Episode 25: Mary Stucklen with Berkshire Zero Waste
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today's show features Mary Stucklen of Berkshire Zero Waste about a new initiative of theirs, WasteLess Restaurants.
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Episode 24: Kelly Fuller with Western Watersheds Project
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Featuring Kelly Fuller, the Energy and Mining Campaign Director for the Western Watersheds Project, which has headquarters in a number of western states. We talked about the proposed lithium mine in Thacker Pass, Nevada, a project that WWP and others oppose on the grounds that it will destroy an important ecosystem and habitat for a number of unique species.
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Episode 23: Max Wilbert from Protect Thacker Pass, NV
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today's show features Max Wilbert, one of the activists occupying Thacker Pass, Nevada, to protest a proposed lithium mine there.
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Episode 22: Laura Haight, Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI)
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today I discuss the biomass industry with Laura Haight, U.S. Policy Director at the Partnership for Policy Integrity, or PFPI. PFPI uses science, policy analysis and strategic communications to promote policies that protect climate, ecosystems, and people.
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Episode 21: Dogwood Alliance w/Scot Quaranda
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Audible Cafe talks with Scot Quaranda of the Dogwood Alliance about the forest biomass industry, and what it's doing to the southern forests (and soon coming to your neighborhood).
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EPISODE 20: Put Peaker Plants in the Past w/Rosemary Wessel of No Fracked Gas in Mass
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today’s show features Rosemary Wessel, Program Director of No Fracked Gas in Mass, a program of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) discussing their Put Peaker Plants in the Past project.
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Wendell State Forest Alliance Lawsuit to Protect the Forests
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today's show features Gia Neswald and Glen Ayers of the Wendell State Forest Alliance. Their group brought a lawsuit against the Mass. Dept of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Secretary Kathleen Theoharides of the Exec. Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, to halt the logging of forestlands in Wendell State Forest.
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Episode 18: Northeast Wilderness Trust, with Sophi Veltrop
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today's episode features Sophi Veltrop, Outreach Coordinator for the Northeast Wilderness Trust based in Vermont. We talk about preserving wilderness lands for wild species and the 37,000+ acres they have preserved.
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Episode 17: “The Issue with Tissue” w/Jennifer Skene of NRDC
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
This week's episode features Jennifer Skene, international law fellow with NRDC and lead author of "The Issue with Tissue" Report that details the destruction of the boreal forest by clear-cutting by U.S. corporations and the Canadian government to supply virgin tree pulp to produce household tissue products such as toilet paper and paper towels.
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Episode 16: BEAT and Food & Water Watch vs. FERC
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Today's interview is with Jane Winn of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (or BEAT) and Rosemary Wessel of No Fracked Gas in Mass (a program of BEAT). We talked about a lawsuit that BEAT and the Food & Water Watch have brought against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
info_outlineHi and welcome to Audible Café.
Today, I bring you my interview with Alice Arena, Executive Director of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, or FRRACS. Their website is nocompressor.com.
The Weymouth Compressor Station is part of the proposal for Atlantic Bridge, a SPECTRA Energy pipeline project that pumps fracked gas from fracking fields in the midwest through New England to…where? to whom? Well, that’s a good question. The story has continued to change as the company strives to build this monster. Initially, it was supposed to be for residents in New England. Now, the gas will go to Canada, and then for export. No local benefit at all.
Construction of the 7,700 hp compressor station is now underway, and it is being protested and opposed, both at the site and in the courts. It’s been a long, long fight, and the opposition is NOT going away!
SPECTRA Energy is a Houston-based energy conglomerate with a market capitalization of approximately $17 Billion dollars. They have since merged with Enbridge, one of the largest oil and gas companies in North America.
This is our money building these projects, friends. Without federal and state subsidies, these companies would not exist. According to https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/enbridge “Since FY2000 to the present, Enbridge, parent company now of Spectra Energy, received are $152,103,978. Note: Dollar totals do not include awards for which no subsidy value is disclosed.” What the heck does THAT mean?
I dug one page deeper into the above subsidy report to look at one of the awards, just randomly, from the State of Louisiana “Quality Jobs Program” administered by the Commerce and Industry Board. The value of the subsidy was $3,211,615 and it created 10 jobs. That’s right, 10 jobs. Seems unbelievable, but check it out: https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/subsidy-tracker/la-spectra-energy-operating-company-llc.
Enbridge/Spectra was working in conjunction with Eversource Energy and National Grid on an ambitious expansion of the Natural Gas infrastructure in the Northeast. Both Eversource and National Grid stated that the compressor station is now unnecessary to meet customer demand. So why are they still building it?
The history of the application, permitting process, and opposition to the project is long, since it all started in 2015. You can read all about it at the nocompressor.com site — there are excellent resources there, including a detailed timeline of all that has transpired on this project, leading up to today.
Here are just a few of the THREATS that this project poses:
- This compressor would be built in the most densely populated location ever for a compressor station built in the US.
- Operations run counter to the state’s emissions reduction goals.
- The project will further devastate the coastal environment of the Fore River Basin.
- The herring run, already under siege, will be further compromised. Each year, thousands of herring swim from Boston Harbor to Whitman's Pond through the Weymouth Back River.
- The Fore River hosts the largest Smelt Run in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Is there no end to the destruction of natural systems we will undertake for money?
- This project is only one part of the immeasurable damage to the environment from the fracked gas industry. The project serves to prop up the fracked gas industry.
- Residents in the area — who have faced pollution from industrial sites for decades — have legitimate fears about potential health impacts.
- There is asbestos in the soil at this project site, and it’s been documented by the state as a threat if soil is disturbed - there are signs posted on the property that state this fact. It’s hard to build something without disturbing the soil! So how is that contamination going to be contained. They may be trying, but it can’t be done.
Thank you, Alice, for being so generous with your time, and for your dedication in working tirelessly to protect the environment and the people of the Fore River Basin.
As always, you can learn more and access archives and show notes with lots of resources at audiblecafe.com, or visit the FB page - just search for Audible Café, or follow us on Twitter @audiblecafe. If you listen on iTunes, please subscribe, and leave us a review. It’s helps a lot. We appreciate your feedback. So if you’d like to get directly in touch with us, email [email protected].
Thanks again, and have a great week!
Judy
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