EU decision on natural gas could threaten climate progress




 A small vehicle drives past a network of piping that makes up pieces of a "train" at Cameron LNG export facility in Hackberry, La., March 31, 2022. The European Union’s decision to include natural gas in a list of activities considered sustainable could derail progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To get more natural gas, Europe is looking to boost imports of LNG from countries such as the U.S., which has ramped up its exports to the continent but can't produce more LNG without significant, costly expansion of its LNG terminals. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine, File)More

CATHY BUSSEWITZ
Thu, July 7, 2022 at 10:17 AM·5 min read




The European Union's plan to include natural gas in a list of activities considered sustainable could derail its progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a time when climate scientists are calling for dramatic reductions to planet-warming releases.

The plan, approved Wednesday by European lawmakers, will allow investment in natural gas infrastructure such as natural gas power plants and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to be considered green investments under certain conditions. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that causes warming of the Earth when it is burned and even more warming when it leaks out unburned.

It comes at a time when the continent is struggling to maintain a reliable gas supply and consumers are suffering from painfully high energy prices. Russia, which supplied about 40% of the EU's gas before it invaded Ukraine, has reduced the flow of gas to Europe and could make even more draconian cuts, and nations throughout Europe have been scrambling for alternatives to Russian energy.

“This...makes sense only as a death knell for coal,” said Rob Jackson, professor of earth system science at Stanford University. “Otherwise, it’s baffling. We’re approaching 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution a year from gas use alone, and that can’t continue.”


The European Union has a binding commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and to reach climate neutrality by 2050. And while Europe is working on transitioning to renewable sources such as wind and solar, it doesn't have enough power lines in place to carry electricity from sunny solar farms and wind-fired turbines.

Natural gas has been promoted as a “bridge fuel” because in a side-by-side comparison of power plants, natural gas produces less carbon dioxide when burned than coal. But that's not the way climate experts see it.

“We no longer have the luxury of using gas as a clean fuel,” Jackson said. “It’s cleaner than coal, but dirtier than most everything else we use today.”

Meanwhile, European politicians are doing what they can to ensure people can keep the lights on and continue to pay energy bills without going broke.

The decision was welcomed by BDI, Germany’s industrial lobby group, which called for more investments in gas infrastructure including LNG import terminals.

To get more natural gas, Europe is looking to boost imports of LNG from countries such as the U.S., which has ramped up its exports to the continent but can't produce more LNG without significant, costly expansion of its LNG terminals. And the process of making LNG is energy-intensive: Emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent from the LNG export terminals on the U.S. Gulf Coast were on par with the country of Costa Rica in 2020, according to the Global Carbon Project.

In addition to those emissions, there are massive leaks of methane, a gas with far more damaging climate-warming potential than carbon dioxide, along the natural gas supply chain. For example, in New Mexico's Permian Basin, the methane leaking into the atmosphere was equivalent to 9% of the gas production for the region, according to a recent study.

“This is an extreme bald-face attempt to greenwash,” said John Sterman, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Sustainability Initiative.

As part of the plan, gas-fired power plants would have to switch to lower-carbon fuels by 2035. But “the language that says it will only be considered green if it can convert to hydrogen or a renewable source of combustible gas by 2035 doesn’t excuse it,” Sterman said. "That’s 13 years from now. And in the meantime, such plants would be producing significant greenhouse gases, and worsening climate change.”

Building new infrastructure for natural gas could increase the severity of climate change long term, since infrastructure is built to last 30 or 40 years, which means the possibility of burning fossil fuels well beyond the point that climate experts recommend.

Nor does building such infrastructure happen overnight. It takes about four years to build a new LNG terminal, so the approach does not address the needs of Europeans who need to heat homes this coming winter.

Even so, burning natural gas is preferable to burning alternatives such as coal, petroleum or tires, all of which is done in Europe, said Julio Friedmann, fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

“Europe is going through a very difficult moment and going through an energy transition at the same time,” Friedmann said. “For now, natural gas is cleaner than many options.”

