Norfolk Southern derailment ‘is a wake-up call,’ professor says

Thu, March 9, 2023

Northwestern University Professor Emeritus of Civil & Environmental Engineering Joseph L Schofer joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the Ohio train derailment, railroad regulation, employment struggles across the railroad space, and the outlook for Norfolk Southern.

Video Transcript

- Norfolk Southern's CEO is facing the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Work amid scrutiny over last month's train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Will the turmoil of recent events be enough to alter the trajectory for US rail infrastructure? Here to discuss is Joseph Schofer. He's a Northwestern University professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering.

Thank you for being here. So I know that's a big question to kick it off. But I guess first I would ask whether you think there need to be fundamental changes in rail infrastructure. Was this some sort of wakeup call for the industry, Joseph?

JOSEPH SCHOFER: I think it's a wakeup call. I mean, this is a real disaster. On the other hand, keep in mind that no one was killed. It doesn't look like the environmental consequences are all that serious.

And my concern going forward is, what are the causes? What's fundamental here, and what should motivate changes? As I watch the news coverage, it looks like every politician, from the local level to the federal level, is trying to jump in front of the camera and say, I'm gonna save your lives. But we really don't have a good sense of the scope of the problem and whether what we're seeing, particularly the several events in Ohio, are in any way connected. My sense is they're not connected.

The railroad industry has a motivation to take care of its infrastructure because its livelihood depends on that infrastructure. And they have a variety of strategies for doing that. Can they do better? I'm certain that they can do better. I'm certain that there are opportunities for better use of technology, more investment in safety and in the workforce.

But right now, they tend, particularly the class I railroads, the largest railroads in the nation, are very much driven by you, by Wall Street, and by the pressures to keep their operating ratios low, which means to make a bigger profit. And there needs to be some balance in that. I think that this incident is getting people's attention.

- Joseph, Ines here. And so what do you think should this investigation look like? I mean, what are some of the questions that need to be asked to get to the bottom of what happened and whether or not it was preventable?

JOSEPH SCHOFER: I think it's very straightforward. I think it's a matter of answering the question, what was the cause, or what were the precipitating causes? I don't think we have a full answer. I know we have a partial answer on the Palestine event, but not yet on the other events.

My concern is acting too soon, that is, everyone trying to jump in and saying, I'm gonna solve this problem, when I don't really quite know what the problem is. It looks like there may be an opportunity to add some detection capability to detect overheated bearings or other kinds of anomalies in the rail system. But my guess is, based on looking at long-term trends in derailments in particular, and railroad accidents in general, is that I don't really see a crisis here.

I see a need to respond to this and to make sure this doesn't happen. And in the long run, I think the railroads need to rethink their workforce strategy, that is, to assure that they have a sufficient number of employees. And that's a problem because they've tried, but they haven't had great success in recruitment.

And part of that is these are difficult jobs. And while they pay well, they're difficult, and they're dangerous, and the working conditions need to be adapted to attract a 21st-century workforce.

- Well, and to that point, of course, the railroads have been fighting with their unions, right, over the past six months or so. Among other things, the folks who work for the railroads want more flexible sick leave policies, et cetera. Is that at odds with the push that we've also seen from the railroads over the past few years for efficiency, right, for--

JOSEPH SCHOFER: Yes.

- --you know, so how--

JOSEPH SCHOFER: It is at odds.

- How is that gonna resolve?

JOSEPH SCHOFER: Well, it's gonna resolve because this is a typical labor-management conflict. And it has to resolve because the railroads need the workers to function. They're moving more toward automation. And I think that's probably, in the long run, inevitable and probably a good thing.

But there needs to-- each party in this dispute needs to find a compromise. The working conditions are a challenge. And some of the railroads are trying, are experimenting and trying to do better.

I think people that are looking at the industry from the outside, including me, are saying, yeah, you guys you can do better. These working conditions are not good. You can look at what other people have done in the logistics industry. There are examples of developing a better balance and treating employees better.

The stories that I'm hearing from the railroads is that they're desperately trying to hire, and they're not finding the people that are willing to accept the jobs under the current conditions. So current conditions have to change.

- We've also seen some consolidation and attempted consolidation, of course, within the railroad industry. Does that also contribute to potential safety issues? Or do you think that, you know, when you have integration, it can go smoothly and not risk those kinds of things?

JOSEPH SCHOFER: Well, I'm not sure I'm not sure what you mean by consolidation. I mean, you've got the major merger in place-- on the table right now. And my sense is that's likely to go through. And the expectation is that this is the last merger you're gonna see for the foreseeable future.

So I don't see so much consolidation. But I do see a matter of finding a different balance. And consolidation doesn't seem to me to be a huge threat in the sense that the industry has an incentive to be safe.

And mistakes were made. You have this event in East Palestine. It isn't really clear to me that a mistake was made. It looks like the employees on the train-- and there were three operators on the train-- they did the right thing. Maybe they didn't have the right information. And so that's a technological problem that we can solve.

But I guess I don't see a long-term threat here. One of the things you have to keep in mind is if you didn't have, whatever it was, 330 or 350,000 gallons' worth of hazardous materials on that train, how would they have moved? They would have moved in 30 trucks. Would they have been safer? And the evidence is no, they wouldn't have been safer.

- And speaking of hazardous materials, do you see more regulations coming down the line when it comes to transporting hazardous materials via rail?

JOSEPH SCHOFER: It's possible, but I seriously doubt it. I mean, again, my sense is let's try to understand what the causal factors here were and address those causal factors. So I would not jump right away to regulation. It doesn't say that it's gonna happen. But I don't see that as an immediate answer.

Probably, if there's a change in operations and strategy and in regulations, it may be in detecting events as they proceed, that is, to catch this before it happens. But I don't think it's a matter of pulling hazardous materials out of the railroads. One of the things to keep in mind is that railroads have an obligation to serve. They have a common carrier obligation. And within broad limits, they're not in a position to say, no, I won't carry your goods. Their business is to keep the economy going.

So the question is, how do you find a way to assure that? They're motivated to do it. Norfolk Southern is gonna pay a price for this, at least, certainly, a public relations price, if not a monetary price as well. The whole industry will learn from this. Going to more automated detection, yeah, probably a really good idea-- feasible, cost, money, that's fine. It's worth it.

