Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was chased from an event in Baltimore on Tuesday evening after left-wing climate activists stormed the stage and demanded he stop fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
Buttigieg was forced to depart the event — a Maryland policy forum at the city’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall hosted by local outlet Baltimore Banner — after more than a dozen activists with the group Climate Defiance stormed the stage yelling slogans. The protesters called on Buttigieg to reject two proposed oil transport projects, the Sea Port Oil Terminal and Texas GulfLink, under review by his agency’s Maritime Administration.
“Petro Pete is a coward. As we write he is ramming down our throats the Sea Port and GulfLink oil terminals – each worse than Keystone,” Climate Defiance tweeted following the event. “We must resist him with all we’ve got. And we will.”
“Your DOT just approved the Seaport Oil Terminal, a project that will have 80 coal plants’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions and will worsen air quality in areas that already live in cancer clusters,” one of the Climate Defiance activists told Buttigieg on stage. “This is about environmental racism and it’s about climate impacts this project will have. Will you commit to stopping these projects?”
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During the protest, activists were filmed calling Buttigieg “Petro Pete,” demanding he “end fossil fuels,” and chanting “Which side are you on, Pete?” repeatedly.
When the event’s moderator then asked about the specific projects the protesters mentioned, Buttigieg said he didn’t want to “speak off the cuff.” But he added he respected “where they’re coming from” in reference to the protesters.
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“I get the urgency. By the time my kids are old enough to ask, we’re going to have a really good answer to get out of climate change,” he said, according to the Baltimore Banner.
“But my hope also is that some of those folks who are just here saw what happened when I was in front of the Transportation Infrastructure Committee two weeks ago trying to persuade or help the members of Congress [understand] that the seasons changing is not the same thing as climate change,” Buttigieg continued. “And if this literally came up, and so we’ve got literal climate deniers… who can’t be bothered to admit that climate change is real.”
The Seaport Oil Terminal project was proposed years ago and would consist of an offshore pipeline network in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Texas. The project, which is expected to enter operations in 2025 and allow for greater U.S. oil exports, received an initial approval by the Maritime Administration last year, but has yet to receive a license.
The Texas GulfLink crude oil export terminal is also located off the coast of Texas, but has yet to receive approval by the Maritime Administration.
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Environmental groups have loudly opposed both projects, pointing to the expected greenhouse gas emissions that would be produced indirectly by the oil that would be transported. Groups led by the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in January challenging the record of decision for Seaport Oil Terminal project, listing Buttigieg as a defendant.
“Considering the administration’s stated commitment to ‘tackle the climate crisis,’ it is particularly troubling that MARAD’s review of SPOT’s environmental and community impacts entirely fails to account for the project’s significant contributions to climate change, including impacts from excessive greenhouse gas pollution that will push temperatures higher in the Houston area and disrupt global climate,” said Sierra Club senior attorney Devorah Ancel.
The event Tuesday is one of many that Climate Defiance has interrupted and shut down as part of its goal to force lawmakers to do more on climate issues. It has also targeted events featuring federal officials like Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and senior White House climate adviser John Podesta.