Between The Lines - Wilma Subra: On Fifth Anniversary of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Not All Is Well in the Gulf (Week Ending May 1, 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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On Fifth Anniversary of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Not All Is Well in the Gulf

Posted April 22, 2015

Interview with Wilma Subra, an environmental scientist and winner of a MacArthur "genius" grant, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

This year, April 20 marked the fifth anniversary of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and spilled an estimated 5 million barrels – or 210 million gallons – of oil into Gulf waters. The oil gushed for almost three months before being capped on July 15 and was finally sealed on Sept. 19, 2010.

BP says it has spent approximately $28 billion thus far on cleanup, early restoration work and making claims payments to local residents for damages. The oil giant is now awaiting a federal district court ruling on how much more it will be mandated to pay in Clean Water Act penalties resulting from the spill.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Wilma Subra, an environmental scientist and winner of a MacArthur "genius" grant. Her Subra Company, based in New Iberia, Louisiana, provides technical assistance to community groups and to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network dealing with environmental human health issues. Here she says, despite the resumption of deepwater drilling in the Gulf six months after the start of the disaster, many impacts continue to linger both in the health of the ecosystem and the well-being of its human inhabitants.

WILMA SUBRA: As a result of the BP disaster five years ago, the Gulf is contaminated with the crude oil that BP released into the environment, its sub-surface in the Gulf, and it continues to wash on shore every single day in the form of tar balls, mats and strings. And then from a human health issue, a large number of people along the Gulf Coast, as well as the cleanup workers, have been severely impacted by exposure to both the crude oil from BP and the dispersant, Corexit, and their health is severely impacted and will be impacted for a very, very long time. They have medical conditions that range from cardio-vascular impacts to liver and kidney, loss of memory, and they are getting little to no assistance because BP was allowed to fund primary care to the exclusion of care for the health impacts directly associated with exposure to the BP crude and the dispersant. These people have not been able to apply and qualify for disability; they've lost their medical insurance so they have nowhere to go to get the kind of medical care they desperately need, and then in a lot of cases, they've lost their homes, so they are absolutely destitute.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I understand that a lot of the impacts can't be seen from the surface, but that there's still a lot of damage in the water column itself and to wildlife there.

WILMA SUBRA: Right. The Gulf has been impacted severely by the BP crude, primarily because it was mixed with dispersant at the well-head as well as on the surface, and so the dispersant was used to sink the BP crude and its sub-surface in the water column as well as contaminating the sediment, and therefore, the benthic organisms in the bottom sediment and the organisms throughout the water column are being negatively impacted and then have an impact on the food chain.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I know the seafood from the Gulf was deemed by the government to be safe relatively soon after the well was capped, and BP, of course, runs these ads on TV showing pristine beaches like everything's back to normal. What do the people who live and work there say?

WILMA SUBRA: When you survey them, they tell you about the decrease in catch, so their livelihood has been severely impacted, and then they also talk about the physical impacts it's having on some of the organisms such as the crabs and the shrimp and the fin fish. And when you ask them how long do they think it's going to take for the Gulf to recover, they talk in terms of 20, 30, to 50 years.

BETWEEN THE LINES: President Obama put a hold on deepwater offshore drilling after the BP disaster, which he lifted in October of that same year, 2010. So do folks down there feel like the situation is another accident waiting to happen?

WILMA SUBRA: We are observing a lot of what's going on in the Gulf, and we're seeing spills and leaks occurring on a daily basis. so in addition to this very large event, there are these much smaller events that are ongoing. And the potential for this kind of accident to occur again is there.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Can you sum up the general attitude of residents on the Gulf coast toward deepwater drilling? I know it's jobs, but do they feel like it's decimating the other main source of jobs, which is fishing and shellfishing?

WILMA SUBRA: Communities along the Gulf Coast are intertwined with oil field workers. For the fishing community, their brothers and their cousins work for the oil and gas industry, and if the fishing community starts speaking out in opposition to oil and gas development because of what it's done to their resources, they are afraid that their brothers or their cousins will lose their jobs, so you don't hear an outcry from the fishing community. These communities are very resilient, and as a result they will do the best they can and live with the situation that's been dealt to them.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I'm trying to put the BP disaster in context with the pre-existing destruction of the wetlands in the Gulf, especially off the coast of Louisiana. In my previous trips to New Orleans and the bayous, I learned that every 45 minutes, an amount of land the size of a football field sinks into the Gulf. And a lot of that is caused by the oil and gas industry itself, with the thousands of miles of channels it's dug in the wetlands to facilitate its operations. Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there was a proposal to restore the wetlands there that would have cost $14 billion, but Congress didn't fund it because it was "too expensive." Now we're talking about many multiples of that to restore the land and clean up the Gulf. And BP has been required to pay billions. Can that be used for restoration?

WILMA SUBRA: So the terms of the BP settlement are not very favorable to the fishing communities and the people who have lost their jobs as a result of the environmental impact of the BP disaster. And the resources that BP is being required to put toward the restoration is just a small drop in the bucket compared to what is really needed for coastal restoration. So we have to be very careful to use the BP money for things specifically impacted by the BP disaster, but knowing that we still need a large chunk of money in order to restore our coasts.

For more information, visit the website of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network at leanweb.org.