There are also quicker solutions than building new land-based LNG facilities on the continent.

For example, Germany is planning to bring in several floating LNG terminals. That would help the nation have access to more natural gas, without creating a permanent investment.

“They need the supplies but they want to avoid lock-in,” Friedmann said. “That’s reasonable.”

There are also efforts to get more pipeline gas from neighbors. The European Union has been pleading with Norway, which delivers 20 to 25% of Europe's gas, as well as Qatar and Algeria, to provide more natural gas.

The need for natural gas extends beyond providing electricity and heating homes. It's also essential as a feedstock for fertilizer and in producing steel and concrete, Friedmann said. Those are needs that renewable energy can't fulfill today.

“There are strong limits today on European transmission capabilities,” Friedmann said. “There are strong limits today on the area in which renewables can be built on land.”

There are also many things that can be done to lower the climate impact, such as installing carbon capture and storage technology on new natural gas infrastructure, Friedmann said.

But money would be better spent working to replace home natural gas systems with heat pumps or investing in making homes more energy-efficient to dramatically reduce demand, Sterman said.

“Nobody wants tons of coal or cubic meters of natural gas," Sterman said. “What people want and need is to be warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and the lights on when they flip the switch...Efficiency is the fastest, safest and cheapest way to provide those wants and needs, with very little in the way of unintended harmful cons, if any.”

___

Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Canadian camera on Webb dazzles 

us with an out-of-this-world preview

Canadian camera on Webb dazzles us with an out-of-this-world preview

Scott Sutherland

Thu, July 7, 2022 

We're just days away from seeing the first full-colour images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The team has released a new teaser picture taken by a Canadian camera on board the telescope, and it's already blowing our minds.

In May 2022, the Webb telescope tested its ability to 'roll', similar to how a plane rolls during flight. The telescope controlled this maneuver using the Fine Guidance Sensor, a camera built by the Canadian company Honeywell Aerospace and supplied by the Canadian Space Agency. During this test, the FGS took more than 70 images over a total of 32 hours, keeping Webb precisely aimed at a star in our galaxy known as HD147980.

When the mission team stacked these images, the result was one of the deepest images of the universe we've seen so far.

FGS-teaser-image-July6-NASA-Webb

CLICK TO ENLARGE!

This false-colour mosaic combines 72 exposures from the Fine Guidance Sensor on JWST, taken over 32 hours in May 2022. In the field of view are roughly two dozen foreground stars, easily picked out due to the six diffraction spikes that radiate from each. Every other bright spot in the image is a galaxy! Credit: NASA, CSA, and FGS team

According to NASA: "When FGS' aperture is open, it is not using color filters like the other science instruments — meaning it is impossible to study the age of the galaxies in this image with the rigor needed for scientific analysis. But even when capturing unplanned imagery during a test, FGS is capable of producing stunning views of the cosmos."

FGS-teaser-image-DISTANT-GALAXIES-July6-NASA-Webb

This closeup of the FGS composite zooms in on a region of distant objects. With the image contrast adjusted, the numerous galaxies in the background are revealed. Credit: NASA, CSA, and FGS team; inset added and modified by Scott Sutherland

"When this image was taken, I was thrilled to clearly see all the detailed structure in these faint galaxies," Neil Rowlands, the Fine Guidance Sensor program scientist at Honeywell Aerospace, said in a NASA Webb blog post.

"Given what we now know is possible with deep broad-band guider images, perhaps such images, taken in parallel with other observations where feasible, could prove scientifically useful in the future," Rowlands explained.

CANADA KEEPS WEBB ON TARGET

Partnering with NASA and the ESA on Webb, the Canadian Space Agency provided two essential instruments to the space telescope.

The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) is possibly the most crucial instrument for Webb's mission, allowing the telescope to:

• use the stars as cosmic reference points to determine its position in space,

• pinpoint the celestial targets astronomers want to observe,

• track moving targets across the backdrop of space, and

• maintain a steady, high-precision lock on its celestial targets.