- All right. We'll see what happens. Joseph Schofer, thank you so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it.

Railroad group warns that car flaw could cause derailments


- This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio, are still on fire on Feb. 4, 2023. The major freight railroads announced a number of steps Wednesday, March 8, 2023, that they are taking to improve safety in the wake of last month’s fiery Ohio derailment, but it’s not clear if their actions will be enough to satisfy regulators and members of Congress who are pushing for changes. 

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

JOSH FUNK
Thu, March 9, 2023 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. railroads were warned to take certain cars out of service Thursday after Norfolk Southern discovered loose wheels on a car involved in last weekend's derailment in Ohio.

It's not clear that the loose wheels caused the derailment near Springfield last Saturday because the National Transportation Safety Board has just begun investigating that crash — the latest in a string of high-profile derailments that have been grabbing headlines. But the railroad said the loose wheels on the car could cause a derailment.

Norfolk Southern said in a statement that after the railroad discovered “additional cases of unusual wheel movement,” it acted quickly to notify accident investigators and the rest of the industry. The Association of American Railroads trade group responded Thursday by issuing an advisory about the suspect cars.

The trade group said the problem was linked to new wheel sets that were installed on specialized steel coil cars beginning in August. The association said all of the cars with those wheels should be inspected and have their wheels replaced immediately.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many railcars might be affected or their location, Association of American Railroads spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said.

Railroad safety has been in the spotlight since a fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio last month. Roughly half of the town of East Palestine had to be evacuated after several hazardous materials cars caught fire. The railroad's CEO was answering questions about that wreck at a Congressional hearing on Thursday.

Besides the Springfield derailment, two others have been reported across the country in the past week, although none of those involved hazardous materials.

NO SURPRIZE CAMPAIGN PROMISE

Big Oil Lashes Out At Brazil For Surprise Crude Export Tax

Editor OilPrice.com
Thu, March 9, 2023 

Big Oil majors with operations in Brazil have filed an injunction against a new oil export tax that the Lula da Silva government introduced surprisingly a week ago.

The Brazilian government announced at the start of this month that it would collect taxes on crude oil exports for four months in a bid to offset the effects of an earlier decision to keep fuels tax-exempt, Reuters reported at the time.

That decision, however, was made without consulting the industry and it will increase uncertainty about future investments in Brazil’s oil and gas resources, according to Shell, one of the authors of the injunction, which spoke to Bloomberg.

Shell has been joined by the local subsidiaries of TotalEnergies, Repsol, Equinor, and Portugal’s Galp in fighting back against the government’s decision.

“This measure, which was announced with no significant consultation with the industry, brings uncertainty to new investment decisions, negatively impacting the country’s competitiveness in the upstream sector – one where Brazil carries significant geological potential,” Shell told Bloomberg.

The sentiment was recently expressed by a local oil company executive as well. Decio Oddone, chief executive of Enauta and former head of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, said the tax decision represents a departure from the country’s tradition of respecting contracts.

Oddone said, as quoted by Reuters, that this tradition has been essential for the success of recent oil and gas tenders, which in turn have led to an increase in oil and gas investments.

"This was fundamental for us to be able to attract that amount of investment that we attracted between 2017 and 2020, which allowed the resumption of production," he said.

Even Petrobras, the state energy major, is not a fan of the new levy. Speaking on the sidelines of CERAWeek, the company’s Jean Paul Prates said, as quoted by Bloomberg, that this was not a smart way to solve Brazil’s money problems and that Petrobras exports would suffer from it.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

The Impressive Impact Of Clean Energy Projects On Global Emissions In 2022

Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, March 8, 2023 

According to a recent International Energy Agency (IEA) report, carbon emissions in 2022 rose by less than was feared, largely thanks to a multitude of new green energy projects worldwide. Carbon dioxide emissions worldwide increased by under 1 percent in 2022, or 321 million tonnes, lower than initially anticipated, according to the IEA. This was supported by the growth in solar and wind power, EVs, and heat pumps, as well as greater efforts at increased energy efficiency. Despite a rise in coal and oil use, in response to the global energy crisis, these efforts meant emissions did not rise substantially, particularly compared to the 6 percent increase seen in 2021. Despite the improvement last year, the world’s emissions are still rising in an unsustainable way, threatening the net-zero by 2050 scenario of many countries. Carbon emissions still totaled over 36.8 billion tonnes in 2022. However, the acceleration of renewable energy projects and the rollout of related technologies could support a rapid decrease in CO2 emissions.

And the IEA has made its stance on the oil and gas industry clear, suggesting that greater efforts need to be made to hold oil majors accountable for their impact on climate change. The IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol, explained “we still see emissions growing from fossil fuels, hindering efforts to meet the world’s climate targets. International and national fossil fuel companies are making record revenues and need to take their share of responsibility, in line with their public pledges to meet climate goals. It’s critical that they review their strategies to make sure they’re aligned with meaningful emissions reductions.”

Meanwhile, certain fossil fuels that many countries hoped to be moving away from saw increased use last year in response to the energy crisis. Carbon emissions from coal increased by 1.6 percent, as several countries across Asia used more coal, and states in Europe, such as the U.K., delayed the planned closure of several coal plants. The rise in coal emissions was offset by a 1.6 percent decline in natural gas emissions, thanks to the movement away from Russian gas, which led to stricter usage limits across Europe. However, instead of switching to green alternatives, many countries relied on an increase in coal use.

Nevertheless, the report highlighted some positive achievements in clean energy that have helped reduce emissions significantly. According to the report, an additional 550 million tonnes of emissions were avoided by increased deployment of clean energy technologies, showing the importance of developing the green energy sector at a more advanced rate. The IEA suggested that without the growth that’s been seen in clean energy, the increase in emissions last year would have been almost three times as high.


In 2022, the IEA stated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting global energy crisis, had spurred significant advancements in green energy. The increased momentum in the sector could make renewables the largest source of electricity generation globally by as early as 2025. As such, there is a huge green energy pipeline planned for this year and next, which will help several countries around the globe achieve energy security after a year of great uncertainty.

