A New Radio Documentary by Barbara Bernstein

Scenes of holding the Thin Green Line in Kalama and Tacoma, WA and across over 200 miles of Southern Oregon, impacted by Jordan Cove LNG and the Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline

Listen to:
Holding the Thin Green Line
Part One: The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery
Part Two: A View from the Blast Zone

Part Three: The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove
Part Four: Rising Tide of Resistance

Watch the slideshow that accompanies The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove/Rising Tide of Resistance.

Watch the slideshow that accompanies The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery/View from the Blast Zone

As the fossil fuel industry increases pressure to turn the Pacific Northwest into a fossil fuel hub, a Thin Green Line stands in its way. Now that communities across the region have stopped numerous coal and oil projects, the industry is pushing even harder to build the West Coast’s largest liquid natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, a massive LNG hybrid facility at the Port of Tacoma and the world’s largest methanol refineries in Kalama, WA and Clatskanie, OR.

HOLDING THE THIN GREEN LINE is a four part radio documentary that tells the stories of people fighting to save the souls of their communities and preserve the integrity of the Pacific Northwest. The first half-hour, The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery, follows the efforts of activists in Tacoma and Kalama, Washington, to stop the world’s largest methanol refinery from being built at their ports. Tacoma successfully blocked the refinery at their port, but the struggle in Kalama continues.

The second half-hour, A View from the Blast Zone, tells the saga of Puget Sound Energy’s effort to build an LNG facility at the Port of Tacoma, vehemently opposed by citizens across the region.

The third and fourth half-hours, The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove and Rising Tide of Resistance, tell the story of what could be the largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal on the West Coast. This mammoth facility, proposed for Coos Bay, Oregon, would be fed by a 240 mile long, 36″ wide pipeline transporting fracked gas across four counties in Southern Oregon. It would cross much of Southern Oregon, disturbing 480 rivers, streams and wetlands in its wake. For fifteen years community members, landowners and indigenous people have organized and raised their voices to stop this assault on their homes, communities and land. These final segments depicts this struggle and the amazing resistance it has spawned. 

HOLDING THE THIN GREEN LINE:

  • Brings together a diversity of voices including opponents of fracked gas projects, who believe that we need to transition swiftly to renewable energy solutions, and proponents who see what they call “natural” gas as a bridge fuel to the future.
  • Provides a voice for climate activists and indigenous leaders waging a battle for environmental, social and climate justice.

Holding the Thin Green Line was was funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Fund for Investigative Journalism and Steven and Jan Marx.

Special thanks to Columbia Riverkeeper, Rogue Climate, Allie Rosenbluth, Dan Serres, Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, Claudia Riedener and John Carlton, Larry & Sylvia Mangan, and editing consultants—Melissa Marsland, Patsy Kullberg and Lisa Rudman.

A VIEW FROM THE BLAST ZONE aired nationally on Making Contact beginning November 27. THE WORLD’S LARGEST METHANOL aired on Making Contact, beginning on September 17, 2019.

This Earth Day, KBOO Community Radio sponsored a special webinar celebrating the Northwest’s incredible resistance to becoming a fossil fuel export hub. Celebrating the Thin Green Line features key actors in creating what Eric de Place with Sightline Institute, has dubbed the Thin Green Line. We hear how these victories were won and what are the remaining challenges lying ahead. The webinar features Eric de Place, along with Jay Julius with the Lummi Nation; Klamath-Moduc artist and activist Ka’ila Farrell Smith; Longview, Washington activist Diane Dick; Elijah Cetas with the Braided River Campaign in Portland and Claudia Riedener with Redefine Tacoma. The webinar is moderated by Locus Focus host Barbara Bernstein.

Listen to an interview with Producer Barbara Bernstein and Coos Bay activist Mike Graybill on Jefferson Public Radio’s Jefferson Exchange, broadcast on December 2, 2019

Producer Barbara Bernstein is a musician, composer, performance artist and radio producer. Her award-winning radio documentaries, internationally broadcast on public radio stations, include two pieces about the struggle to stop the Pacific Northwest from becoming a fossil fuel export hub: Holding the Thin Green Line and Sacrifice ZonesFighting Goliath (the turbulent growth of tar sands development); Sculpted By Fire (the role of fire in shaping western forests and sustaining healthy forest ecosystems); Salmonlands (the cultural significance of diminishing salmon runs in the Northwest) and Rivers That Were (the industrialization of the Colorado and Columbia Rivers). You can hear more of her work here.

Holding the Thin Green Line is a project of the Media Project.