Mark Ruffalo Speaks Out At Keystone Pipeline Protest (VIDEO)

Actor Mark Ruffalo was one of an estimated 10,000 protesters who surrounded the White House on Sunday to fight the Keystone XL pipeline, telling HuffPost, "We invite the president to make good on his promises of a real renewable energy policy for the United States."

The pipeline project, which has come under increasing scrutiny, is currently proposed to carry oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to Texas refineries.

President Obama said last week that he will be making the decision on the pipeline's permit based on both economic and health factors.

In October, Ruffalo spoke at the Occupy Wall Street protests, inviting listeners to join the Keystone XL protests to "remind Obama to unlink his arms with the corporations, the gas and oil industry and entwine his arms with the people he is in charge of taking care of."

At the Keystone White House protest, Ruffalo said, "We've entered this era of really radical and environmentally harmful forms of extraction." He was also active on Twitter during his time at the protest. At one point, he tweeted:

@Mruff221
Mark Ruffalo

My dear sweet son Keen is here standing to defend his generation against Climate Change. #KeystoneXL http://t.co/cZAiWSTH

November 6, 2011 7:43 pm via Tweetbot for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite

At the protest, John Bolenbaugh, a Keystone employee-turned-pipeline activist from Michigan told HuffPost's Lucia Graves, "I will not accept a job for a tar sands pipeline. I will not do it because I’ve seen the devastation and the sick people from what a tar sands spill does when there is a leak and there’s gonna be a leak. It’s gonna happen sooner or later."

Various celebrities ranging from Julia Louis-Dreyfus to Robert Redford have spoken out against the pipeline, and invited concerned citizens to participate in the Tar Sands Action protests this past Sunday.

View the slideshow below for more prominent figures who are fighting the Keystone XL pipeline:

Loading Slideshow

• Dalai Lama

  In September 2011, the Dalai Lama was one of nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/07/nobel-peace-prize-winners_n_952248.html" target="_hplink">sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama</a> urging him "to say 'no' to the plan proposed by the Canadian-based company TransCanada to build the Keystone XL, and to turn [his] attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions."

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu

  Archbishop Desmond Tutu was among<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/28/nobel-prize-winners-oil-sands_n_985171.html" target="_hplink"> a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates</a> who signed letters to both U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging the men to stop the Keystone pipeline.

• Al Gore

  Gore has said it is essential to stop the Keystone pipeline because the tar sands oil it would carry is "the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-gore/the-dirtiest-fuel-on-the-_b_944186.html" target="_hplink">dirtiest source of fuel on the planet</a>."

• Robert Redford

  Actor and environmentalist <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000602/" target="_hplink">Robert Redford</a> recently added his name to the list of prominent individuals who are calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/robert-redford-keystone-xl_n_1019789.html" target="_hplink">In a video for <em>The New York Times</em>, produced with the Natural Resources Defense Council</a>, Redford described the negative aspects of the proposed tar sands pipeline and said, "By deepening our reliance on oil, the pipeline would be a job killer." Redford has previously been vocal about calling for alternatives to oil. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/keystone-xl-pipeline_b_978835.html" target="_hplink">Writing last month for HuffPost</a>, he said, "Let's build the next generation of energy efficient cars, homes and workplaces. Let's develop wind, solar and other cleaner, safer, more sustainable sources of power and fuel. Let's invest in high-speed rail and smart communities that give us better transportation options."

• Mark Ruffalo

  Actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0749263/" target="_hplink">Mark Ruffalo</a>, famous for films like "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/" target="_hplink">The Kids Are All Right</a>" and "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443706/" target="_hplink">Zodiac</a>," is also an outspoken activist and opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline. Ruffalo <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/mark-ruffalo-tar-sands_n_924245.html" target="_hplink">said in a video</a> for the <a href="http://www.tarsandsaction.org/" target="_hplink">Tar Sands Action</a> group, "I've seen the kind of damage that out-of-control energy development can do to water and to communities near my own home, where fracking for natural gas is causing widespread pollution ... All these problems are connected -- we need to get off fossil fuels." In the past, Ruffalo has also expressed his ire for hydraulic fracturing natural gas extraction, or fracking. He told The Huffington Post, "The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/mark-ruffalo-fights-frack_n_810461.html" target="_hplink">world is already leaving us behind</a>. We're being left behind. America. Because the gas and oil industry has a strangle hold on us. And our politicians."

