Antonia Juhasz: Six Years After BP Oil Spill Disaster, Environmental and Economic Damage Incalculable

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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Six Years After BP Oil Spill Disaster, Public Opinion Turns Against Dangerous Deep Water Oil Drilling

Posted April 27, 2016

Interview with Antonia Juhasz, energy analyst, author and investigative reporter, conducted by Scott Harris

Six years after the largest oil spill in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation is still trying to assess the long-term economic and environmental destruction. The man-made disaster began on April 20, 2010 after an explosion aboard British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into Gulf waters. The spill was even larger than previously calculated. Scientists from the federal government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several private research companies found oil along 1,313 miles out of 5,930 miles of surveyed shoreline in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, making the disaster the largest marine oil spill in history.

Less than three weeks before the sixth anniversary of the oil spill, U.S. Judge Carl Barbier granted final approval to a civil settlement with BP to pay up to $18.7 billion in penalties to the U.S. government and five states. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement, "Today's action holds BP accountable with the largest environmental penalty of all time while launching one of the most extensive environmental restoration efforts ever undertaken."

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Antonia Juhasz, an energy analyst, investigative reporter and author of the book, "Black Tide: The devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill.” Here she explains that the critical hazards of deep-sea, off-shore oil drilling witnessed in the BP disaster, have not changed how the industry or government regulators operate, but has changed public opinion.

ANTONIA JUHASZ: It's very clear what caused the disaster, what went wrong and that much needed radical change is needed and I think most people would argue that the change that is needed is to stop offshore oil drilling. But at a minimum, dramatic changes in regulations are certainly required. And the Interior Department has tried to implement new regulations to make offshore drilling more safe. But those attempts have fallen way far short and most recently, the Interior Department released 500 pages of new regulations less than two weeks ago for offshore oil drilling. I interviewed several oil industry experts including the lead investigator for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which is the main, federal independent agency that investigates industrial incidents such as this one. It's basically the equivalent of a National Transportation Safety Board that looks at transportation accidents. And their investigators say of the regulations, they just don't go nearly far enough. And one the big problems that remains, is that even if we have good regulations, the industry is basically given the opportunity to just check off a checklist that says, "Yes we do this, yes we do that" and then the regulators do not follow up to make sure 1) that the industry can actually do what it says it can do, and then 2) that it is in fact doing it. And they cite that failure as per basis and that because of that, the chances of another BP-like disaster still remains very present today.

Recently, the national resource damage assessment was completed and that was six-year long process for federal agencies, over a dozen state agencies and documented countless environmental and wildlife harm – including, literally, and I'm not exaggerating, trillions of fish species that were killed. It's argued that some species such as dolphins could take over 50 years to recover back to where they were when the disaster struck. There was and continues to be a very harmful impact on fisheries and on what is a very big business in the Gulf of Mexico for "fisher folk" – as they are called – who were harmed and couldn't continue in that business. And what's interesting is that many of those people then turned to the oil sector to find employment because they couldn't work any longer in fisheries. And now the oil sector has collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of jobs worldwide being cut from the oil sector including many cut in the Gulf of Mexico.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Antonia, we only have a few minutes left. But I wanted to reserve a couple of minutes for us to talk about the declining support for offshore oil drilling both in Louisiana and across the U.S.

ANTONIA JUHASZ: I cite a number of polls in my Rolling Stone article which shows a pretty strong increase in opposition to offshore drilling from pre-oil spill to today, from 68 percent supporting it to 52 percent supporting it. But I think even more dramatic is a shift in the American public's general view toward how energy should be provided in this country, such that almost 75 percent of Americans today, the highest percentage since a poll began being taken, support alternative energy, pursuing alternative energy instead of oil and gas development for our energy needs. And most interestingly to me, for the first time, that includes a majority of Republicans.

Antonia Juhasz is author of the book, "Black Tide: The devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill." Read Juhasz's recent article, "Six Years After Gulf Oil Spill, Residents Demand 'No More Drilling,'" published in Rolling Stone, April 20, 2016.