At the beginning of 2022, the renewable energy pipeline looked bleak due to supply chain disruptions, trade policy uncertainty, inflation, and increasing interest rates. However, due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it quickly became evident that countries worldwide would have to accelerate their green energy investments and timelines to ensure greater energy security. In addition, supply chain disruptions eased throughout the year, supporting this momentum. While several challenges continue into 2023, heightened interest in developing the renewable energy industry, seen through the launch of climate policies, such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will help address these issues.

Worldwide, continued growth is expected across the wind, solar, batteries, CCS, and hydrogen industries. Experts expect the demand for batteries to increase significantly from 2023 onwards, as a vital component to enhancing grid flexibility, as more electricity will be generated from renewables. In terms of the decarbonization of fossil fuel projects, the uptake of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies is expected to rise in 2023, helping to reduce emissions from oil operations.

Several factors are helping drive green energy projects forward including improved cost competitiveness, new climate policies, utility decarbonization, greater residential solar demand, and increased private investment in renewables. In the U.S., a rise in domestic manufacturing will help energy companies contend with supply chain disruptions. This will support the development of several new or revived sectors, such as green hydrogen production, lithium mining, and nuclear power plant development. Traditional renewable energy sources are also seeing rapid growth. The U.S. offshore wind project development pipeline grew to 40 GW across 12 states in 2022, from a total of 42 MW of capacity at present. Approximately 1 GW is currently under construction, with around 19 GW in the permitting phase.

While the IEA reported lower-than-expected carbon emissions in 2022, the organization was quick to quash any complacency that might have come with the results. It warned that carbon emissions need to rapidly decrease for the world to battle the effects of climate change; greater accountability is still needed in the oil and gas industry; and there needs to be an acceleration in green energy production. But with a positive renewable energy pipeline, and the ongoing pressures to reduce fossil fuel use, due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as climate concerns, this positive trend is set to continue.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Smuggled note exposes violence against women in Myanmar jail -lawyers, activists


An undated secret note exposes brutal violence on women inside Myanmar prison

Thu, March 9, 2023

(Reuters) - In early February, four members of an anti-junta group in the Myanmar city of Mandalay said they received a secret, one-page, handwritten note spirited out of a prison that details two days of clashes and beatings of female political prisoners.

The note, received by the "Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee - Mandalay" and since seen by Reuters, provides the first detailed account of a crackdown on defiant female prisoners inside Mandalay's Obo prison that left scores of women injured, according to six activists and lawyers who work with political prisoners.

Two family members of prison inmates contacted the anti-junta group after being told by prison authorities that they couldn't send food and packages to relatives, the four anti-junta group members said.

The group started looking into the matter and, within days, received the note, the four members said.

Two lawyers, two family members of inmates and the human rights minister from Myanmar's exiled parallel civilian government confirmed the information contained in the note. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the note or the details it contains.

A spokesman for Myanmar's military government that has ruled since seizing power in 2021 and two prison department officers did not answer repeated calls over two days from Reuters seeking comment.

The junta has previously denied holding political prisoners, saying people in jail broke the law and were sentenced after due legal process. Human rights organisations have frequently criticised the hearings as kangaroo courts.

Inside the prison, which rights activists say houses some 2,000 political inmates including 330 women, an altercation between an inmate and a prison official on Feb. 3 led to around 150 male prison guards arriving with slingshots, batons and bamboo sticks, the note, written in Burmese, said.

"During that incident, more than 100 female political prisoners were seriously injured including a broken arm, eye injuries and facial bruises," the note said.

The following day, some female prisoners and prison guards faced off again, leading to another bout of violent clashes, according to the note and the lawyers, activists and family members who spoke to Reuters. They said they obtained the information from around a dozen people, including prison wardens, medical staff and inmates.

SERIOUS INJURIES

All four activists declined to reveal exactly how the note was smuggled out, citing risk to individuals involved in the process and fearful that such routes to leak information from inside the prison may be blocked by authorities.

The activists and lawyers said the note, and the details of the clashes on Feb. 3-4 they pieced together from conversations with prison staff and others, afforded a rare insight into what they described as harsh conditions faced by thousands of prisoners across Myanmar under military rule, including women, who are often given limited food and medicines.

The activists, lawyers and family members interviewed by Reuters asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions as they are working inside Myanmar.

In the second week of February, the parallel civilian government said in a social media post that 150 male guards at Obo prison had "violently beaten up" women inmates, supporting the version of events that the activists, lawyers and family members separately provided to Reuters.

Of the 100 female inmates injured in the clashes, all aged between 20 and 35, 21 were seriously injured, including six who were hit in the head, according to activists and lawyers. The smuggled note did not specify injuries or provide such detailed figures.

Myanmar's jails were inundated by new prisoners in 2021 after the junta seized power from the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a wave of protests that has morphed into a guerrilla resistance movement.

Accused by local and international rights activists of rampant abuses in its response, the junta has said that it has a duty to ensure peace and security, and that it is carrying out a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”.

The junta has imprisoned around 16,000 people, more than 3,000 of them women, as of Feb. 28, according to the non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

'THEY USED MEN' TO GUARD WOMEN

Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister in Myanmar's exiled parallel civilian government, said Obo prison authorities had violated prison rules by using male guards to handle female inmates.

"As these people are women prisoners, they have to be handled by women prison guards. But they used men,” he told Reuters, echoing similar allegations made separately by activists and lawyers.

Male guards cannot enter dormitories housing female inmates without the presence of women guards and female inmates cannot be physically beaten, according to a copy of a nationwide prison rule book published in 1992 seen by Reuters.

Reuters could not independently verify if there were any female guards present during the incidents on Feb. 3-4 or if the rule book remains current.

"They used excessive force," Aung Myo Min said, adding that his ministry had investigated the violence at Obo prison. He declined to explain how the investigation was conducted and offered no evidence to support the allegation.

The anti-junta group and two Mandalay-based lawyers who work with political prisoners said those involved in the violence were also denied medical care.

"They refused to give medicines to the injured prisoners after beating them severely. We had to use under-the-table methods to be able to send medicine," one lawyer said. Reuters could not independently verify that information.