Fine-Guidance-Sensor-JWST-CSA

Canada's stellar navigator on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Canadian Space Agency

Integrated into the same unit as the FGS is the second Canadian instrument on Webb, the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, or NIRISS.

Working alongside Webb's other instruments, NIRISS will contribute to our understanding of the universe. Most remarkably, though, this instrument will also allow astronomers to closely study exoplanets — alien worlds orbiting distant stars.

EXCITEMENT BUILDS FOR THE BIG REVEAL

The first full-colour images and spectrographic data from Webb are scheduled to be released just days from now.

During a June 30 media teleconference, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the telescope was going to "give humanity a new view of the cosmos," and that one of the upcoming images is "the deepest image of our universe that has ever been taken."

In the same teleconference, Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said they will also share Webb's first exoplanet spectrum. This type of data can reveal the composition of the exoplanet's atmosphere and potentially whether conditions there are favourable for life as we know it.

For those who have already seen these images, it was an emotional experience.

"What I have seen just moved me..." NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said during the teleconference. "As a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being."

The handful of images that Zurbuchen had seen at the time brought back the same feeling of awe he had experienced as a graduate student, upon seeing some secret of the universe, something no one had known about before, revealed to him for the first time.

"I got emotional," he said. "It's really hard to not look at the universe in a new light and not just have a moment that is deeply personal, in a way that, frankly, surprised me."

See Webb's first full-colour images live as they are presented one by one, at 10:30 a.m. EDT, on Tuesday, July 12. At the same time, they will also become available on the NASA website for us to marvel at and experience that same sense of awe.

"On July 12, what we will see is not just an image," Zurbuchen said. "It's a new world view of nature giving away secrets that have been there for many decades, centuries and millennia."

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/incredible-nasa-shows-off-mesmerizing.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/07/looking-back-in-time-nasa-previews.html

Mexico’s president says don’t vote for Abbott over ‘immoral’ immigration policy

Elizabeth Crisp
Fri, July 8, 2022

Mexico’s president is urging Mexicans in the United States not to vote for “anti-immigrant” candidates, after slamming Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for issuing an order this week allowing state troopers and National Guard members to arrest and return migrants attempting to cross the border.

“If there’s a candidate from a party that mistreats immigrants and Mexicans, we’re going to ask our countrymen there that they don’t vote for that candidate or party,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters Friday.

“Even though we are respectful of the sovereignty of other countries, we see that there are anti-immigrant campaigns for electoral purposes. I consider it immoral.”

The remarks came just a day after Abbott issued an executive order that directs the Texas National Guard and state police to “apprehend” migrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border and return them to Mexico. Migrant advocates say the order violates Supreme Court rulings holding that only the federal government may carry out immigration enforcement.

“While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” Abbott said in a statement announcing the order.

Abbott is running for reelection against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, a former House member who has also made unsuccessful runs for Senate and the White House. Recent polls have shown Abbott in the lead months ahead of the November election.

Abbott’s campaign didn’t respond to The Hill’s request for comment on López Obrador’s comments.

The White House also has condemned Abbott’s immigration order.

“Immigration enforcement is a federal authority and states should not be meddling in it,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. “That is especially for Texas Gov. Abbott, who has a track record of causing chaos and confusion at the border.”

Mexico accuses ex-president of millions in illegal funds

FILE - Mexico's incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) wears the presidential sash after being sworn-in at his inauguration ceremony before Congress in Mexico City, Dec. 1, 2012. Mexico’s anti-money laundering agency said on July 7, 2022 it has accused Peña Nieto of handling millions of dollars in possibly illegal funds. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Thu, July 7, 2022 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s anti-money laundering agency said Thursday it has accused ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto of handling millions of dollars in possibly illegal funds, perhaps a signal from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that he is getting serious about his promise to pursue corruption.

It marks the first formal legal accusations against Peña Nieto, despite a cloud of allegations about corruption during his 2012-2018 administration. López Obrador made rooting out corruption the main theme of his presidency, but hadn't yet moved against any of his predecessors.

