The view from the proposed drilling site at the quarry in Belcoo looks over to Marlbank and one of its outstanding features – hanging rock. This precipice overlooking lower lough mac Nean is clearly visible from miles around, and in the days before GPS would clearly have been used as a waymarker.
On Thursday 27 October last there was another waymarker of significance. Tony McLoughlin TD introduced a bill to ban fracking in the Republic of Ireland. The bill successfully passed the first stage. It garnered support from all parties. Whilst the issues of fracking and its effect on the environment, on public health and on the main industries of tourism and agriculture were all mentioned, what was also clear was that the issue of climate change came to the fore in the debate. Only time will tell whether this truly was a waymarker in Irish politics, where climate change becomes a key factor in decision making here.
Several thousand miles away on a Dakota plain, there is another impasse happening. Here we have a stand off between the native Indian tribes and the fossil fuel industry and their backers and the stand off involves construction of a pipeline over ground held sacred by the tribes. At this stage the UN have become involved.
Just lets be clear about something – I know it was 2008 and Fracking hadn’t really exploded, and whilst fracking has contributed to an upswing in US oil production since then, the US is still a huge importer of oil.
This was from the 2008 presidential candidate debates.. Obama stated.
One last point I want to make on energy. Sen. McCain talks a lot about drilling, and that’s important, but we have three percent of the world’s oil reserves and we use 25 percent of the world’s oil. So what that means is that we can’t simply drill our way out of the problem. And we’re not going to be able to deal with the climate crisis if our only solution is to use more fossil fuels that create global warming.
It is somewhat depressing that 8 years later and we still see drilling and associated infrastructure causing an issue. The only solution is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
To those at Standing Rock, from those of us who camped opposite hanging rock, we were lucky that our politicians listened and were brave enough, but as last week in Ireland has shown Margaret Mead was right..
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
The Gas Man Cometh ! 