After the violence, 72 female political prisoners were isolated from other inmates at Obo and dozens were transferred to other jails without their families being notified, according to three activists, two lawyers and two family members.

(Reporting by Reuters staff; writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; editing by Mark Heinrich and Nick Macfie)

WAGE SLAVERY

S.Korean labour minister defends longer work week as helpful for mothers


Women wearing masks talk at a railway station amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul

Thu, March 9, 2023

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's labour minister said on Thursday that lifting the weekly work hour cap to 69 hours from 52 will give working mothers more choice and help them raise children amid growing concerns over the country’s falling birth rates.

The government says allowing workers to accrue more overtime hours in return for time off later will mean people who want to take longer breaks - such as parents or caregivers - will be able to do so.

“We’ll introduce bold measures to help cut working hours during pregnancy or while raising children,” the minister, Lee Jung-sik, told a media briefing when asked whether the labour reform proposal will help tackle South Korea's fertility crisis.

Critics of the measure, however, have said that the measures will hurt, not help, working mothers and other women.

"While men will work long hours and be exempt from care responsibilities and rights, women will have to do all the care work," the Korean Women's Associations United said in a recent statement.



South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world -- 0.78 in 2022. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday ordered “bold measures” to tackle the country’s fertility rate.

The ministry said the labour reform proposal, first unveiled in December and officially announced on Monday, is part of efforts to bring more labour flexibility and improve work-life balance in a country where many women are forced to choose between their career and raising children.

It would supersede a 2018 law that limited the work week to 52 hours - 40 hours of regular work plus 12 hours of overtime. The Ministry of Employment and Labor said the law had made the labour market more rigid.

While the move has been welcomed by business interest groups, it has been criticized by the opposition and unions as neglecting workers’ rights.

"It will make it legal to work from 9 a.m. to midnight for five days in a row. There is no regard for workers' health and rest," the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a statement.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party with a parliamentary majority, said on Wednesday that his party would block the bill.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Editing by William Maclean)

A VERY REAL CONSPIRACY
Denmark investigates yacht linked to Nord Stream blasts


Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic sea in the area shows disturbance of well over one kilometre diameter near Bornholm

Thu, March 9, 2023
By Nikolaj Skydsgaard

CHRISTIANSÖ in the Baltic Sea, Denmark (Reuters) - Danish police have searched for a yacht on a tiny Baltic Sea island near the Nord Stream pipeline blast sites, the local administrator said on Thursday.

German authorities confirmed on Wednesday they had raided a ship in January that may have been used to transport explosives used to blow up the pipelines.

"The police was searching for a specific boat that had moored here in September," Soren Thiim Andersen, the highest authority on the island of Christiansö, told Reuters.

The Sept. 26 explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines, constructed to supply Russian natural gas to Europe, have become a flashpoint between the West and Russia after last year's Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Authorities in Sweden, Germany and Denmark, who are currently investigating the blasts, say the explosions were deliberate but have not said who might be responsible.

However, this week media reports in the United States and Germany suggested a pro-Ukrainian group could be responsible.

Germany's ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper reported that German authorities were able to identify a boat used for the sabotage operation.

The operation to place explosives on the seabed was carried out by six people, who sailed from Rostock on Sept. 6 and was later located on the Danish island of Christiansö, according to the reports.

Danish police in January searched for information about boats that had docked on Christiansö on Sept. 16-18, interviewing local residents, collecting footage from the harbour, and collected information from the harbour ticket machine, Andersen said.

Danish police declined to comment.

Christiansö is part of a small archipelago about 18 km northeast of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. The archipelago with just 98 inhabitants is a former naval fortress but remains under administration of the Danish defence ministry.

(Additional reporting by Johannes Birkebaek; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen)

A global mystery: What's known about Nord Stream explosions


In this picture provided by Swedish Coast Guard, a leak from Nord Stream 2 is seen, on Sept. 28, 2022. Germany’s defense minister voiced caution Wednesday March 8, 2023 over media reports that a pro-Ukraine group was involved in blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year. 

(Swedish Coast Guard via AP, File)

MATTHEW LEE
Wed, March 8, 2023 

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a major international mystery with global consequences: Who was behind the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year in the Baltic Sea?

The answer has broad implications for European energy security but could also threaten Western unity over backing Ukraine in defending itself from Russia’s invasion. Or, it might shatter Russian and Chinese attempts to fix the blame on a hypocritical West.

Yet, nearly six months after the sabotage on the Russia-to-Germany pipelines, there is no accepted explanation. And a series of unconfirmed reports variously accusing Russia, the United States and Ukraine are filling an information vacuum as investigations into the blasts continue.

A look at the pipelines and what’s known about the explosions.

WHAT ARE THE NORD STREAM PIPELINES?

The pipelines, known as Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, are majority-owned by Russia's state-run energy giant Gazprom and used to transport natural gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic to their termini in Germany.

Nord Stream 1 was completed and came online in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was not finished until the fall of 2021 but never became operational due to the launch of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.

WHY ARE THEY CONTROVERSIAL?

Both pipelines bypass existing routes that go through Ukraine, meaning not only that Ukraine loses income from transit fees but is unable to directly use the gas they carry.

Of perhaps greater concern to the West, the pipelines were seen as a move by Russia to gain further, if not almost complete, control over Europe's energy supplies. Many in the West fear that Russia will use energy as a political weapon against European countries as it has done in the past with former Soviet states.

Despite those concerns and over the objections of the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, the German government under former Chancellor Angela Merkel moved ahead with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 project. The Biden administration waived sanctions against German entities involved in Nord Stream 2 after securing a pledge from Germany that it would allow backflows of gas into Ukraine and would act to shut the pipeline down should Russia try to use it to force political concessions.

After Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, Germany withdrew permission for Nord Stream 2, which had not yet come online.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PIPELINES?

First, Gazprom halted gas flows through Nord Stream 1 on Sept. 2, 2022, citing issues related to European sanctions imposed against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Three weeks later, both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were hit by explosions that rendered them inoperable and caused significant leaks of gas that was idle in the pipelines. Some have said the blasts caused the worst release of methane in history, although the full extent of the environmental damage remains unclear.

