Europe can break free from Russian dominance in the energy sector and Poland could lead the charge, but its policymakers must first reject the anti-fossil fuel mindset of the United Nations, according to U.S. climate skeptics who attended the international body’s latest climate change conference in Katowice, Poland.
As the U.N.’s 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (also known as COP24) drew to a close last week, updated scientific research debunking alarmist positions on climate is gradually gaining traction. But with media attention largely focused on the U.N.’s latest global warming report and its dire predictions of severe weather attached to climate change, it remains a challenge to convince the public that restrictions on the use of fossil fuels would result in more harm than good over the long term.
Yet there are some encouraging signs in the form of natural gas import terminals opening in parts of Europe that are being configured to receive U.S. liquified natural gas.
Poland’s state-run natural gas company has just announced the formation of a new 20-year contract with a U.S.-based company to provide Poland with up to 2 million tons of LNG on an annual basis. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said in public statements that the deal with the U.S. was done in part to free Poland from its reliance on Russia’s Gazprom oil company. Ireland is also moving forward with its own plans to construct an LNG terminal to receive U.S. natural gas shipments in County Kerry and the Port of Cork. Ideally, Europe should also work to develop its own natural gas resources but environmentalists have worked successfully to block the process of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, which can be used to unleash natural gas deposits. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.
There is a growing awareness on the part of European leaders that Russia has been colluding with environmental groups for the purpose of spreading disinformation against fracking. Even if the European public is uncertain about what the latest science says about climate change, they don’t need to be convinced of Russia’s aggressive inclinations and its desire to subjugate neighboring countries.
Further exposure of Russia’s efforts to block natural gas development and its relationship with environmental groups that receive Russian funding for the purpose of spreading disinformation could prove to be a gamechanger. This exposure could come from inside the U.S.
The Institute for Energy Research, a non-profit group based in Washington, D.C., that favors free-market solutions for energy policy, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with President Trump’s Treasury Department that “seeks certain correspondence and related records discussing Russian funding of environmental pressure groups’ advocacy in the United States.” The request was filed in October, but the department has not yet turned over any information responsive to the FOIA. As I previously reported, Rep. Lamar Smith, the outgoing chairman of the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has asked the Treasury Department to investigate the “paperless money trail” that flows from President Vladimir Putin’s Russian government into U.S. environmental groups. Treasury officials have acknowledged receiving the letter, but it’s not clear what actions they are taking.
If the FOIA does break loose new information highlighting the financial connection between environmental activists and the Russian government, the public would likely develop a more jaundiced view of environmental campaigns directed against fracking.
Craig Rucker, the president of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT, a Washington, D.C.,-based organization, attended the COP24 conference with several of his colleagues. CFACT favors free-market energy policies and opposes the U.N. climate change policy agenda. Rucker makes the point that environmental groups have a large international reach that deserves more scrutiny and attention. He favors congressional action that would strengthen the Foreign Agents Registration Act to the point where environmental groups working to advance the interests of foreign nations from inside the U.S. would be compelled to disclose these connections.
“Many of the environmental groups here for the U.N. conference are acting out of a sense of desperation because they can see the stars are not aligning for them,” Rucker said, adding:
James Lakely, the director of communications for the Heartland Institute, another U.S.-based free-market group that was in attendance in Katowice to challenge the U.N. position on climate change, sees enormous energy potential for Poland and for other European nations. The Heartland Institute is the co-sponsor of a series of reports that identify natural influences as opposed to human activity as the primary drivers of climate change. The latest in the series was publicly released in Katowice during the COP24 conference. Heartland has also published several commentaries and reports disputing what it describes as “persistent myths about fracking.”
“The dawn of a fracking revolution in Poland would be most welcome,” Lakely said. “It would mean natural gas reserves for generations. In the meantime, Poland should take as much natural gas from the United States as it can get. Every bit of U.S. natural gas is from a friend and ally. Every bit of natural gas from Russia is not nearly as pure.”
Kevin Mooney (@KevinMooneyDC) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an investigative reporter in Washington, D.C. who writes for several national publications.
