Should EPA Back-Off Pollution Controls to Help LNG Exports Replace Russian Gas in Germany?

Cheniere Energy says the agency’s decision to start enforcing pollution controls on gas turbines is “counterproductive” in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Environmentalists strongly disagree.

The new Cheniere LNG export terminal is across the water, in Louisiana, from the neighborhood of Sabine Pass in Port Arthur, Texas. Credit: James Bruggers

The new Cheniere LNG export terminal is across the water, in Louisiana, from the neighborhood of Sabine Pass in Port Arthur, Texas. Credit: James Bruggers

By James Bruggers Inside Climate News

The nation’s top exporter of liquified natural gas, Cheniere Energy, is using Russia’s war on Ukraine to pressure the Biden administration for a break on regulations aimed at reducing toxic air emissions at its LNG export terminals in Louisiana and Texas.

Environmental advocates are hoping the Biden administration stands firm on its March decision to finally, after nearly two decades, enforce limits on toxic air emissions from certain kinds of gas-powered turbines used in a variety of industrial operations, including the chilling and liquefaction of natural gas at Cheniere’s export terminals on the Gulf Coast for shipment overseas in large tanker vessels.

But Russia’s war in Ukraine has placed enormous counterpressure on the president from the oil and gas industry and its supporters in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, who want U.S. LNG exports to replace Russian gas. Before the war, Russia was supplying about 40 percent of the EU’s gas. 

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Why Germany can’t quit Russian gas

iI would plunge the country’s economy into one of its worst post-financial crisis recessions.

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By Neal Freyman Morning Brew

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU has paid more than $37 billion for Russian energy supplies—a big chunk of that by the bloc’s No. 1 economy, Germany. While pressure is mounting on the country to stop financing Putin’s war efforts with energy purchases, politicians there say the economic toll is just too large to do so immediately.

That toll: The country’s central bank reported yesterday that an embargo on Russian gas would plunge it into a recession. Instead of Germany’s economy growing by 3% this year, it would shrink by 2%, amounting to one of the worst recessions in the country since the financial crisis.

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Why the war in Ukraine generates interest in nuclear energy despite the danger

By Steven Mufson and Claire Parker Washington Post

The war in Ukraine has intensified interest across Europe in building new nuclear energy plants or extending the lives of old ones to liberate the continent from its heavy reliance on Russian oil and natural gas.10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint

Belgium made an about-face, deciding to keep open a pair of reactors slated for closure. The Czech Republic invited Western companies to deliver nuclear fuel to replace Russian supplies. Poland is negotiating to build new reactors in a quiet seaside town. The war has reversed the tenor of the nuclear debate, just when its prospects had seemed to dim.

“They’re all doing it for the same reasons: decarbonization, energy security and national security,” said David Durham, president of Westinghouse’s energy systems business, which as of early April had signed memorandums of understanding with 19 different companies or government agencies in a dozen countries, including Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic.

The heightened interest comes as the war in Ukraine shows the dangers of building nuclear reactors on NATO’s front line. Fighting around Ukraine’s nuclear sites raised alarms about damage that enemy troops, drones and missiles might inflict on installations — damage that could lead to radiation releases, which have been linked to a range of cancers years later.

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Highly pathogenic bird flu reported in Pennsylvania

From the Morning Call

The first case of highly pathogenic bird flu has been found in Pennsylvania, the state Department of Agriculture said Saturday.

The case was found in a flock of chickens at a poultry farm in Lancaster County, the department said.

The strain of avian influenza, or HPAI, is highly contagious and can be fatal to domestic birds. Poultry and eggs are safe to eat if cooked properly.

So far no human cases of bird flu have been detected in the United States, and there is no immediate threat to public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Other HPAI cases have been confirmed in South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Kentucky, Indiana, New York and Maine. Symptoms in birds include sneezing, coughing, walking or swimming in circles, and swelling of the legs and feet.

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27 million square feet of new warehouse space forseen for the Lehigh Valley in 2022

The Lehigh Valley Real Estate Development Outlook and Awards

Tony Iannelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, addresses the crowd Thursday, April 14, 2022, during The Lehigh Valley Real Estate Development Outlook and Awards, presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, at the Delta Hotel by Marriott in Breinigsville. (Rick Kintzel/The Morning Call)1 / 12

By EVAN JONES Morning Call

Optimism certainly wasn’t in short supply during the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Outlook program. Thursday’s presentation featured plenty of lofty numbers as the Valley’s economy continues to recover from the COVID downturn.

Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said the region could see more than 27 million square feet of new warehouses approved by the end of this year.

Of that number, she said, 11.1 million square feet were added to the pipeline for the first quarter of 2022.

By comparison, over the last five years, 27.3 million square feet of new warehouse space has been approved by local governments in the Valley.

Speaking in the ballroom of the Delta Hotel by Marriott in Upper Macungie Township, Bradley emphasized that those numbers were for Lehigh and Northampton counties alone, and did not include data from surrounding counties that are incorporated by other analysts.[More Business] ‘This is safety. This is economics’: A week after the stretch of Route 611 closes, Delaware Water Gap businesses, officials push for repairs »

Of course, there was growth in other sectors, including housing, which can’t be built fast enough for a growing population. LVPC figures have 5,746 residential units reviewed in 2021, the most since 2007, and 1,332 more have been proposed so far this year.

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