The depth of the pipeline and the complexity of using underwater explosives lent credence to the idea that only a state actor with the expertise to handle such an operation could be responsible. But no one claimed responsibility.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosions, U.S. officials suggested Russia may have been to blame while Russia accused the United States and Britain of being behind them. Investigations by European nations, including Denmark, through whose waters the pipeline travels, and Germany have yet to yield conclusive results.

WHAT THEORIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED?

After months of few developments in the probes, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, known for past exposes of U.S. government malfeasance, self-published a lengthy report in February alleging that President Joe Biden had ordered the sabotage, which Hersh said was carried out by the CIA with Norwegian assistance.

That report, based on a single, unidentified source, has been flatly denied by the White House, the CIA and the State Department, and no other news organization has been able to corroborate it. Russia, followed by China, however, leaped on Hersh's reporting, saying it was grounds for a new and impartial investigation conducted by the United Nations.

On Tuesday, though, The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories citing U.S. and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukraine, or at least Ukrainians, may have been responsible. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Germany's Die Zeit newspaper and German public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported that investigators believed that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. German federal prosecutors confirmed that a boat was searched in January but have not confirmed the reported findings.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE FOUND RESPONSIBLE?

The implications of a determination that Ukraine was behind the explosions are not entirely clear. It's unlikely it would result in an immediate loss of Western support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, but it might dampen enthusiasm for future assistance if it was found that Ukraine or its agents carried out such an operation in European waters.

A determination that the United States or a proxy was responsible would give Russia and China additional leverage to go after the U.S. and its allies as hypocrites in their demands for the rule of the law, sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected.

A finding that Russia was behind the explosions would lend weight to Western claims that Moscow is in flagrant breach of international law and willing to use energy as a weapon against Europe.

There is no indication of when the European investigations will be complete — and it seems improbable, given the animosity and mistrust surrounding the Ukraine conflict, that its findings will be universally accepted.

___

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.

China condemns Japanese plan to release Fukushima water

This photo taken during a visit by Associated Press journalists shows some of about 1,000 huge tanks holding treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), in Okuma town, northeastern Japan, on Feb. 22, 2023. Treated radioactive wastewater is set to be released into sea sometime from spring 2023 to summer after required testing and dilution with large amounts of seawater. 

(AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)

Fri, March 10, 2023 

BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday condemned a Japanese plan to release treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, demanding that Tokyo first receive the approval of neighboring countries.

China has made similar complaints on a regular basis in the past, but has not said how it would respond if Japan goes ahead with the planned release.

China, which Japan invaded in the first half of the last century, has been a constant critic of Tokyo and its security alliance with the U.S., with the ruling Communist Party frequently invoking historical wrongs to rally domestic support and seek to undermine Japan’s global standing.

Japan’s behavior is “extremely irresponsible,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Friday.

"I would like to stress that Japan’s release of treated nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima plant concerns the global marine environment and public health, which is not a private matter for the Japanese side,” Mao said.

“Until full consultation and agreement is reached with neighboring countries and other stakeholders and relevant international institutions, the Japanese side shall not initiate the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea without authorization,” she said.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant 12 years ago on March 11, 2011, destroying its power and cooling systems and triggering the meltdowns of three reactors. Massive amounts of radiation were released in the surrounding area.

South Korea, several Pacific Island nations and Japanese fishing communities have also objected to the planned release.

Japanese officials and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the radioactive elements in the water can be reduced to safe levels.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tetsuro Nomura has said he will work to counter any damage from the release to the reputation of the area's seafood industry.

“We will convey the safety of the fish caught in the Japanese sea with scientific evidence,” Japan's Kyodo News quoted Nomura as saying.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

What’s happening at Fukushima plant 12 years after meltdown?


 

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Thu, March 9, 2023 

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — Twelve years after the triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan is preparing to release a massive amount of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea.

Japanese officials say the release is unavoidable and should start soon.

Dealing with the wastewater is less of a challenge than the daunting task of decommissioning the plant. That process has barely progressed, and the removal of melted nuclear fuel hasn’t even started.

The Associated Press recently visited the plant. Here’s an update on what’s happening.

___

HOW ARE WATER DISCHARGE PREPARATIONS PROCEEDING?


During their visit, AP journalists saw 30 giant tanks for sampling and analyzing the water for safety checks. A concrete facility for diluting the water after it is treated and tested is in the final stages of construction. From there, the water will be released via an undersea tunnel.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, aims to have the facilities ready by spring. TEPCO needs a safety approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority. The International Atomic Energy Agency, collaborating with Japan to ensure the project meets international standards, will send a mission to Japan and issue a report before the discharge begins.

___ WHAT IS TREATED WATER?

A magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11, 2011, triggered a massive tsunami that destroyed the plant’s power supply and cooling systems, causing reactors No. 1, 2 and 3 to melt and spew large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the reactors' cores leaked into the basements of the reactor buildings and mixed with rainwater and groundwater.

The 130 tons of contaminated water created daily is collected, treated and then stored in tanks, which now number about 1,000 and cover much of the plant’s grounds. About 70% of the “ALPS-treated water,” named after the machines used to filter it, still contains Cesium and other radionuclides that exceed releasable limits.

TEPCO says the radioactivity can be reduced to safe levels and it will ensure that insufficiently filtered water is treated until it meets the legal limit.

Tritium cannot be removed from the water but is unharmful in small amounts and is routinely released by any nuclear plant, officials say. It will be also diluted, along with other radioactive isotopes, they say. The water release will be gradual and tritium concentrations will not exceed the plant's pre-accident levels, TEPCO says.

___ WHY RELEASE THE WATER?

Fukushima Daiichi has struggled to handle the contaminated water since the 2011 disaster. The government and TEPCO say the tanks must make way for facilities to decommission the plant, such as storage space for melted fuel debris and other highly contaminated waste. The tanks are 96% full and expected to reach their capacity of 1.37 million tons in the fall.

They also want to release the water in a controlled, treated way to avoid the risk that contaminated water would leak in case of another major quake or tsunami. It will be sent through a pipe from the sampling tanks to a coastal pool to be diluted with seawater and released through an undersea tunnel to a point 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) offshore.

