Gluaiseacht nominate Trump for next Irish Green Award

Following last years awarding of the overall Green Award to Shell's Corrib Gas Tunnelling Project, this year environmental NGO Gluaiseacht are nominating Donald Trump for the Irish Green Award. The deadline for nominations is the 21^st December 2016.

Last year BAM Civil/Wayss & Freytag won the “Green Business of the Year” and “Green Construction award” for their work on the 4.9km gas tunnel under Sruwaddacon estuary in order to complete Corrib Gas pipeline for Shell.[1]

“Giving the Irish Green Award to Donald Trump is the next logical step following the granting of last years award to a project which drilled a 4.9km tunnel through a Special Area of Conservation in order to open a new frontier of fossil fuel extraction.” says Gluaiseacht member Con Coughlan on the nomination of Trump.

“Donald Trump talks about 'Draining the Swamp' but last years winners were 'Draining the Bog' so that they could remove the 125,000 tonnes of peat needed to carry out their 'Green' project”.

The tunnel is also used to return the unwanted chemicals that come in with the gas back out to be dispersed directly into the sea. The tunnel created sinkholes which brought spoil from the tunnel to the surface of the estuary [2]. There has been massive community opposition to the whole project for the last 15 years including the construction of the tunnel.

BAM Civil/Wayss & Freytag are also currently before the courts having been charged with health and safety breaches relating to the death of worker Lars Wagner in the Corrib tunnel in September 2013 [3].

Con Coughlan continued “We think that it makes perfect sense for the Green Awards to follow up the award to a Shell project, with an award to Trump who has now selected the head of ExxonMobil as his new Secretary of State and also promises to scrap Nasa's climate research.”

Other award winners at the Green awards 2016 include Diageo, GMC Utilities and IKEA.