• Bill McKibben

  Environmentalist and author <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/" target="_hplink">Bill McKibben</a> has expressed strong disapproval for the planned Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, he was <a href="http://www.tarsandsaction.org/press/releases/aug20/" target="_hplink">one of the first</a> of over 1,200 who were arrested at the Tar Sands Action sit-in at the White House in August. Referring to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/keystone-xl-frustrated-environmental-activists-obama_n_933648.html" target="_hplink">his opposition to the Keystone Pipeline</a>, McKibben told HuffPost, "The people who've carried this fight for three years are indigenous people on both sides of the border who have a huge stake in it because it's on their land, and farmers and ranchers from places like Nebraska," he said. He added, "It wasn't until I sat down and read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-james-hansen" target="_hplink">Jim Hansen</a>'s analysis of how much carbon was in those things that I understood that this was not just a national issue, it's a global issue of the first order."

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus

  <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000506/" target="_hplink">Julia Louis-Dreyfus</a>, known for her role as Elaine on the popular sitcom "Seinfeld," has released a video urging President Obama to reject the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Dreyfus recalls when Obama said "Let us be the generation that ends the tyranny of oil." But she says, "Big Oil is still pretty much running the show." She claims that by rejecting the pipeline, Obama has a chance to "make good on [his] word." <a href="http://www.tarsandsaction.org/video-release-julia-louis-dreyfus-challenges-pres-obama-stop-keystone-xl/" target="_hplink">Louis-Dreyfus asks Obama</a>, "Denying the permit for a brutally stupid, money-grab like the Keystone XL pipeline is a no-brainer, right Mr President?"

• Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman

  Dave Heineman, the Republican governor of Nebraska, has officially stated that he opposes the Keystone XL project. As the governor of an agrarian state through which the pipeline would pass, Heineman expressed his concern for the pipeline's threat to Nebraska's vital water resources. According to the Associated Press, "Heineman said <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/31/nebraska-governor-opposes-pipeline_n_943610.html" target="_hplink">he supports pipeline projects</a> but opposes the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL route." In August, Heineman <a href="http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/news/2011/08/31_pipeline.html" target="_hplink">sent an open letter</a> to President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton urging them to "not allow TransCanada to build a pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer and risk the potential damage to Nebraska's water."

• Daryl Hannah

  Actress <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000435/" target="_hplink">Daryl Hannah</a> has also lent her voice to the movement against the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/keystone-pipeline" target="_hplink">Keystone XL pipeline</a>. In August, Hannah was one of the over 1,200 people to be <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/daryl-hannah-arrested-keystone-protest_n_942072.html" target="_hplink">arrested as an act of civil disobedience</a> in front of the White House. Shouting "no to the Keystone pipeline" as she was handcuffed, Hannah made it clear she opposed the proposed Canada to Texas pipeline.

• Maude Barlow

  Maude Barlow, a Canadian author and activist and chairperson of <a href="http://www.canadians.org/" target="_hplink">The Council of Canadians</a>, was arrested in September at a Keystone pipeline and oil sands protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/26/ottawa-oil-sands-pipeline-protest_n_981052.html" target="_hplink">She was one of over 100 protesters</a> of the demonstration's estimated 400 to be arrested. Writing for HuffPost Canada about <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/maude-barlow/maude-barlow-arrested_b_982487.html" target="_hplink">her first experience being arrested</a>, Barlow blogged, "I did it because I fear we are killing the planet and I can no longer be content to only write and speak about it. Today my feet spoke for me as I crossed that barricade and took away one more fear in my life." She also said, "By investing trillions of dollars into these pipelines, governments and the energy industry are ensuring the continued rapid acceleration of tar sands development, instead of supporting a process to move to an alternative and sustainable energy system."

• Kyra Sedgwick

  <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001718/" target="_hplink">Kyra Sedgwick</a>, star of the television crime drama "The Closer," has voiced her opposition to the pipeline. In a video for the <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/" target="_hplink">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>, Sedgwick said "Just like the BP oil spill, one glitch in the tar sands pipeline could destroy our clean water sources, possibly forever."

• David Strathairn

  Joining several other prominent actors, David Strathairn appeared in a video urging President Obama to reject the Keystone Pipeline. He calls on his fellow Americans to join the November 6 <a href="http://www.tarsandsaction.org/" target="_hplink">Tar Sands Action</a> in Washington, D.C. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000657/" target="_hplink">Strathairn</a>, who is known for his portrayal of journalist Edward R. Murrow in "Good Night, and Good Luck," said, "Obama ran for office speaking of the dangers of our fossil fuel addiction, promising to fight climate change and fully embrace a clean energy future. The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/keystone-pipeline" target="_hplink">Keystone XL tar sands pipeline</a> is a dangerous step away from that commitment."

