Podcast: Paris on the Potomac: the Climate March, Guv Shutdown, and more

This Podcast was broadcast April 28 on Enlighten Radio, from Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Paris on the Potomac: 7:30-9:00 AM: Gayle Becker and John Case Host

Notes from Gayle:

8:00 am  -- We'll speak with environmental activists about Saturday's Peoples Climate March, and fracking-related projects planned in the Ohio River Valley that -- by themselves -- reportedly would threaten U.S. obligations to the Paris Agreement on climate change IF completed. These projects include numerous area pipelines, associated compressor stations and so-called cracker plants that are either proposed or reportedly being considered at sites in the Upper and Lower Ohio River Valley. Completion of those projects alone would make it impossible for the U.S. to meet its obligations to the Paris Agreement, contends Robin Blakeman, of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). We also hope to discuss with Robin and others the very positive flip side: a growth nationwide of renewable energy and related jobs, with a focus on renewable efforts underway in the W.Va. counties of Cabell and Wayne. Detailed information on this is available in an ambitious 28-page special edition newspaper OVEC produced. (View online here.) It said 29,000 copies were to have been mailed last month to people in Cabell, Wayne, Putnam, Jackson, and Roane counties who reside near some of the proposed pipelines and their associated compressor stations. Plans include a total of nine large diameter pipelines through the Huntington area, according to OVEC, which also reports industry discussion about fracking the very deep Rogersville Shale that underlies the Huntington area. One pipeline would bore under the Ohio River near Camden Amusement Park.

For more information on how you can help, click on Join Us at Peoples Climate March in Huntington, or at the Location Nearest You These include Charleston and Hagerstown (MD). You might also want to check out articles at Paris climate agreement | Environment | The Guardian

8:30 am  -- We'll discuss an effort to get a short-term spending bill through Congress before midnight Friday to avert a possible spending shutdown by much of the federal government. Major issues confronting lawmakers include efforts by Republicans to expedite an ObamaCare repeal this week -- possibly in time for Trump's symbolic first 100 days -- and the ill-advised GOP "tax reform" plan. Democrats are reported by The Hill as saying they'd block a short-term spending bill if Republicans push ACA repeal and replace. Read the full story here

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