The criminal complaint filed against Peña Nieto by the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit does not mean prosecutors have yet decided to file any formal charges. But the head of the unit, Pablo Gomez, said federal prosecutors have received the complaint alleging use of illicit funds and are investigating it.

Gomez said Thursday that a company run by Peña Nieto’s family had “a symbiotic relationship” with a firm that received about $500 million in government contracts while he was president. He did not identify the companies, but said they were distribution firms.

Gomez also said Peña Nieto had received money transfers from a relative, apparently linked to the two companies, for about $1.3 million after leaving office. Gomez said Peña Nieto’s accounts and those of the companies haven’t been blocked.

Peña Nieto moved to Spain after leaving office.

On Thursday, Peña Nieto wrote in his Twitter account that his money was legally obtained.

“I am certain that the appropriate authorities will allow me to clear up any questions about my holdings, and to prove their legality through legal channels,” the former president wrote. “I have confidence in legal institutions.”

The former head of Mexico’s state-run oil company under Peña Nieto, Emilio Lozoya, has claimed that Peña Nieto and his right-hand man, then-Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray, directed him to bribe lawmakers, including five senators, to support controversial energy and other structural reforms in 2013 and 2014.

Videgaray has denied the accusations. Neither man faces any charges in that case.

The failure to bring down any top figures from previous administrations has been an embarrassment for López Obrador, as has the failure of Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero to build any strong legal case based on Lozoya's allegations.

The hands-off approach toward Peña Nieto has fueled speculation that López Obrador had reached some kind of gentleman's agreement with the ex-president in 2018. In exchange for quickly recognizing López Obrador's presidential victory and allowing him unusual power during the transition period, Peña Nieto purportedly would have gained a promise of impunity.

López Obrador has said simply that “revenge isn't my strong point” and that Mexico should look to the future, not the past.

Yet last year, López Obrador sponsored a national referendum of Mexican voters about whether to prosecute former leaders accused of wrongdoing. TIt failed to reach the 40% participation required to make it binding and critics pointed out that the government didn't need the public’s blessing to prosecute anyone who had committed crimes.

U.S. Treasury to end 1979 treaty with global minimum tax holdout Hungary


Hungarian PM Orban attends a business conference in Budapest

Fri, July 8, 2022 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Friday said it was moving to terminate a 1979 tax treaty with Hungary in the wake of Budapest's decision to block the European Union's implementation of a new, 15% global minimum tax.

A Treasury spokesperson said that since Hungary lowered its corporate tax rate to 9% - less than half the 21% U.S. rate - the benefits of the tax treaty unilaterally benefit Hungary and no longer benefit the United States.

"The benefits are no longer reciprocal - with a significant loss of potential revenues to the United States and little in return for U.S. business and investment in Hungary."

The timing of the termination following years of U.S. concerns about the treaty suggests that Treasury is using it to try to pressure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to agree to implment the 15% global minimum tax agreed by nearly 140 countries.


The termination is expected to completed in six months after the Treasury sends formal notification to Hungarian authorities.

"Hungary made the U.S. government’s longstanding concerns with the 1979 tax treaty worse by blocking the EU Directive to implement a global minimum tax," the Treasury spokesperson said. "If Hungary implemented a global minimum tax, this treaty would be less one-sided. Refusing to do so could exacerbate Hungary’s status as a treaty-shopping jurisdiction, further disadvantaging the United States."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Nick Macfie)

AOC mocks Brett Kavanaugh for skipping dessert at DC steakhouse amid protests outside: 'The least they could do is let him eat cake'

Bryan Metzger
Fri, July 8, 2022

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York

 and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Kevin Dietsch and Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh left through the back door of a DC steakhouse amid protests outside.

"Poor guy. He left before his soufflé," said AOC, mocking media coverage of the protest.

She pointed out that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will negatively impact people with ectopic pregnancies.

Following reports that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh left a DC steakhouse early on Wednesday night amid protests outside, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York took issue with media coverage of the incident.

