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Transcripts
of Mark Ruffalo Statements against Shannon LNG,
Hi,
It's Mark Ruffalo.I just want to thank everyone on the call and all the
people
who are doing good work to stop this. It's particularly distressing to
hear
that the Irish Government is heading down this road, especially from
someone
who has experienced the oil and gas industry first hand for the last
decade.
The one thing I would say to you as you make this decision, and which
has been
borne out over and over again is that the oil and gas industry is just
a bunch
of - it's like a syndicate in crime group - everywhere they go, they
lie, they obfuscate,
they diminish the harms and build up the economic gains. The harms are
greater,
the economic gains are all flat. And what you happening again and again
is that
they come into an area, thrash it and then leave and you're stuck with
the
bill. And Ireland is about to go down this road at a moment when the rest of the world
is transitioning
away from these fossil fuels.
But
I want to speak particularly about the harm you are doing to your
brothers and
sisters here in America. The one thing we have all come to realise is,
climate
change is a global issue, and that what you do there affects us here,
that all
the boundaries and ideas of a country, and a city or a state are all
obliterated
in the face of climate change. But I've been in the places - first of
all there
is no such thing as gas coming out of America that isn't fracked. So, I
don't care
what they're telling you, the fact of the matter is the only way of
getting gas
out of America now is by fracking. The reason we're having a boom in
natural
gas in America is because of fracking. And I have been to the
communities you
guys will be extracting from and you are literally killing people.
And
you're poisoning people.
And
it's not going to be looked upon kindly.
You
are creating what the oil and gas industry themselves call sacrificial
zones,
where they're sacrificial human beings, to bring you the gas that you
believe
you need,for a quick fix that isn't going to fix the long term problems
of
energy.
And
lastly, you are sending all of your energy dollars outside of the
continent of
Europe.
And
if you are really grounding this on economic issues, why would you be
sending
all of your energy money outside of your country, when you could be
keeping
that money in your country by creating your own energy through the
approved
climate-safe ventures - such
as wind,
water and sun. This is an opportunity for Ireland to become truly energy independent.
You
can't talk about energy independence and energy security, when you are
importing natural gas from an area of poor people that are suffering
and being
harmed that's in a totally other country a whole ocean away.
And
so I implore you to think for the future, to think for the children, to
think
for the people who are immediately being harmed here in the United
States. And
do the right thing here.
Ireland
has been a beacon of intelligence and rationale around this issue and
you are
about to completely, hypocritically, move into creating an LNG gas
pipeline and
infrastructure in the face of banning fracking and saying you did it
for the
right reasons. So, give us a hand over here. We'll keep giving you a
hand over
there. We are no longer separated by our borders.
We
have to look out for each other. And Irish people have always been so
thoughtful, and so courageous, and have earned that through the fight
and struggle
that your people made. You know what it is like to be at the receiving
end of a
system that's unfair and looks at you as sacrificial. And that's what
you are
doing to America. And you're doing it to Pennsylvania and many other
parts of
America to take on this kind of system. That's the end of my comments.
I want
to thank everyone for being here.
Q: Mark , why did this
project catch your
attention.?
Well,
many of my friends who we worked with to ban fracking are involved in
this. And
I've worked very closely with Julia Walsh of Frack Action and I just
see. You
know, I've been fighting against fracking and fossil fuels for the past
decade.
[..] The two go hand in hand.
Q:
On whether Mark had any direct contact with the Taoiseach since his
letter last
week?
I
only got an automatic response saying that he had received the letter,
but I
have had no communication, although I am open to a greater discussion,
if he is
willing to get on the phone.
Q
What Irish Government should be doing to make us more aware of the fact
that
our actions can have these massive consequences in countries thousands
of miles
away?
A.
Well, I mean, One thing that has always been very effective is just to
come and
tour the places where this devastation is ongoing. The other way is
there's so
many people who have been on the receiving end of this in the United
States who
have spoken out, who have testified to their woes and their troubles.
There is
a human dimension to all of this and it's something that is never taken
into
account when you hear it from the oil and gas industry. I can't
reiterate
enough to you how much this industry lies. And they will say anything,
and do
anything and obfuscate anything in order to get what they want. We saw
it time
and time again. I mean, I don't want to... it's terrible to have to
remind everyone
here the fact of the matter is they thought about climate change for 50
years.
They knew that water was being contaminated, that air was being
contaminated,
that land was being contaminated by fracking here in New York and
Pennsylvania
for ten years and
they lied and said it
was never happening. There is almost nothing that comes out of this
industry's
mouth or PR system that's true. And there is plenty of evidence, you
can see
anywhere, look anywhere and see that that's actually true. But, come
and visit.
You know. Come and
listen to the people.
We could get people to testify there. We'll bring our people to you.
Your know,
There is no reason to rush this. Sure.
So
I would say this. It's going to take you two years to build this, okay.
In that
time you could actually start building out solar and you could start
building
out wind projects that will employ so many more people, that will keep
your
energy dollars in your own country instead of sending them away to the
United
States and, and, it will give you energy security. So, there are ways
to go
about this that aren't just simply importing natural gas from a whole
ocean
away. When you think about it, it's ridiculous that you would think
that would give
you energy security because all that has to happen is one major storm,
or a
country as crazy as the United States is becoming these days to say,
hey, you
know what, it's not in our security interest to send it to you. And so
you are
at the whim of the United States which is increasingly becoming more and more unstable and
unreliable on the
world stage. And so I would say, if you are serious about energy
security, then
you do it in your country with the resources that you already have
available to
you, that are falling down all around you every single day.
Click here to hear Mark Ruffalo Statements against Shannon LNG,
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