US community groups invite Taoiseach and Tánaiste to visit fracking zone this Patrick’s Day

American activists urge Irish leaders to see what fracking for LNG does before building a terminal to buy it from the US

US community groups and civil society representatives from areas where fracking is used to drill for LNG gas have written to Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris inviting them to visit and meet with them to see the damage caused by fracking and LNG before they go ahead with a Government plan to build an LNG terminal on the west coast of Ireland. The invitation comes as Micheál Martin and Simon Harris head to the US for Patrick’s Day events, including the Taosieach’s meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump on Wednesday. Environmentalists have accused the Government of rushing to approve the LNG plan to appeal to Trump’s love of fossil fuels [1] and stated aim [2] of selling more LNG to Europe.

The letter [3] is signed by seven groups in Pennsylvania, where Simon Harris is going this week, including the Pennsylvania Clean Air Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Save Our Susquehanna, and Patriots From The Oil & Gas Shales.

Dr. Kathy Nolan from Physicians for Social Responsibility, said:

“We implore you to please not sell out our lives and those of our communities to make a deal with Trump and the fossil fuel industry to import U.S. fracked gas to Ireland. As a country that banned fracking because of the impacts to public health and the environment, it is disheartening that you would be comfortable importing that suffering from the United States. The public health harms from fracking in Pennsylvania and the United States have been severe.” [4]

Roishetta Ozane from the Vessel Project in Southwest Louisiana, just over 300 miles from where Taoiseach Micheal Martin is speaking in Austin, Texas, today, said:

“In December 2024, the Biden Administration released a study called Energy, Environmental and Economic Impacts of U.S. LNG Exports [5] which found significant harms from LNG, and that they disproportionately impact ‘communities of Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic populations, as well as rural and low-income communities’. If you approve this LNG import terminal, then you are knowingly harming our communities as well as endangering your own.”

The letter ends with an the following invitation:

“We invite you to come and see firsthand what fracking and LNG infrastructure are doing to our communities and why pursuing LNG and taking fracked gas to appease Taoiseach Martin, you are traveling to Texas, and Tánaiste Harris, you will be in Pennsylvania. In both these states we can take you on a citizens tour to see the devastation. We ask you to please consider our invitation and reconsider moving forward with this ill-conceived proposal for a government funded LNG import terminal.”

Commenting, Friends of the Earth Chief Executive, Oisín Coghlan said:

“Irish politicians pride themselves on their closeness to those impacted by their decisions. I really urge the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to meet with people from the communities in the US who will be affected if the Government goes ahead with the plan to develop an LNG import terminal.

“If it’s not possible to meet with these community representatives in person this week Micheál Martin and Simon Harris could agree to meet them remotely in the coming weeks. And Mr Harris could ask the Irish Ambassador to the US to visit the communities in Pennsylvania and report back.

“It’s really troubling that the first big decision on energy Micheál Martin’s Government has taken is to rush a decision on building an LNG terminal just a week before the Taoiseach has his much anticipated meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office.

“It’s a transparently cynical move by Micheál Martin to suck up to Trump on gas while walking a tightrope on trade tariffs and corporate tax. And the Taosieach made the decision without even waiting for the research commissioned by the energy department to see if we actually need the gas. Micheál Martin is basically asking Trump ‘if we buy your fracked gas from Pennsylvania can we keep selling you Viagra made in Cork.’

Notes:

1. “The US enters its 'drill, baby, drill' era.” https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/03/us-enters-drill-era-top-energy-leader-oil-gas/

2. “Trump wants to sell more natural gas”: https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-sell-natural-gas-lng-price-market-b57534b1

3. The letter to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste is online here: https://www.friendsoftheearth.ie/assets/files/pdf/us_fracking_impacted_residents__orgs_letter_-_march_2025.pdf

4. Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Concerned Health Professionals of NY produced a report in 2023 that details the findings from over 2,000 scientific studies and reports, which overwhelmingly show significant harms from fracking, LNG, and related infrastructure, including water contamination, air pollution, and public health impacts:  https://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/

5. Energy, Environmental and Economic Impacts of U.S. LNG Exports, US Department of Energy. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/LNGUpdate_SummaryReport_Dec2024_230pm.pdf