Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo has enlisted rising Irish actress Alison Oliver to publicize an online petition calling upon Ireland's Green Party to object to legislation that he says would "fast-track" the building of LNG terminals in Ireland.
In the video posted on Ruffalo's social media channels on October 8, the "Hulk" actor told Oliver: “I need your help.
"You know, the Irish Green party’s about to do something really terrible to the environment and our climate.”
He continued: "They’re trying to jam through a bill to fast-track building liquid natural gas terminals that would import fracked gas from the United States and I need you to help me tell the Irish people all about it.
“What’s worse is that the Green Party, which promised the voters that they would stop their import of fracked gas and LNG [liquefied natural gas] when they joined the coalition government in 2020, but since then they have been opening for the Irish government to build an LNG terminal in the Shannon Estuary of all places.”
Oliver replied: “Oh, wow. Green Party breaking their environmental promises. Can’t make this stuff up.”
Ruffalo went on: “We can demand that the Greens get off gas and stop LNG, that’s the best thing we can do.
“They need to remove the LNG fast tracking and prioritization as a strategic infrastructure from the planning bill and permanently just ban LNG now.
“And everyone - Irish, or Irish heart - needs to go out and sign this petition at GreensOffGas.org. That’s what we need to do.”
At the time of publication on Wednesday afternoon, the online petition had garnered more than 6,100 signatures.
Irish friends, watch this video Alison Oliver and I made about how the @greenparty_ie is about to break its promise and pass a bill to fast-track & prioritise dangerous LNG terminals. Then sign & share the petition telling them to stop it and ban LNG! https://t.co/1TugQGHGoY pic.twitter.com/lhJVZUWpEo
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 8, 2024
Ruffalo, who has previously waded in on Irish environmental matters, posted his video with Oliver the day before the massive Planning and Development Bill 2023 was set to be debated and voted upon in the Dáil.
According to The Irish Times, the Bill allows, in part, for planning applications to be made for LNG terminals in Ireland.
The Bill has the support of Ireland's Green Party, which says it is still anti-LNG.
The Irish Examiner reports that a spokesperson for Ireland's Green Party said Ruffalo offered a “very misleading account” of what the amendment to the Planning Bill does.
However, Ruffalo doubled down on Wednesday, writing on X: "What’s misleading is that the planning bill doesn’t say anything about stopping commercial LNG.
"Consequently, it leaves it open to everything including Shannon LNG.
"Read the text of your own amendments. The public should understand what this bill means for them as well. You made a promise to them."
Ruffalo limited the replies to his posts that he shared with his more than 8 million followers.
Good day @greenparty_ie what’s misleading is that the planning bill doesn’t say anything about stopping commercial LNG. Consequently, it leaves it open to everything including Shannon LNG. Read the text of your own amendments. The public should understand what this bill means for…
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 9, 2024
Responding to Ruffalo's initial claims on Wednesday, Eamon Ryan, Ireland's Minister for the Environment and former head of the Green Party, told RTÉ Radio that the legislation "doesn't signal any intent to change government policy or to fast track any gas infrastructure, it's purely technical nature."
Ryan said that critics who claim the legislation would accelerate Ireland's contribution to climate change are wrong.
"I think they're reading something into an amendment that doesn't actually exist in reality. It is there for technical reasons, not for any change in policy."
There are, however, objections to the legislation in the Dáil. As RTÉ noted earlier on Wednesday, there are 177 pages of amendments from the Seanad, but the discussion is limited to three hours, and there will be a final vote tonight.
TD Ivana Bacik, the head of Ireland's Labour Party, said in the Dáil on Wednesday: "I want to raise just one issue - something Hollywood's Mark Ruffalo has been campaigning on for years.
"His issue with what I might call this hulking piece of legislation is the group of new amendments on the importation of liquified natural gas, LNG.
"This is a domestic issue for us but it is of concern internationally and to Mr. Ruffalo because he is from Pennsylvania in the US, where fracking-sourced LNG terminals have been linked to asthma, rare childhood cancers and adverse birth outcomes.
"Here at home, the Government is trying to designate floating terminals as strategic infrastructure so that LNG can be imported into Ireland, circumventing normal planning processes."
She continued: "The Government has insisted that existing policy amounts to an LNG moratorium. That argument has never held water, especially not since last week's High Court decision that there is no way of enforcing the moratorium so there is no ban.
"The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has said he does not think commercial LNG terminals will be installed in Ireland. Respectfully, we do not legislate based on a vibe or a ministerial whim. I am quite frankly shocked at this approach by the Minister with responsibility for climate action.
"Green Party TDs are sitting across on Government benches now. I am the first person on this side of the House to acknowledge the progress on climate action that has been made due to their presence in government. As a lifelong environmentalist, I welcome that, but that is why I am so concerned to see that they might at the eleventh hour be on the verge of undoing that work.
"This is not just a problem for the Green Party; it is a problem for all of us."
😮 Government must support Labour amendments tonight instead of their disastrous plan to allow LNG terminals to be exempted from the planning process. Instead we need a full phase out of fossil fuels. pic.twitter.com/ZRFQui4p2y
— The Labour Party (@labour) October 9, 2024
Comments