Globalization and Trade

(05/18/11) Sen.Chuck Schumer says Homeland Security will begin tapping into Canadian military radar later this year to detect low-flying aircraft used to smuggle drugs from Canada into the United States.

Schumer also says a border security task force of several U.S. and Canadian agencies will be established in Massena by October. At a hearing he chaired in Washington yesterday, New York's senior senator questioned Department of Homeland Security officials about new initiatives to balance commerce with fighting drug trafficking. Ryan Morden has more from Washington. more

(12/28/10) Twenty-two Chinese seamen are resting up in Montreal after a harrowing Christmas journey through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The crew aboard the German-owned Hermann Schoening became violently ill after phosphine gas leaked into the living and working spaces. The gas is used regularly as a fumigant to kill pests in the cargo hold. The freighter is carrying 19,000 tons of midwestern corn bound for Algeria.

The crew was treated at a hospital in Ontario. But the ship then continued on with windows open to air out the gas.

Don Metzger piloted the freighter from Lake Ontario through the St. Lawrence River to Massena. He's been a Seaway pilot for more than 30 years. He told David Sommerstein he's never seen anything like this happen before. Metzger says the crew was sick and cold, and unprepared for winter weather.
Carolyn Osbourne of the Mariners House of Montreal says the crew spent yesterday recovering after being sickened by phosphine gas. She says they received a second hospital checkup, as well as warm coats, gloves, and Christmas gifts while in port. The ship was scheduled to resume its travels this morning.

An official with Transport Canada says the incident is under investigation. The shipowners could be fined if violations of the Canada Shipping Act are found. But the gas leak is so far being considered an anomaly.

(12/13/10) A company called Laurentian Aerospace says it is ready to move forward with a project in Plattsburgh that would bring roughly 900 high-paying jobs to the city. The company announced on Friday that after years of effort, it had found a major investor, Verdant Capital Group, willing to back the 175-million dollar venture.

Laurentian now plans to build a maintenance facility at the site of the old Plattsburgh Air Force Base that would refurbish commercial jetliners. Brian Mann was in Plattsburgh for the announcement and has our story.

(11/15/10) Anne Harrington is the new Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Non-Proliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration. She and her staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration keep an eye on materials, outside the U.S., that could be used to make a nuclear weapon.

Harrington is a native of Long Lake. She spoke with Jonathan Brown recently about her work, her background and the path that brought her from one to the other. Here's more of their conversation.

(07/06/10) The view from Mt. Marcy is pretty extraordinary, but its made even better when shared with friends from Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Maldives, and the North Country. Sarah Harris sent this audio postcard from her recent hike up New York's tallest mountain.

(01/12/10) Frenchman Jeremy Marie is about halfway through his world tour. It's a slow trip. He figures it will take him five years, because he's hitchhiking, ride by ride, from his home in Normandy and back.

The 25 year-old has been through Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He crossed the Atlantic by crewing on a catamaran from South Africa to Panama. The it was north through Central America, Mexico and the west coast to Alaska and across Canada. Now he's thumbing his way south through the U.S.

He's ridden in cars, trucks, on tractors and donkeys. His budget is seven dollars a day, and he's slept on people's couches, outdoors at gas stations in the middle of the desert -- anywhere he can find a bed.

This past week he's been on "pause" in the North Country, with home base in Canton. He says this is the coldest place he has been, but also one of the most hospitable. Martha Foley spoke with him after his talk at the Canton Rotary Club, on his first day in town.

(01/05/10) International attention to last month's climate change meeting in Copenhagen was intense. Tens of thousands of people were there, inside and outside the two-week long COP15 negotiations. There were street protests, traffic jams, lots of congestion and confusion as NGOs and heads of state gathered. A handful of developed nations, including the U.S. and China, reached a last-minute accord that fell short of hopes for a binding agreement on carbon reduction targets.

Reports and analysis since the climate change talks closed have not been enthusiastic. Jon Rosales teaches environmental studies at St. Lawrence University. He was in Copenhagen with four students, who blogged from the conference for NCPR. Rosales is a veteran observer; it was his eighth COP meeting. He spoke with Martha Foley about how the Copenhagen gathering was different, and what that could mean for future climate change negotiations and policy.

(11/19/09) On the St. Lawrence Seaway's website, there's a picture of a freighter docked next to mountains of "containers" - those boxes that fit on trucks and trains and carry virtually every good you can think of. Containers are the currency of global trade. Yet they're passing the St. Lawrence Seaway by. Just a tenth of one percent of all cargo that travelled the St. Lawrence Seaway this year came in a container. Most of the cargo is bulk commodities, stuff like iron ore, coal, steel, and grain - the building blocks of industry that just disappear when the economy tanks. So it's no surprise 2009 was a brutal year for the Seaway, with tonnage down 30%. In fact, Seaway traffic has for the most part decreased since the late 1970s. This all gives Terry Johnson a headache. As head of the U.S. side of the shipping channel that links the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, Johnson's in charge of turning those numbers around. He told David Sommerstein if gas goes back up to 4 dollars a gallon, or if the roads become clogged with truck traffic, the Seaway will benefit. But for now, Johnson places his hopes in those containers. And he hopes they'll come from Nova Scotia.

(07/10/09) U.S. and Canadian dignitaries will officially open the St. Lawrence Seaway's 50th anniversary celebration this afternoon in Massena. The Obama Administration is sending department of transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Seaway administrator Terry Johnson will also be on hand to speak. Johnson took over the U.S. agency that runs the Seaway two and a half years ago. He spoke with David Sommerstein about the waterway's legacy and future.

(04/06/09) Funerals for those killed in Friday's mass shooting have already begun in Binghamton. At an area mosque, an imam chanted over the bodies of two women killed in Friday's massacre. Mustafa al-Salihi is the son of one of the women. He says his family moved to the U-S from Iraq to escape violence. He adds that he'll especially miss his mother later this spring, when he graduates. People from eight countries have been identified as the victims of the deadly rampage at the city's immigrant community center. It remains unclear exactly why a Vietnamese immigrant strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on a citizenship class and killed the victims and himself. Brian Mann has been on assignment for NPR in Binghamton since the shooting Friday. Martha Foley spoke with him this morning.