Episode 16: BEAT and Food & Water Watch vs. FERC
Audible Cafe Radio Show and Podcast
Release Date: 05/26/2020
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_outlineWelcome to the Audible Café Radio Show/podcast!
Today, I’m happy to share my interview 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) in approving a fracked gas infrastructure project without meeting the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requiring FERC to meaningfully evaluate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production and transportation projects.
The project in question is known as the “261 Upgrade Project” — a proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (“TGP”) gas-fired compressor station expansion and proposed new pipeline construction. Both the compressor station and the pipeline portion of the project are detrimental to the health of nearby residents (greater noise, air, and water pollution), will increase greenhouse gas emissions, and will contribute to climate change.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is intended to be “an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. FERC also reviews proposals to build liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave FERC "additional responsibilities” which are too numerous to list here. Check out the FERC website for more info at www.ferc.gov.
This is far from the first time FERC has not met this requirement; in fact, it would be difficult to find an example where FERC meaningfully evaluated the greenhouse gas emission of any project. FERC is known among environmentalists as a “rubber stamp” commission, far from being an independent agency without undue influence by the fossil fuel industry, it is quite the opposite.
One Commissioner, Richard Glick, is a notable exception in voting against unfavorable projects and issuing dissenting opinions that make sense.
Energy projects and the morass of regulations and agencies that oversee them are extremely complicated, but it’s important to pay attention. While COVID-19 is overshadowing our day-to-day lives and distracting us from other things, the current administration is taking advantage of that tor ram through fossil fuel projects and remove protections in ways that will have serious negative repercussions for the environment and our climate.
Thank you, Jane and Rose, for talking with me about this important lawsuit, and for your dedication in working tirelessly to protect the environment and our health, and for standing up for what is right and just.
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.
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
SHOW RESOURCES
Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) website
No Fracked Gas in Mass website
Food and Water Watch and BEAT v. FERC Petition for Review