"Poor guy. He left before his soufflé because he decided half the country should risk death if they have an ectopic pregnancy within the wrong state lines," the prominent progressive a "Squad" member wrote on Twitter. "It's all very unfair to him. The least they could do is let him eat cake."

Kavanaugh was one of six justices that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, revoking the constitutional right to an abortion.

In the wake of that ruling, women with ectopic pregnancies — which occur when an embryo implants outside the uterus, can be life-threatening, and never result in a live birth — may no longer be able to access care in states that enact sweeping abortion bans.

Politico reported on Friday that Kavanaugh left Morton's as protesters with ShutDownDC gathered outside, though they also reported that the conservative Supreme Court Justice "did not hear or see the protesters and ate a full meal but left before dessert."

Morton's issued a statement to Politico denouncing the protest, saying Kavanaugh and other patrons were "unduly harassed by unruly protestors."

"Politics, regardless of your side or views, should not trample the freedom at play of the right to congregate and eat dinner," a representative for the restaurant chain told Politico. "There is a time and place for everything. Disturbing the dinner of all of our customers was an act of selfishness and void of decency."

"I will never understand the pearl clutching over these protests," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "Republicans send people to protest me all the time, sometimes drunk and belligerent."

She also alluded to prior media coverage of conservative figures being driven from restaurants, including when former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant in 2018.

"Nobody cares about it unless it's a Republican in a restaurant," said Ocasio-Cortez. "Can someone please explain the obsession because I don't get it."

Türkiye uncovers world's second-largest rare earth element reserve

- Of the 17 known rare elements, the country will produce 10 from the new field, Energy Minister says

 home > Türkiye 02.07.2022      

Türkiye uncovered the world's second-largest rare earth element reserve in the Beylikova district of Eskisehir in central Anatolia, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez revealed on Friday.

The reserve is estimated to hold reserves of 694 million tons, second only to China, which currently has the largest rare element field with reserves of 800 million tons.

Rare earth elements are used in fields such as aviation, defense, the space industry and biomedicine.

Donmez confirmed that as the field is extremely close to the surface, it will be less costly to extract elements.

'Of the 17 known rare elements, we will be able to produce 10 here,' he said.

Additionally, the new reserve will allow the processing of about 570,000 tons of ore annually.

He also declared that 250 tons of thorium will be produced, an element used as fuel in the nuclear industry.

The discovery will allow local production of rare elements that will primarily be used in the country's industrial sectors but also for export.

'We will have the opportunity to export more than we need abroad,' he stated.

Reporting by İsmail Ozdemir and Deniz Acik

Writing by Zeynep Beyza Kilic

Anadolu Agency

US Feds must step in or renewable energy will have nowhere to go, says MIT report



Devin Coldewey
Thu, July 7, 2022 

Building wind and solar farms is an important part of building a new green grid, but a calm night stops their energy generation cold. It's just as important to research and build green energy storage — and to that at scale requires federal intervention as soon as possible, suggests a new report from MIT.

"The Future of Energy Storage" is part of a series looking at the transition of power sources in America, and this one is particularly relevant given the momentum currently enjoyed by the solar and wind industries. Too much renewable energy sounds like a good problem to have, but if it can't be relied on as a city or region's main or only source of electricity, they're going to feel the need to hedge their bets with a coal plant or something like it.

The solution is basically batteries: store excess power when the sun is out and the wind is high, and run off them at other times. It's hardly a revelation, but the increasing reliance on what the study calls "variable renewable energy" means that what battery capacity we have isn't nearly enough. We'll need to increase it by orders of magnitude and across the country (and eventually the world, of course — but not every country is equally prepared to make this shift).

But the problem is this: Wind farms and solar make money, while storage facilities … don't. Sure, they might break even on the long term, but they aren't the easy money that solar farms have become. The most efficient and green energy storage options, like pumped hydro, are incredibly expensive and limited in the locations they can be built. While the most easily accessed technologies, like lithium-ion batteries, are widespread but neither capacious nor organized enough to serve as a grid supplement.

