HARMFUL CONGRESSIONAL NORD STREAM SANCTIONS 2020

A bipartisan group of senators are planning to extend U.S. sanctions against Gazprom PJSC’s Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline being constructed between Russia and Germany. These sanctions are in addition to those added last year, in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

Senator Ted Cruz, one of the lead sponsors of the new legislation (called 'Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act'), said the pipeline poses “a critical threat to America’s national security and must not be completed.”

The new legislation would expand the original sanctions to include penalties on parties involved in pipe-laying activities, not just pipe laying, and on parties providing underwriting services, insurance or reinsurance for the vessels.

These sanctions are a case study of what not to do. Sanctions against the pipeline do not make very much sense, considering that the vast majority of the pipeline has been completed.

Reports from the end of 2019 suggested 94% of the pipeline has already been laid, with just 160 kilometers of the construction left. (DW, 12-26-19). And that was from 2019, so it's probably even further along than that.

Russia also claims that it is capable of completing the pipeline by itself (DW, 12-26-19).

So it is clear that these sanctions will not damage the pipeline. They will only damage relations between the U.S. and Russia. These sanctions will also antagonize Germany, which is dependent on Russia for much of its gas needs. Many German businesses are heavily relying on this pipeline to be built.

Earth Future Action is firmly against these sanctions.

EARTH FUTURE ACTION

HARMFUL CONGRESSIONAL NORD STREAM SANCTIONS 2020