Claire Miller: Environmental Groups Call for Halt to New England Natural Gas Energy Conversion

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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Environmental Groups Call for Halt to New England Natural Gas Energy Conversion

Posted Aug. 3, 2016

Interview with Claire Miller, lead community organizer with Toxics Action Center, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

A new report that evaluated several recent research papers shows definitively that natural gas is not a bridge to a clean energy future. The report was released by Toxics Action Center, the Frontier Group, Environment America, and more than a dozen community groups across New England at a press conference held in Bridgeport, Connecticut in late July. Bridgeport is the current site of Connecticut's last remaining coal-fired power plant, which is slated to be converted to use as an natural gas energy source.

Bridgeport's coal plant that produces electricity for the region, not only contributes to climate change, but also pollutes the air, with harmful effects on the health of the low-income, mostly black and Latino community in its midst. The report, titled "Natural Gas and Global Warming: A Review of Evidences Finds that Methane Leaks Undercut the Climate Benefits of Gas," shows that older claims that gas has a modest impact on the climate are wrong, as they fail to account for the greenhouse gas effect of methane and high rates of methane leaks from gas infrastructure.

The coalition of New England environmental groups are calling for a halt to the region's gas infrastructure build-out, and a quick conversion to a true clean energy economy. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Claire Miller, lead community organizer with Toxics Action Center, about the report and the energy future the groups that released the report are working for.

CLAIRE MILLER: We're seeing the older fleet of old coal-fired power plants, old nuclear power plants, phase out, and in that wake of opportunity the gas industry is really hoping to bring out a whole new wave of gas-fired power plants, pipelines, compressor station, LNG tanks. You know, we're still kind of feeling the ripples of the fracking boom.

BETWEEN THE LINES: How has the energy situation changed over the past decade and how do big fossil fuel plants fit into it?

CLAIRE MILLER: You know, we're used to making electricity by big power plants. That's how we've run our grid since we electrified back in the '20s and '30s. And the grid of the future is different. It's thousands of solar panels scattered across roofs and on top of landfills. It's off-shore wind 30 miles out in federal waters. It's a fundamentally different vision. So there's this moment where we're either going to go down this road and build another whole generation of fossil fuels that will set us way back, or we actually have to take that leap and begin building that grid of the future.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A lot of gas projects that people are opposing – pipelines, power plants and more – are well on their way to construction. So do you think it's too late to stop them?

CLAIRE MILLER: That is a really interesting question. I hesitate to say that it's ever too late in that all the cards are ever as they seem to be. I was chatting with a community leader from Oxford (Connecticut) earlier this month, and there's some scandal around some of the financials around the plant out there, so who knows!? It's got all of its permits, to my knowledge, but that definitely doesn't mean it's a done deal. The same can be said for Bridgeport. A lot of things can happen and there's a lot of moving parts and policy in different parts of the region right now.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So the evidence is mounting that so-called natural gas is not the bridge to the clean energy future.

CLAIRE MILLER: Yeah, and I just want to acknowledge that ten years ago, most of the environmental community also thought that gas was going to be the bridge fuel, that it would ease our way into adopting a fundamentally different kind of grid that's more decentralized, where people get their power from the solar panels in their neighborhood. And I don't blame people for still thinking in that paradigm. But the evidence and the report we released today – which is a review of all the different studies that have looked into this – is that it's all a wash, when the fact is the gas leaks everywhere – every step of the way. When you're drilling it out of the ground, some of it leaks out. When you put it from the well-head into the trucks, some of it leaks out. When you put it from the trucks into the pipes, some of it leaks out. Every step of the way, (undecipherable), because methane is so much more potent than carbon, it's just a complete wash. And any of those benefits as far as global warming mitigation are just totally lost.

My recommendation to all of us in New England is to grapple with that as hard and as fast as we can. We already get almost 50 percent of our electricity from gas, which is a lot of eggs to have in one basket, and we do not want to continue to be dependent on such a volatile fuel source where the prices are going up and down – it's too risky for our economy and our climate – and let's go as fast as we can. Up here in Massachusetts, we've been battling back and forth because the legislature keeps putting caps on how many homes can actually install solar and get the benefits back. That kind of stifling of the industry is not what we need; we need to let it flourish as hard and as fast as possible. We've been a leader in the region on energy efficiency; there's still way more we can do. I feel like if we put the pedal to the metal we have the minds, we have the technology, we can do it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Can you share some of the data you have about how the different sources of energy have changed over time in New England?

CLAIRE MILLER: The trends are really interesting. So in the year 2000, New England was getting 15 percent of its electricity from gas, and in the year 2015 we were getting 49 percent. For nuclear power, it's almost the same; we've gone from 31 percent to 30 percent. The things that are decreasing are coal and oil. From 2000 to 2015, coal went from 18 percent of the pie to 4 percent of the pie – that's great, and from 2000 to 2015 oil went from 22 percent to 2 percent – also awesome. So we've seen this really great decrease in fossil fuel, but the unfortunate thing is that it's been almost entirely replaced by another fossil fuel, which ultimately is not getting us any gains for global warming. It's definitely better for air quality – I don't want to brush over that – but it's just like we also have this big elephant in the room called global warming.

For more information on the group's energy report visit Toxics Action Center at toxicsaction.org.