'Hulk' praises political leadership against fracked gas, LNG

'Hulk' praises Irish Government Negotiators for wisdom and foresight on fracked gas infrastructure

Mark Ruffalo appearance on Irish TV grateful for Irish solidarity

Actor Mark Ruffalo appeared on the Virgin Media Tonight Show last night and praised Irish politicians for their support resisting liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in Ireland, following a statement from Fíanna Fáil and Fine Gael that it does not make sense to build new large scale fossil fuel infrastructure, such as liquefied natural gas terminals. [1]

Mr Ruffalo is a long time climate activist and has been working with communities affected by fracking in the United States. American companies are currently trying to build LNG infrastructure in Ireland in Cork and Shannon to accept American fracked gas, with a view to accessing the European gas markets.
Reacting to the change in attitude towards importing fracked gas, Mr. Ruffalo said,

"I'm grateful to the Irish people... and to the three leading parties right now that have seen the weight of this.

When you take fracked gas from Pennsylvania...and all the other places that are fracking, you are hurting your brothers and sisters. These are literally my neighbours. I am on the front line of this industry.

It means so much to us, in your equanimity, in your wisdom and foresight, that you're doing what we need you to do, that our own states won't do to protect our brothers and sisters."

 

The Shannon LNG project has been shrouded in controversy since the previous Government supported it at a European level as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) late last year. Inclusion on the Projects of Common Interest list gives the project the 'highest political priority' possible [2], allows it access to significant Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding and fast tracks planning and licensing. However, a challenge to the project from the environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment on the grounds that no climate assessment or appropriate assessment of its impacts on the Shannon Estuary was undertaken [3].

Kate Ruddock, Deputy Director at Friends of the Earth commented,

"There is no place for fracked gas in Ireland's energy mix. It is an extremely damaging process of gas extraction which causes severe harm to the communities nearby. It is also 40% more climate polluting than coal, due to the significant methane leakage, so it also affects all of us. This is a truly global challenge. Ireland must stand strong against the vested interests who want to build this infrastructure here. The Programme for Government must be explicit in stating there is no support for LNG infrastructure in Ireland."

NOTES

[1] https://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/2020/04/greens-response-final.pdf

[2] https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/infrastructure/projects-common-interest_en

[3] https://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/shannon-gas-terminal-to-face-fresh-legal-hurdles-1.4242244

ENDS