• Also on The Huffington Post...

Comments

[poonsmack]

08:34 AM on 11/09/2011

Don't get your hopes up. Obama follows the money just like most other politicians. The unions donate more, so he does them favors. Obama is no principled individual of the 08 election, he is a political hack and a poor manager with no leadership abilities. If this actor has been paying attention to Obama the last three years there would be no surprise at this seeming lack of presidential clarity.

[Saul Bolocs]

07:59 PM on 11/08/2011

Why do those who want the pipeline all seem incredibly uninformed? Do they all watch Fox news.BS?

[realityCheckInTheMail]

09:45 PM on 11/08/2011

Maybe they read Michael Levi.

http://blogs.cfr.org/levi/2011/11/06/keystone-xl-jamaica/

Maybe you should turn off the tube and read a bit yourself. Those Hollywood actors aren't a good source of information.

[inthedesert]

06:59 PM on 11/08/2011

Stars are just so funny. Shirley Mclaine claims her house in Santa Fe is totally solar yet when I found her house on GoogleEarth....not one solar panel in sight. LMAO.

[Spanky231]

06:24 PM on 11/08/2011

And then Mark left in his limo to board his private jet home. I love folks in Hollywood. "Do as I say, not as I do". Cracks me up every time.

[Saul Bolocs]

07:53 PM on 11/08/2011

Your micro bio is a joke.

[Spanky231]

12:12 AM on 11/09/2011

You know you have won when all anyone can throw at you is an immature comment. Thanks.

[raffa657]

01:10 PM on 11/08/2011

Mr. Ruffalo's got it.
Now if we can educate another 10 million on these societal issues.

[madcityy]

12:37 PM on 11/08/2011

mark u r a good actor.......................go back to la la land.................dont be an idiot............

[Saul Bolocs]

07:54 PM on 11/08/2011

That's right, don't be an idiot, let Big Oil do whatever they please. When they are all multi billionaires they'll give you some money, right? Because they care about you.

[Scott Kenan]

11:33 AM on 11/08/2011

Thank you Mark!!! See what I'm doing as the Stealth Bomber of the very secretive Kenan Family of North Carolina (who just might control more money than any other American Family -- if you know where they hide it): http://scottkenan.blogspot.com/

[morefreethings]

11:26 AM on 11/08/2011

would liberals be in favor of paying a premium for their gas to make up the shortfall?

[nathanoj]

11:45 AM on 11/08/2011

Well, let's see. Studies show that We the People (not just the liberals) already pay $500 billion per year in human health costs by using coal (about 100,000 premature deaths every year) and $120 billion per year in human health costs from using oil (about 20,000 premature deaths each year). That's just in the U.S!

That cost doesn't even include the cost of actually buying the electricity produced by coal, or paying for gasoline at the pump over and over again (both of which you wouldn't have to do if those sources of energy were renewable), so yeah, I think We the People would be willing to pay $620 billion per year to get off fossil fuels and extend the life expectancy of ourselves and the planet dramatically in the process.

How many solar panels, wind/wave/geothermal power plants do you think $620 billion per year can install?

Fossil fuel based energy: Use Once, Pay for it Forever
Renewable energy: Pay Once, Use it Forever

What does the Pro-Pollution for Profit Lobby (Big Oil, Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear) have against clean air? What do they have against clean water? Why do they hate their own mother (earth)?

Don't worry, we already know the answer. Power and profit. They rape their own mother (earth) for power and profit.

Renewable Energy: Real Power for Real People

[Mondieu]

11:59 AM on 11/08/2011

I sure would as soon as you pay me for the clean air that you and your family enjoys.

[The Right is Wrong]

12:00 PM on 11/08/2011

Well put!

[Consequence]

11:13 AM on 11/08/2011

It is pleasant watching Obama flounder on this.

One part of his party - the ecologists - oppose it.
Another part - Unions - support it because it will create thousands of Union jobs.

In the end he has to tick off someone LOL

[Mondieu]

12:02 PM on 11/08/2011

I guess you don't like clean air and you want all your family to be wearing gas masks in the near future to work for big oil. By the way, the union is wrong to pursue this project base on the jobs of will generate but do not be lulled into a false sense of righteousness because in the end it is big oil that profits the most if this pipeline goes through.