__ WHAT ARE THE SAFETY CONCERNS?

Local fishing communities say their businesses and livelihoods will suffer still more damage. Neighboring countries such as China and South Korea and Pacific Island nations have raised safety concerns.

“It would be best if the water isn't released, but it seems unavoidable,” said Katsumasa Okawa, owner of a seafood store in Iwaki, south of the plant, whose business is still recovering. Okawa said he hopes any further setbacks will be short-lived and that the releases might reassure people about eating fish from Fukushima.

“I find those massive tanks more disturbing," Okawa said. "The next time the water leaks out by accident, Fukushima’s fishing will be finished.”

The government has earmarked 80 billion yen ($580 million) to support Fukushima fisheries and to address “reputation damage” from the release.

TEPCO has sought to reassure people by keeping hundreds of flounder and abalone in two groups — one in regular seawater and another in the diluted treated water. The experiment is “for people to visually confirm the treated water we deem safe to release won't adversely affect creatures in reality," said Tomohiko Mayuzumi, TEPCO's risk communicator.

Radioactivity levels in the flounder and abalone rose while they were in the treated water but fell to normal levels within days after they were returned to regular seawater. That supports data showing a minimal effect on marine life from tritium, said Noboru Ishizawa, a TEPCO official overseeing the experiment.

Officials say the impact of the water on humans, the environment and marine life will be minimal and will be monitored before, during and after the releases which will continue through the 30-40 year decommissioning process. Simulations show no increase in radioactivity beyond 3 kilometers (1.8 mile) from the coast.

Scientists say health impacts from consuming tritium and other radioisotopes through the food chain may be worse than from drinking it in water and further studies are needed.

Cross-checks are another concern: TEPCO says water samples are shared with IAEA and the government-funded Japan Atomic Energy Agency, but experts would like to see independent cross-checks.

University of Tokyo radiologist Katsumi Shozugawa said his analysis of groundwater in multiple locations in no-go zones near the plant has shown that tritium and other radioactive elements have been leaking into groundwater.

If highly radioactive water escapes and is dispersed into the sea it becomes impossible to trace, a concern not only for Japan but also for countries in the Pacific, he said. “There should be a continuous, science-based effort to show other countries that it's thoroughly handled, which I think is lacking the most."

Environmental groups including Friends of the Earth oppose the release. They have proposed long-term storage of the water by solidification, as used at the Savannah River waste repository in the U.S.

___ ANY PROGRESS WITH THE MELTED REACTORS? 

Massive amounts of fatally radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the reactors. Robotic probes have provided some information but the status of the melted debris is largely unknown.

Akira Ono, who heads the cleanup as president of TEPCO’s decommissioning unit, says the work is “unconceivably difficult.”

Earlier this year, a remote-controlled underwater vehicle successfully collected a tiny sample from inside Unit 1's reactor — only a spoonful of about 880 tons of melted fuel debris in the three reactors. That's 10 times the amount of damaged fuel removed at the Three Mile Island cleanup following its 1979 partial core melt.

Trial removal of melted debris will begin in Unit 2 later this year after a nearly two-year delay. Spent fuel removal from Unit 1 reactor’s cooling pool is to start in 2027 after a 10-year delay. Once all the spent fuel is removed the focus will turn in 2031 to taking melted debris out of the reactors.

___ IS A 2051 COMPLETION TARGET REALISTIC?

Ono says the goal is a good “guidepost” but too little is known. The government has stuck to its initial 30-40 year target for completing the decommissioning, without defining what that means.

An overly ambitious schedule could result in unnecessary radiation exposures for plant workers and excess environmental damage, said Ryo Omatsu, an expert on legal aspects of nuclear plant decommissioning.

Some experts say it would be impossible to remove all the melted fuel debris by 2051.

___

Follow AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

University of Tokyo radiologist Katsumi Shozugawa speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the university in Tokyo on Feb. 16, 2023. Shozugawa said his analysis of groundwater in multiple locations in no-go zones near the plant has shown that tritium and other radioactive elements have been leaking into groundwater. 

(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

EPA proposes stricter limits on coal plant water pollution

The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed strengthening a rule aimed at reducing polluted wastewater from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

SUMAN NAISHADHAM
Wed, March 8, 2023 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed tighter limits on wastewater pollution from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers across the nation.

Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency sets pollution standards to limit wastewater discharge from the power industry and other businesses. The Trump administration rolled back pollution standards so utilities could use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with guidelines for cleaning coal ash and toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium from plant wastewater before dumping it into waterways.

The Biden administration's proposal for stricter standards at coal-burning plants also encourages the plants to retire or switch to other fuels such as natural gas by 2028.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the plan would particularly benefit low-income communities that have been disproportionately affected by pollution from coal-fired power plants. And it would provide “greater certainty for industry,” Regan said.

The National Mining Association criticized the plan, saying it would force utilities to make decisions ”solely based on EPA's environmental agenda," and called the approach “plainly irresponsible.”

In a call with reporters, Regan said the rule “is not aimed at driving outcomes regarding companies’ investment strategies," but rather “to protect public health.″

The plan would address three types of wastewater generated at coal-fired power plants: from scrubbers that remove pollutants from exhaust systems; water used to flush out boilers at the bottom of a plant; and coal ash ponds that often leach into nearby waterways.

The Biden administration's limits for these waste streams would return to standards set under the 2015 Obama-era rule or exceed them, EPA said.

Coal plants are responsible for as much as 30% of all toxic water pollution from all industries in the United States. The pollution affects aquatic ecosystems, drinking water and recreational waters.

Sierra Club attorney Joshua Smith said the changes were “a big step in the right direction” for forcing hundreds of coal-fired power plants across the country to take responsibility for the pollution that surrounding communities have long borne.

He added that the technologies used to eliminate the discharges highlighted by Biden administration officials have come a long way since a 2015 Obama-era rule that was rolled back under former President Donald Trump.

“At this point, it is cost-effective and technologically feasible for ... coal plants to eliminate those discharges,” Smith said.

Radhika Fox, assistant EPA administrator for water, said the rule would have almost no impact on electricity costs for households. “We estimate a 63 cents per year increase for a typical household,” Fox said.

