QCOSTARICA – Through Twitter, actor Mark Ruffalo, better known for his interpretation of the “Hulk”, assured that he supports the bill that is being discussed in the Legislative Assembly to permanently prohibit the exploration and exploitation of fuels and natural gas in the country.
The American actor shared a tweet from Christiana Figueres and assured that he supports her.
“I support Christiana’s call and will be counting on the Costa Rican Congress to endorse a law to permanently ban oil and gas exploration,” he said.
I support Christiana’s call and will be counting on the Costa Rican Congress to endorse a law to permanently ban oil and gas exploration. https://t.co/F26IOMEFF3
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 3, 2021
In her Tweet, Figueres, an anthropologist and economist, indicated that if this bill is approved, Costa Rica would be among the first countries in the world to take the step of being permanently free of the fossil industry.
“As a country, we have believed in protecting the environment for decades. For decades we have reforested and protected ecosystems and we have nearly 60 years of producing renewable energy. If we pass the law we will be an example to the world. We invite the international community to join in,” said Figueres who is the daughter of “Don Pepe” Figueres, who served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974 and considered the father of the country’s peaceful modern democracy and one of the most colorful elder statesmen of the Western Hemisphere.
Both the Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN), of which Christiana’s brother has nominated as their 2022 presidential candidate and the ruling party, Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC) benches were willing to return said legislative text to the Congressional Environment Commission – where it was ruled – for an unofficial period of 15 days, with the intention that the issues can be discussed there.
Currently, there is no consensus around the bill. In what the Verdiblancos and the ruling party differ is the way to return the file to the commission.
What is it bill about?
This bill intends to extend the moratorium for the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in the country until 2050, but it would also allow the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) – Costa Rica’s refinery that refines nothing – to enter other markets such as alternative energy markets and gain access to more economic resources.
The proposal would, among other things, allow the institution to conduct research on biofuels. These functions would be financed with 0.15% of the entity’s income and the cost would finally be passed on to consumers through fuel rates.
President Carlos Alvarado and his predecessor, Luis Guillermo Solis (2014-2018), have publicly stated their position against allowing oil and gas exploration and exploitation.
