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Hollywood is a parallel reality where billionaires live, people who understand little or nothing about what America really needs. But because of their show business skills and power, they have the ability to push agendas that they and big business see fit, even if it means the loss of thousands of American jobs.
In their latest delirium, dozens of Hollywood entertainers signed a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris calling on their Administration to permanently shut down the Dakota Access pipeline. This letter comes in the wake of the Keystone XL pipeline closure that President Joe Biden declared three weeks ago.
The action to revoke the permit to finalize Keystone XL seeks, according to the executive order signed by Biden “a sustainable climate pathway to protect Americans and the national economy from harmful climate impacts.”
Following the blocking of Keystone, two hundred celebrities, indigenous leaders, climate activists, drafted a letter formalizing the request to repeat the same measure with the Dakota Access pipeline.
“If your Administration takes steps to address the climate crisis and strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities,” reads the Hollywood missive, “we respectfully urge you to reverse another harmful decision by the Trump Administration and immediately shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) during its court-ordered environmental review.”
The signatories in addition to thanking the Biden/Harris Administration for its action on XL, also thanked it for committing to climate change, tribal sovereignty and racial equity.
Hollywood signatories include Alyssa Milano, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Jason Momoa, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Marisa Tomei, Joaquin Phoenix, Jane Fonda, Don Cheadle, Ed Helms, Cher, Chelsea Handler, Ava DuVernay and Amy Schumer.
NFL player Aaron Rodgers and his partner, Shailene Woodley, joined the elitist Hollywood missive. Woodley, an actress in the movie Snowder was previously arrested during a protest at the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016.
“We urge you to remedy this historic injustice,” the signatories write, “and direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately shut down the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline while the Environmental Impact Statement process is conducted, pursuant to the D.C. District Court’s decision and order.”
The billionaire/activists also call on President Biden to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ensure “a robust environmental review with meaningful tribal consultation, tribal consent and a thorough risk analysis.” With your leadership,” they conclude, “we have a momentous opportunity to protect our water and respect our environmental laws and the rights of Indigenous peoples. This is our moment.”
Hollywood doesn’t care about American jobs
The American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed that Hollywood’s desired closure of the Dakota Access pipeline would come at a high cost to related states, energy trade and eliminate more jobs. Mark Green of the API details that “in a shutdown scenario, about 115 million barrels of crude oil would no longer be produced, with corresponding production losses of associated natural gas and natural gas liquids.”
For Hollywood, it is more important to look good to the world than the average loss of 3,000 direct upstream jobs in an initial Dakota Access shutdown period. Subsequently, Green points out, that job loss will increase to 4,900 when indirect jobs in other sectors related to oil and natural gas production (steel workers making drill pipe, workers extracting fracking sand, and others) are included.
And finally the figure would rise to 7,400 when counting direct, indirect and induced jobs supported by direct and indirect worker spending in the economy, such as restaurants, grocery stores and others.
On the tax side, closing DAPL would produce a loss of $852 million in state production taxes for North Dakota and Montana, plus $69 million in income taxes paid by oil and natural gas companies to the two states. That would total $912 million.
Revoking the Keystone XL construction permit eliminated 10,000 jobs; “it cost and will cost more jobs,” said Richard Trumka, the union leader interviewed by Axios about Biden’s move.
Rafael Valera, Venezuelan, student of Political Science, political exile in São Paulo, Brazil since 2017 // Rafael Valera, venezolano, es estudiante de Ciencias Políticas y exiliado político en São Paulo, Brasil desde 2017