The proposal includes a carve-out for coal-burning plants that plan to retire or stop burning coal by 2028 — and would allow such plants to continue meeting the 2015 and 2020 rules. The proposal also would extend a deadline for power plants to opt-in to the retirement or fuel-switch plan, "providing flexibility for some plants to cease burning coal earlier than they might otherwise do so,'' the EPA said.

Officials said the EPA plans to issue a final rule in 2024.

Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric companies, said it was still reviewing EPA’s proposal but applauded the agency’s “coordinated and holistic” approach to regulating the power sector.

Administration officials said the new rule would likely force the closure of at least one coal-fired power plant in the country, but did not provide more details.

Coal power usage in the U.S. has dropped dramatically over the past decade thanks to competition from cheaper natural gas, declining prices for renewable energy and environmental regulations. Many plants have been shuttered, and a further 23% of the country's operating coal-powered fleet is scheduled to retire by 2029, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. generated nearly 20% of its electricity in 2022 from coal-fired power plants, according to the EIA.

Thomas Cmar, senior attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, said the rule would “finally force the power industry to do what it should have done decades ago.”

“We urge EPA to finalize the strongest rule possible as quickly as possible, so that power companies will no longer be allowed to profit off of treating our waterways like an open sewer for toxic pollutants,” Cmar said.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this story.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Exclusive-Deutsche Bahn bets on Huawei for railway digitalisation despite security concerns



Fri, March 10, 2023 
By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) -German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which is digitising its operations, last December awarded a 64 million euro ($67.79 million) contract to supply most of the components for its new IP network to a company using technology from China's Huawei.

The IP network will form the backbone of a new digital infrastructure that will enable the state-owned DB to remotely steer all operations in one of the largest rail networks in Europe.

The contract, which has not previously been reported, shows how German firms continue to use Huawei tech in what many consider to be critical infrastructure, despite growing security concerns at home and warnings from ally the United States over the use of Chinese technology.

It also exposes gaps in legislation on the protection of digital critical infrastructure more than a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to declare a "Zeitenwende" or "turn of era" towards a greater focus on security, lawmakers from the ruling coalition told Reuters.

A DB spokesperson told Reuters it followed the reommendations of authorities, but under current IT security legislation it did not have to run network components by Germany's cybersecurity office, the BSI, unlike public telecoms network operators. It said it was up to the contractor - in this case, Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom - to choose the components.

A BSI spokesperson said it was not aware of any law that determined the DB IT systems as "critical components".

No European country currently has legislation against the use of Huawei tech in private corporate networks although Sweden and Britain have legislated against its use in 5G telecoms networks and other countries have urged operators to avoid it.

Germany said this week it was conducting a full review of components deployed by telecoms firms, in a sign it could be taking a more assertive stance.

"If it's true that the company is betting more on Huawei technology, then that raises some serious questions," said Konstantin von Notz, chairman of the parliamentary committee that oversees the intelligence services.

The lawmaker from the Greens junior coalition partner said it was up to this government "to rectify as quickly as possible years of ignorance and massive shortcomings in security policy".

Critics of Huawei say its close links to China’s security services means that use of its technology could give Chinese spies and even saboteurs access to swathes of essential infrastructure.

There is no publicly available evidence Huawei and the Chinese government could actually disrupt networks and both reject claims they represented a security risk. A Huawei spokesperson said the firm would never harm any nation or individual. Operators say it provides top quality components for lower costs than competitors.

"Digital infrastructure is becoming an important battleground in the quest of domination," said Paolo Pescatore, an industry analyst with PP Foresight.

The December contract with Deutsche Telekom Business Solutions is for Huawei tech like switches and routers. These contain software that needs to be regularly updated remotely, potentially allowing for malicious updates, say cybersecurity experts.

DB granted it in an auction just two months after an attack that caused a halt in all train transport in northern Germany for several hours and raised awareness of vulnerabilities in German critical infrastructure.

Several lawmakers told Reuters they suspected a state actor given the sophistication of the attack. Investigators have not yet come to a final conclusion.

EXPANDING REGULATION OF DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The debate over the role of Huawei in Germany has heated up in recent months as the coalition government hammers out a new China strategy document, with the junior Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) coalition partners advocating for a tougher stance than Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD).

Germany, which saw China become its top trade partner under former conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, did pass tighter legislation in 2021 for makers of telecoms equipment for 5G.

Critics say the law, which stopped short of banning Huawei, lacked teeth though and did not require the verification of critical components for digital infrastructure in other sectors.

"It's the task of the state to make the rules clear, it's not up to companies to willingly give up certain providers," said Manuel Hoeferlin, the FDP parliamentary group's spokesperson for internal affairs.

Germany actually became even more dependent on Huawei for its 5G radio access network equipment (RAN) than in its 4G network, according to excerpts of a report shared with Reuters.

The government admitted last month it did not actually have "any conclusive information on the percentual amount of components from Chinese and other producers in German mobile and fixed networks", but said that 40% of the components in one of DB's radio networks were from Huawei.

A government source said it had detected some operators had already built in Huawei critical components without waiting for a BSI green light and could be required to replace those.

Separately, an interior ministry spokesperson told Reuters it was planning on expanding current IT security legislation to cover more infrastructure and working on a law strengthening cybersecurity.

"We have a good legal instrument for 5G," said SPD parliamentary group foreign policy spokesperson Nils Schmid, "but we need to expand it to other critical infrastructure, for example hospitals, electricity providers or the railway."

($1 = 0.9441 euros)

(Additional Reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

Ukrainian activist behind Russian oil embargo blocked from attending top energy conference



Saul Elbein
Fri, March 10, 2023

An award-winning Ukrainian climate activist was barred from a major energy conference the day before it began — after flying to Houston to attend.

Svitlana Romanko, an environmental lawyer, said she had planned to lobby delegates at CERAWeek, — a world-leading energy conference with deep roots in the fossil fuel oil and gas industry hosted by financial analytics firm S&P Global — against further investment in either Russian or U.S. expansions to their gas industries.

“On the false premise of energy security, these companies are trying to lock us into serious climate change,” she said. “But there is no energy security in stranded assets and overcapacity.”

