‘Hulk’ keeps pressure on LNG during Govt negotiations
ONE of the first Hollywood A-list celebrities to directly appeal to An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to abandon support for Shannon LNG is keeping the pressure on as Government negotiations continue.
Mark Ruffalo – aka the ‘Hulk’ in the recent Avenger blockbusters – issued his initial anti-LNG appeal last year over his deeply held environmental concerns surrounding the gas-extraction method of fracking.
In his latest contribution to the LNG debate, Ruffalo told the Virgin Media Tonight Show in an interview last week that he was ‘grateful’ to the Irish people and the three ‘ leading parties’ for coming to appreciate what he termed the ‘ weight’ of the matter.
For a political class that has never been as acutely mindful of the influence of popular figures such as Ruffalo, it will have made no small contribution to the ongoing debate.
“I’m grateful to the Irish people... and to the three leading parties right now that have seen the weight of this,” Ruffalo informed Tonight Show viewers.
He said that fracking is ‘ hurting’ communities in the US directly affected by the shale industry.
“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 political process, in your equanimity, in your wisdom and foresight, that you’re doing what we need you to do, that our own states and country won’t do to protect our brothers and sisters.”
The long-time climate activist is, like so many other groups and individuals, opposed to the Shannon LNG plant as it is likely it will see gas obtained by fracking in the US imported into the
Irish grid.
Though a similar plant mooted for Cork has also been criticised for similar reasons, it is receiving far less publicity on the issue at present.
Supporters of LNG, meanwhile, point out that fracked gas might already be coming into the state via the UK.
Friends of the Earth Deputy Director Kate Ruddock said this week there is ‘no place’ for fracked gas in a State that has already banned the method: “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 per cent 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.”