This is where the Department of Energy needs to step in, MIT says. The federal government has the means both to subsidize the utilization of existing storage options and to fund intensive research into new and promising ones. A hydrogen energy storage system could be a game changer, the report notes, but it isn't going to fund itself. Like other critical infrastructure, it must be paid for up front by the feds and paid off over time.

Severe weather, blackouts show the grid’s biggest problem is infrastructure, not renewables

But it isn't just about writing checks. The DOE will need to evaluate the feasibility of doing things like repurposing old infrastructure like decommissioned power plants, reusing their connections to the grid and the communities that were built around them. If coal plants weren't simply shut down but rather converted into hydrogen electrolysis centers, the jobs could stay but the emissions would go.

And then there's the matter of the cost of the energy itself. The report warns that even with adequate storage, the cost of power would fluctuate far beyond the norms we've established today with our consistent (but dirty) fuel-based sources of energy. Maybe peak power today costs twice as much as off-peak power — but in 10 years, that gap could be much wider. On one hand, the low-end cost would be nearly zero — but peak power might be far more expensive.

The electricity market will change a lot, and consumers shouldn't have to wonder whether running the dishwasher will cost them a penny or a buck. Instead, smart modeling of these cost and supply issues should be used to abstract away the variability and provide both consistency for consumers and payback for electricity generators.

The U.S. is at a good point for the feds to step in, and if they do so it will be watched eagerly by other countries working on making a similar leap. The report notes that India, for a number of reasons, is also facing a growing power and emissions crisis, and the U.S. may serve as a useful test bed for proving out technologies that could serve their larger population similarly well.

You can read the full report or the executive summary, both very accessible, at the report page here.

Canada's Ukrainian community urges Trudeau not to return Russian gas turbine

Ukrainians fleeing Russia's invasion arrive in Winnipeg
Steve Scherer and Rod Nickel

Thu, July 7, 2022 

OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's Ukrainian community is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to refuse to compromise the country's sanctions against Russia in order to return a turbine that Moscow says is critical for supplying natural gas to Germany.

Russia's state-controlled Gazprom cut the capacity along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to just 40% of usual levels last month, citing the delayed return of equipment being serviced by Germany's Siemens Energy in Canada.

Canada has one of the world's biggest Ukrainian diasporas outside of countries that border Ukraine and it has successfully pressured Ottawa to impose increasingly strict sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February.

Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) national president Alexandra Chyczij urged Trudeau, in a letter on Wednesday, to see through Russia's "obvious ploy" to divide Ukraine's allies.

Ottawa should instead broker a solution that does not involve waiving sanctions, she wrote in the letter, posted on UCC's website.

"Any waiver of Canadian sanctions would be viewed as a capitulation to Russian blackmail and energy terrorism, and would only serve to embolden the Russian terrorist state," Chyczij said.

In an interview, UCC CEO Ihor Michalchyshyn said the group is acting independently and not receiving direction from Kyiv regarding lobbying Ottawa about the turbine.

The Canadian government has not responded to the UCC's letter, he said.

"We have not gotten reassurance of anything, either way," Michalchyshyn said. "That's why we're quite concerned."

A Canadian government source said the Ukrainian government itself opposes the turbine's return.

Trudeau's office had no immediate comment on the letter.

"We will not stop imposing severe costs on the Putin regime while their unjustifiable invasion is ongoing and we will continue to support our European friends and allies," said Ian Cameron, spokesman for Canada's natural resources minister, in a statement.

The Russian embassy in Ottawa said Russia has no role to play in returning the turbine.

"It is a problem between Canada and Germany," the embassy said in a statement. "We would welcome the release of the turbine which could help to restore gas flow to Europe."

The technical problem with the turbine is merely a Russian pretext, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said last week.

Canada, alongside its Western allies, has issued sweeping sanctions on Russia after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation."

