Two nights ago, a group of climate activists pushed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg off of the stage at a speech event in Maryland and told him to “end fossil fuels.”
Earlier this week, the Baltimore Banner organized an event at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall that was hijacked by the left-wing youth-led movement Climate Defiance in an effort to draw attention to the usage of fossil fuels.
During Buttigieg’s speech, more than a dozen protestors rushed to the stage and threw him off. Protesters asked the transportation secretary to stop two planned oil shipping projects that the Maritime Administration, a branch of the Department of Transportation is looking into.
Offshore Magazine reported in June that one of these projects, the Sea Port Oil Terminal, will have both onshore as well as offshore facilities in the coastal area of Houston, Texas. It is expected to begin operations by the end of 2027. The other project, called Texas GulfLink, is a plan to build an export hub for heavy oil 30.5 miles off the coast of Texas.
The website for Climate Defiance says that its goal is to “end fossil fuel extraction on federally owned land and waters. It also seeks to render support for any form of fossil fuels to be unacceptable on a left-wing platform as condemning abortion or gay marriage.” In order to reach these goals, the group wants to use “nonviolent disruption.”
People from the group showed up at Buttigieg’s event this week and chanted “stop Petro Pete.” The rowdy protestors came on stage during Buttigieg’s speech and cut him off.
“Your DOT just authorized the Seaport Oil Terminal, a development that will result in 80 coal factories’ worth of greenhouse gases will contribute to worsening air quality in areas where people currently live in cancer clusters,” a campaigner told Buttigieg. “This is about racism against the environment and how this project will affect the climate. Will you promise to put an end to these projects?”
Breaking: we just chased Secretary Pete Buttigieg off the stage at the Meyerhoff Symphony.
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.
We must resist him with all we've got. And we will. pic.twitter.com/aVKeCre5eH
— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) October 10, 2023
Buttigieg said he understood “where they are coming from.” However, When asked to talk about the projects, Buttigieg said he didn’t want to “say anything off the cuff.”
The transportation secretary was compelled to leave the ceremony when the protestors commandeered the stage.
