Summary: Producer/Host: Amy Browne Audio recorded by John Greenman We’ve reported extensively on the re-write of Maine’s mining laws that is presently underway, and also on the situation in El Salvador, where those who resist mining have been threatened, jailed and even killed. US and Canadian-based mining companies are suing tiny, impoverished El Salvador for hundreds of millions of dollars, claiming their rights, granted by “free trade” agreements, have been violated by El Salvador’s attempts to protect their environment. Here in Maine, one of the giant Canadian Irving Corporation’s spin off companies and their lawyers, authored the new mining legislation- that was originally introduced in 2012—consisting of their wish list of changes to Maine’s mining laws. The company wants new regulations that would allow metallic mineral mining on Bald Mountain in Aroostook County, and elsewhere. They have the support of the LePage administration. Stefano Tijerina is a Professor of History and Economics at UMaine and Husson University, and has worked in banking in the past. He has researched mining and free trade agreements in the US, Canada and Latin America. In a recent talk at the university, he focused on Canada’s role, and how it impacts us here in Maine: (Professor Stefano Tijerina, with a segment of his presentation last week at UMaine, titled “Canada’s ‘Goodwill’ Revised—Mining, Capitalism, and Imperialism”. The talk was sponsored by the university’s Marxist and Socialist Studies lecture series, and was recorded by WERU’s John Greenman.)
