Between The Lines - Post Carbon Institute's Richard Heinberg: Declining Global Demand Triggers Dramatic Oil Price Drop (Week Ending Jan. 23, 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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Declining Global Demand Triggers Dramatic Oil Price Drop

Posted Jan. 14, 2015

Interview with Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Plummeting oil prices are grabbing headlines all over the world. The price has dropped in the past few months from over $100 a barrel to less than $50. That price drop had repercussions throughout the energy sector, and also led, among other things, to more Americans buying gas-guzzling vehicles. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are heading to as low as $2 a gallon in some places, down from $4 a gallon.

The drop in oil prices is mostly due to more supply and less demand. But at least one analyst, independent petroleum geologist Art Berman says the drop was exacerbated by the fact that quantitative easing ended in July 2014, exactly when prices began to fall. Because world oil prices are tied to the U.S. dollar and the U.S. government was no longer printing massive amounts of money, the dollar grew stronger and the price of oil went down.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute who notes that before the recent drop, oil prices were exceptionally high. Here, he explains how the drop in oil prices is impacting other energy sectors with a focus on natural gas and liquefied natural gas produced for export.

RICHARD HEINBERG: It's mostly supply and demand, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that oil prices have been very high for the past several years, and that has destroyed a lot of demand, both in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. People have learned to use a lot less oil than they otherwise would have and now economies are softening, particularly in Europe, Japan and China. Economic growth is really slowing down, and when that happens, of course, oil demand declines. Meanwhile, we have increased supply coming from the U.S., from the shale patch, from light, tight oil from the Bakken field in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford fields in South Texas. Also, some supply is coming back online from Libya and Iraq that has been offline for several years. And then, Saudi Arabia, which is the swing producer and in past years has often moderated production – either increasing it or decreasing it to balance the market – Saudi Arabia has declined to reduce its oil production, and there's a lot of speculation about why that is, but the Saudis have even unilaterally reduced their prices, especially to some of their Asian customers. So, a combination of all of those factors has led to a precipitous decline in oil prices, over 50 percent at this point since the peak last summer.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, Richard Heinberg, how does the low price of oil affect natural gas, if it does?

RICHARD HEINBERG: Well, it is affected. Of course, oil and gas are two different commodities and their prices can be very different. Here in the U.S. we had very high oil prices for the past few years and very low natural gas prices. Globally, however, natural gas prices are often tied to oil prices. For example, Gazprom, the big state-owned oil company in Russia, ties the price of its natural gas exports to the price of oil. So during the last few years, the price of oil has been high, therefore the price of natural gas in Europe and Asia has been high. And that has created the incentive for the idea of U.S. exporting natural gas. In fact, the U.S. is still a net importer of natural gas; we import almost 10 percent of our natural gas from Canada. Nevertheless, the U.S. has much lower natural gas prices than much of the rest of the world, so there was the idea that some companies in the U.S. could get rich by exporting natural gas through LNG to Europe and Asia. And that idea is not making much sense right now. With lower oil prices, that means lower natural gas prices in Europe and Asia, and there's really no marginal room for U.S. companies to make money on LNG exports at this point, because it's a very expensive business – building the terminals, liquifying the natural gas, transporting it – that all requires a fairly high natural gas price, and currently the price is not high enough to justify it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Does the low price of oil affect renewable energy projects?

RICHARD HEINBERG: Not direct impact. Of course with low oil prices, people tend to buy bigger cars again, and I'm sure there's somewhat less interest, then, in hybrid and electric vehicles. So that has some effect on the renewable energy markets. But, you know, oil is used in the transport sector; it's not used in the electricity sector, and most of the renewables – solar and wind, geothermal and so on – all of those produce electricity, so we're really talking about two different markets. Natural gas prices have a much more direct impact on the renewables markets than oil does.

BETWEEN THE LINES: A lot of the work in the oil and shale fields is subcontracted out to pretty small companies. How will the price of oil affect them?

RICHARD HEINBERG: They're operating on very small margins and they have a lot of debt. So as oil prices are going down, they are having a big problem servicing that debt and we're going to see a huge shakeout in that industry. A lot of those companies are going to consolidate or go under in the next few months.

For more information on the Post Carbon Institute, visit postcarbon.org.