In late February, she bought tickets to the event — which is taking place this week — after S&P Global had confirmed her registration. Then, the night before the conference, she received an email telling her that S&P had canceled her attendance and refunded her money.

“As organizers of this private event, we carefully assess security concerns and may deny entry to individuals or entities who have disrupted prior events,” a spokesperson from S&P Global wrote the Hill.

The Stand With Ukraine movement that Romanko helped launch succeeded in getting Western governments to agree to a Russian oil embargo, for which she won the Center for Biological Diversity’s Rose Braz award.

The activists failed, however, to secure a full ban on Russian gas — a source on which Europe still depends for about 10 percent of its gas and that U.S. officials and executives hope to supplant with “greener” natural gas.

In November, Romanko was also suspended from the U.N. climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, after calling the Russian government and oil executives at a Moscow-sponsored event promoting the country’s petroleum industry representatives of “a terrorist state.”

But her eviction from that conference came alongside rising tensions between activists and oil industry lobbyists, who have been an increasing presence in climate circles, Reuters reported. U.N. security also ejected BBC’s climate editor from the same event after he asked if Russia would “pay for the environmental damage you have caused in Ukraine?”

Despite this history, barring Romanko represented “cowardice” on S&P’s behalf, Simon Taylor, co-founder of the venerable human rights reporting group Global Witness, told The Hill.

“They should have let her in,” Taylor said. “They should have given her a hearing.”

Taylor — who wrote to S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin, a Pultizer-Prize winning journalist covering oil, after Romanko was barred from the event —argued that her presence at the conference would have pushed fossil fuel executives to “get to grips with” two of its most important issues.

First was support for the Russian oil industry — into which U.S. financial institutions still have more than $23 billion invested, according to The Guardian. That funding — along with the continued sale of refined products made from Russian oil by countries like Turkey — “continues to bankroll Putin’s war of mass murder and destruction,” Taylor wrote.

He also pointed to “the elephant in the room, namely the climate crisis — a situation the fossil fuel industry has played such a profound role in creating,” he wrote.

These two issues weave together, however, as the Guardian reported that the $23 billion investment into Russian fossil fuels goes specifically to projects that would each release at least 1 billion metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide — three times the national emission rate from the United Kingdom.

Inside CERAWeek, U.S. presidential climate envoy John Kerry acknowledged that these emissions represented a problem.

“We can’t do it without the oil and gas industry,” he said, referring to U.S. climate goals.

He pointed in particular to the industry’s emissions of virulent climate-pollutant methane, comprising 15 percent of the earth’s emissions. “If they were a nation, they’d be the third-biggest emitter in the world.”

For Romanko, as for many scientists and activists, that huge footprint — coupled with the long lifespan of each new natural gas plant or LNG liquefaction terminal in an era when emissions should be declining — is a reason to avoid further investment in the sector.

Romanko pointed to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s September speech in which he said, “Ukraine can and, I am sure, will become a green energy hub for Europe.”

In that speech, Zelensky painted a vision of Ukraine as a major exporter of renewable electricity to Europe — a goal that the U.S. has been working on “non-stop,” according to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

As Granholm noted last summer, Ukraine had taken a big step down that path when it began sending electricity to the European power grid — even as its forces fought the invading Russian army in the east.

In last September’s speech, Zelensky linked clean electricity and military campaigns.

“It is a very important factor that [the beginning of electricity exports] happened during the war,” he said. “We export, but the scale of cooperation can be hundreds of times larger – imagine the profit for each participant in the energy business.”

The Ukrainian president doubled down on these remarks in January when he told E.U. vice president Frans Timmermans that his administration would focus on “green projects” in reconstructing the nation’s electric grid and cities.

Romanko fears a flood of U.S. natural gas could supplant clean energy progress. Despite harsh criticism from Republicans of Biden’s “war on oil and gas,” the administration is backing plans to build 16 new LNG export terminals on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

She also charged that the demand there for this fuel is exaggerated. A leaked internal analysis from the German government suggests that the country’s embrace of new LNG terminals following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine significantly overestimated the country’s need for the fuel — which is anticipated to fall by a third by decade’s end, Brussels-based news site Euractiv reported last month.

That’s a significant change from 2022, when oil and gas companies finalized 45 deals last year to sell LNG in Europe — three times as many as the previous year, according to a report published in February by Bailoutwatch and Public Citizen.

While “Europe needs alternate sources of gas,” the continent’s buyers were slow to agree to the long-term purchasing agreements that would make an LNG project worthwhile, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said at CERAWeek.

To better promote gas in climate-conscious European markets, the Biden administration wants to certify as “green” gas companies that use lower-emission methods or purchase carbon offsets as lower carbon — easing sales to Europe, as Reuters reported last week.

And with gas demand declining in the U.S., Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-La.) visited Japan this week to promote LNG shipments to that country.

Like many European climate activists, Romanko argues that green gas is an oxymoron, and the increase in supply itself is unnecessary, because it will commit the world to decades of additional planetary heating.

That message increasingly resonates with local organizations fighting gas expansion on the Gulf Coast.

In Louisiana, for example, the state’s embrace of “petrochemicals, export gas terminals and heavy industry has left home values plunging and stores closing next to some of the biggest, richest companies in the world,” the Louisiana Bucket Brigade wrote after Gov. Edwards visited Japan.

In Calcasieu Parish, on the Louisiana coast, the Brigade charged that illegal releases of toxic chemicals were harming citizens and killing off fisheries, The Hill reported.

“What kind of economic development plan prioritizes polluters over families who have lived here for generations?” the group asked.

Representatives of a Texas anti-gas organization took Romanko to visit neighborhoods around the sprawling LNG plant in Freeport, Texas — a town whose population has fallen by 17 percent since 2002.

The plant partially reopened in February after a methane-fueled leak caused a 450-foot fireball in June, The Texas Observer reported.

The abandoned homes around the Freeport LNG plant, Romanko said, reminded her of the Ukrainian city of Mariinka — a town of 10,000 leveled almost entirely in the fighting.

“Only here, it is the own government, against its citizens,” she said. “It’s completely apocalyptic.”

The Hill.