Between The Lines - Ted Glick: Fracking and LNG Terminal Opponents Target Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Major Protest (Week Ending Oct. 17, 2014)

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.)

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LNG Terminal and Fracking Opponents Target Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Major Protest

Posted Oct. 8, 2014

Interview with Ted Glick, national campaign coordinator with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On Sept. 29, the FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, approved the construction of a liquified natural gas, or LNG, export terminal at Cove Point, Maryland, in the town of Lusby on Chesapeake Bay. The facility was originally built to import natural gas, but since the boom of horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which extracts gas from tight shale rock formations over the last decade, the U.S. is awash in the fossil fuel and the industry is looking to sell it abroad.

Energy business observers say that the construction of export terminals will greatly accelerate fracking in the nearby Marcellus shale, which covers regions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Environmental activists warn that the fracking extraction method results in a large increase in carbon emissions that cause climate change, as well as endangering local communities that have experienced both air and water pollution.

A legal protest followed by a civil disobedience action briefly shut down FERC’s offices in Washington, D.C. in July. Now a broad coalition of groups and individuals are planning a week of protests at the agency in the first week of November. Opponents charge that FERC, which operates independently of the federal government, narrowly serves the interests of the energy industry it was established to regulate, by acting as a rubber stamp for natural gas projects. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ted Glick, national campaign coordinator with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He says opponents are organizing the protest as they appeal FERC's decision on the Cove Point LNG terminal, which is just one of more than a dozen such terminals seeking federal approval for construction across the U.S.

TED GLICK: And there are many groups that will continue to fight to change this decision as well as to prevent the building of additional export terminals. There are 13 other proposed export terminals that FERC is dealing with right now; they have now approved four of them. This is part of a huge plan just to tremendously expand the fracked gas industry in the U.S. and move it worldwide.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, Cove Point was originally built as a gas import terminal before fracking produced so much gas domestically?

TED GLICK: Right. It was actually built in the 1970s as an import terminal. It was sold to Dominion about ten years ago, again as an import terminal. But the planned expansion of imports via that particular site at Cove Point did not pan out because of the rise of fracking, essentially, particularly in the Marcellus shale region, and this Cove Point facility would be an outlet for much of the fracked gas that would continue to be brought out of the ground and actually expanded; there would be a big increase in fracking to meet both the domestic demand for natural gas as well as the international demand for it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Ted Glick, I've been to southern Louisiana, which is covered with all kinds of oil and gas infrastructure. It's a sacrifice zone to the oil and gas industry, and it's also known as Cancer Alley. That happens to be where one of the approved export terminals is farthest along. But the area around Cove Point is totally different, right?

TED GLICK: The import facility that exists now, it's within the community of Cove Point, and the greater area is the town of Lusby, Maryland. And I believe the figure is something like 2,500 people live within one mile of this facility and there are definitely real dangers living close to a natural gas facility like this one. The processes that have to be undertaken to change the gas to a liquid – they need to take the gas that comes in from the Marcellus shale region, particularly Pennsylvania, if this comes to fruition and it starts to work – they would need to liquify the gas to a liquid to put it onto these tankers and ship it overseas. That's a very energy-intensive process. They need to bring the temperature of the gas down to something like minus 260 degrees F to turn it into a liquid. And just the whole process is dangerous; natural gas is definitely something that can catch on fire, that can explode, and to have something like this built right within this neighborhood of hundreds of homes within the blast radius, essentially, of a major accident there is just crazy; it really is crazy. We don't (believe) there is any other export terminal, or maybe even any import terminal anywhere in the world that is built right in the middle of a neighborhood the way this one is.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A local commission changed the rules or gave the company a pass in order to facilitate Dominion's project. Can you talk about that?

TED GLICK: Yes, the county commissioners essentially exempted this one entity from any of the regulations governing industrial facilities for that county. And a county judge ruled that that was unconstitutional, that a county commission cannot pick and choose that this entity doesn't have to abide by zoning regulations that other industries do. That has not yet been fully litigated in terms of what that decision of that county judge that what the county commissioners did was unconstitutional according to the Maryland constitution, how that matches up with the FERC decision – the federal agency – that Dominion can go ahead and start building this. The background, though, of FERC is that they essentially overrule local jurisdictions, so that is probably what's going to happen. But actually, the federal court of appeals in D.C. that will likely be hearing the appeal of the FERC approval eventually, they made a pretty good decision, essentially ruling about six months ago for a project for a pipeline coming across from Pennsylvania, and New Jersey into the New York area – they ruled that FERC had illegally segmented the pipeline into different 50-mile segments, even though it was essentially the same pipeline – it all connected together. They segmented it, and that was a way to try to hide and to obfuscate the overall impact of the thing, kind of the cumulative impact of building something like this on local areas, on forests where the pipeline went through, on rivers where the pipeline went through, and the danger of leaks and so on. So there have been some court decisions in the past couple of years that are going more our way, and that's hopeful in terms of what's likely to be happening for sure in terms of this Cove Point decision.

Find more information on the Chesapeake Climate Action Network by visiting chesapeakeclimate.org. Full disclosure: Melinda Tuhus is part of the team organizing protest actions at FERC's offices in Washington, D.C. the first week of November 2014.