that are seeking public control of their water systems from private entities, and also we support water affordability programs.

Yeah, so I don't know if it's getting worse, but we're seeing more concern about water quality problems and our understanding of water quality contamination is getting better so we know the health effects of contamination. So in communities like Flint we were proud to work with What Are You Fighting For, a local organization that was working to reconnect the city's water back to Detroit Water. When they switched from Detroit Water to the Flint River water, the community experienced serious problems with water quality, in particular with lead poisoning in their water. There are reports that more children are experiencing high levels of lead in their blood. So that's a serious issue, and it's because of the corrosion in the pipes from the switch to Flint River water; it's more corrosive and they didn't have the right remediation chemical included in the water. But we do see this is an important issue; it remains an important issue.

Since the beginning of our organization, we've worked with communities fighting water privatization. They've reached out to us and they need support to keep their water systems in local public hands.

But what we're seeing as a growing problem is water affordability. Federal funding for our water and sewer systems has been decreasing. Water quality standards are getting more stringent, as we understand more about the contaminants in our water, and our climate is changing, so these factors are increasing the cost of infrastructure improvements that we need in order to provide safe water. So the issue becomes how do you pay for it with federal funding dwindling, water rates going up in communities across the country? Water rates are regressive, so they impose a disproportionate burden on low-income households. So a solution that we see is having water affordability programs to address the issue of increasing water rates and regressive water bills to ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable water service.

Climate change is an issue for many communities, especially coastal communities that are seeing rising water levels, more flood events, drought, changing climate, extremes in weather that are affecting our water utilities and people have to plan for and make improvement projects to plan for to protect their water supplies.

We think that water is priceless; it's invaluable, and so the water itself is a common resource. There is a cost to treating and distributing the water and we want to make sure the burden of those costs are allocated equitably so that we're not over-burdening low-income households. That's the intention of the affordability work we're doing. But we also want to ensure that all the revenue collected from water and sewer rates are going back into the system. We don't want to have profiting off our water and sewer services. They're such a central service – necessary for public health and well-being – that we can't have money going out of the system.

Most people have their water service from their local government. I think nine out of ten people have water service from their local government. There are water companies, particularly in the northeast – these are investor-owned companies in the northeast that provide regional areas. So there are regional companies and then there are national water companies like American Water and Aqua America that serve mostly more rural communities and statewide in different states. Then we also have international – multinational – water corporations like Suez and Veolia that are involved in water provision.

That was American Water; it's the largest water company in the U.S. Oh, it's actually interesting; there's a local community group in West Virginia that's seeking local public control of their water system from American Water, in part because of the response they've seen to the water contamination that they think is inadequate, that the company responded poorly to the water contamination, and didn't prepare for and plan for.

That is a major concern, that there is this public perception that our tap water is unsafe, so people don't want to invest in it. And then who can afford bottled water? Maude Barlow talks about a two-tier water system; you have people who can afford this bottled water and you have people who are stuck with tap water. And if you're not having people who can afford bottled water invest in our tap water system, where does that leave our tap water system?

For more information visit, Food & Water Watch at foodandwaterwatch.org and F&WW Public Water For All Campaign at foodandwaterwatch.org/campaign/public-water-all.