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Steve Scherer in Ottawa;Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Media: Canada will return the turbine to Gazprom

Today

The Canadian authorities announced their intention to withdraw from sanctions the turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Agreements on this issue were carried out with Berlin.

European Truth and Reuters write about it . The reason for the lifting of restrictive measures should be the argument that the return of the turbine will give Russia the opportunity to restore the pumping of fuel to Europe. The Ukrainian government is aware of Ottawa's intention and has already stated that it is "unreasonable and dangerous for the sanctions regime."

Canada and Germany do not want the absence of turbines to stop Russia from supplying gas via Nord Stream. But Kyiv insists that the sanctions prohibit the transfer of any gas-related equipment to Moscow.

- If, God forbid, this decision is approved, we will undoubtedly turn to our European colleagues with a request to reconsider their approach. Because if countries do not comply with the decisions they have agreed on sanctions, what kind of solidarity can we talk about? - said in the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.

Last month Kyiv demanded not to return the turbine to Russia.

Recall that we are talking about a Siemens turbine, which is currently being repaired in Canada.

Note that Berlin also asked Ottawa not to return the turbine to Moscow. Such requirements were put forward by the head of the German Ministry of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck. Moreover, he insisted on transferring this turbine to Germany. He said the move would deprive Russian leader Vladimir Putin of "excuses" for cutting gas supplies.

Germany Expects Canada to Release Key Nord Stream Part

Arne Delfs, Bloomberg News

A pressure gauge on pipework at the Gazprom PJSC Slavyanskaya compressor station, the starting point of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, in Ust-Luga, Russia, on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. Nord Stream 2 is a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline that will double the capacity of the existing undersea route from Russian fields to Europe -- the original Nord Stream -- which opened in 2011. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Germany expects Canada to release a key Russian pipeline part caught up in sanctions, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Releasing the part could potentially ease a gas standoff between Russia and Germany. The Kremlin said on Friday that if the turbine is sent back then gas flows to Europe can increase.

A German government spokesman said they had received positive signals, but no confirmation the turbine is on its way. It wasn’t immediately possible to contact the Canadian government.

Germany has urged Canada to release the part as it takes all possible measures to prevent an energy catastrophe this winter. 

Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Bloomberg earlier this week that the turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline needs to be returned before maintenance work begins on Monday. Releasing the component would remove an excuse for Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep the conduit closed, he said.

Shell Decides to Build Europe’s Largest Green Hydrogen Plant

William Mathis, Bloomberg News

The chemical symbol for hydrogen on the exterior of the electrolyzer area during the final stages of construction at Iberdola SA's Puertollano green hydrogen plant in Puertollano, Spain, on Thursday, May 19, 2022. The new plant will be Europe's largest production site for green hydrogen for industrial use. Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Shell Plc has decided to proceed with building Europe’s largest plant producing hydrogen from renewable power as oil majors bet the fuel could be key to cutting carbon emissions.

Holland Hydrogen I will include 200 megawatts of electrolyzers, powered by a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, according to a statement from Shell on Wednesday. That’s 10 times the size of the largest existing green hydrogen facility in Europe. Shell didn’t disclose the value of the investment.

Green hydrogen is a key part of Europe’s plans to cut emissions and reliance on imported natural gas from Russia. The clean-burning gas can be used to replace fossil fuels in industrial processes such as chemicals production, heavy transportation and power generation. 

Big Oil Bets That Green Hydrogen Is the Future of Energy

“Renewable hydrogen will play a pivotal role in the energy system of the future and this project is an important step in helping hydrogen fulfill that potential,” said Anna Mascolo, executive vice president of emerging energy solutions at Shell. 

While Europe has big plans for green hydrogen, most production is currently on a small, experimental scale. Iberdrola SA has what it calls Europe’s biggest green hydrogen facility in Spain, with a capacity of 20-megawatts. 

Once the project is complete in 2025, Shell will use the roughly 60,000 kilograms of green hydrogen it produces daily to supply the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam. That facility currently uses hydrogen produced using fossil fuels to run its operations. Using the green alternative will lower overall emissions from producing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. 

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