[derekc06]

12:08 PM on 11/08/2011

"But those jobs estimates, as well as the impact of the pipeline on U.S. energy independence, have been repeatedly debunked, including by a study released at the end of last month by Cornell University's Global Labor Institute. Using numbers compiled by the company behind the project, Calgary-based TransCanada, the Cornell analysis found that the project would create fewer than 5,000 construction jobs, and a substantially smaller number of indirect jobs overall.

The pipeline 'will not be a major source of U.S. jobs, nor will it play any substantial role at all in putting Americans back to work,' the authors of the Cornell study assert, adding that even if the 120,000 total jobs number was accurate, 'the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate would remain at 9.1 percent -- exactly where it is now.'
.

The higher gas prices -- estimated to total between $2 billion and $4 billion -- would drive down other spending, the study concluded, and result in job losses that would further offset whatever small gains the pipeline might represent."

[westreal]

11:10 AM on 11/08/2011

Not only is he sexy, he's smart too.

[Consequence]

11:10 AM on 11/08/2011

Whether Ruffalo opposes or supports Keystone, please tell me why anyone should give his opinion a higher consideration than anyone else?

What is it about acting that makes him more qualified to comment on this topic?

[oneeasyrider]

11:19 AM on 11/08/2011

I've listened to Mark Ruffalo speak several times, he's a very smart guy, thoughtful, serious and well informed. You might learn something if you listen to what he has to say.

[The Right is Wrong]

12:01 PM on 11/08/2011

Probably not.

One has to have inters in learning to learn.

[The Right is Wrong]

12:01 PM on 11/08/2011

Interest!

[Mondieu]

12:05 PM on 11/08/2011

In a democracy that is a right. The freedom to express your point of view: It is the exact same thing you are doing but you want to crucify Mark for doing.

[Saul Bolocs]

07:57 PM on 11/08/2011

Woa! This is waaay too advanced for him.

[tkondaks]

11:08 AM on 11/08/2011

All of these celebrities -- the Dalai Lama included -- are always jetting around the world on oil-based transportation...many on private jets, the worst consumer of oil...all they have to do is stop their own wanton consumption of oil and then maybe I'll listen to them.

[Mondieu]

12:13 PM on 11/08/2011

How do you know they jet around *All* the time in private jets? By the way, in case you didn't know: All aircraft at this time uses fossil fuel. Big oil made sure of that.

[nathanoj]

01:47 PM on 11/08/2011

Keep blaming the victim. What choice do they have to get around differently when the Pro-Pollution for Profit Lobby has done everything it can for the last 150 years to stop any progress in alternative sources of fuel and modes of transportation? What alternatives do I have to go from LA to NYC? I have no choice. That's because of the Pro-Pollution for Profit Lobby (Big Oil, Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear) continues to insist on raping their own mother (earth) for power and profit.

The European Union has near the same GDP as the U.S. and uses half the energy to do it. That means they are 2 times as efficient and use half as much waste. Why? Because they have a public transportation system rivaled by none, and because they are way ahead of the U.S. with energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy. Germany already gets 20% of it's electricity from renewables.

You go ahead and keep on raping your mother (earth) for power and profit. What, is $45.2 billion (Exxon's profit in 2010) not enough money for you to stop yet? What, is the $120 billion in human health costs ($20,000 premature deaths each year) from oil not enough?

An area THE SIZE OF THE COUNTRY OF ENGLAND will be utterly decimated by oil extraction from the Canadian tar sands. How many countries worth of pristine wilderness destroyed for your profit is enough before you stop raping your mother (earth)?

[westreal]

11:03 AM on 11/08/2011

Damm, he's sexy

[Andy Svoboda]

10:55 AM on 11/08/2011

you better have a large sum of cash to lobby with if you wanna compete with a oil company...

[CanadaStan]

11:36 AM on 11/08/2011

The Saudis fund the anti-pipeline loons

[The Right is Wrong]

12:02 PM on 11/08/2011

I am anti-pipeline and the Saudis have not paid me anything.

I want my Saudi vig!

[demisfine]

10:50 AM on 11/08/2011

Canadians don't want the project to go forward either.
This is a gift to Big Oil.
http://gantdaily.com/2010/12/03/aboriginal-canadian-communities-join-forces-to-oppose-oil-sands-pipeline/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/nobel-laureates-press-harper-to-oppose-alberta-oil-sands-expansion/article2183726/