Its happening: Ukraines dependency on Russia for fuel is spurring talk (from people significant enough to be quoted by NBC News, below) about the need for the U.S. to export oil AND gas to Europe, and the need for Europeans to return to nuclear (Germany) along with a new emphasis on fracking for gas (all over Europe). In other words, any semblance of a sane fuel policy--a sane climate policy--is expendable in order to keep the Russian bear at bay. I dont buy the logic. Its a convenient way to reinstall gung-ho petro macho, to trash renewables, to reinforce fossil world when smart policies--like keeping as much carbon in the ground as possible--are becoming widely seen as obvious common sense. Now, thanks to the Ukraine crisis, trumped-up in my opinion, American & European carbon must come OUT of the ground as FAST as possible to save Europe from Putins land grabs. Smart people disagree with my views, yup, even really liberal friends here in the Athens of North America are talking about Cold War street cred, blah blah blah. But thats just plain nonsense. So, what to do. Run screaming into the night tearing out hair? Sure. Why not? ACCORDING TO NBC NEWS: Heisbourg said, You have on the table in the United States the issue of: Are you going to export hydrocarbons or not? And the Europeans have on their table: are we going to stop our silliness about shutting down existing sources of production of energy – nuclear energy in Germany -- and preventing ourselves from exploring new sources of energy like unconventional (shale) gas. This, I understand, will be a significant element of the EU-US summit in Brussels this week which will follow The Hague meetings. “This is truly of the essence if, over the next two years, we want to un-build the strategic dependency of Europe on Russian gas, Heisbourg said.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 14:42:35 +0000
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