PUTIN IS FUNDING GREEN GROUPS TO DISCREDIT NATURAL GAS FRACKING
BY KEVIN MOONEY ON 7/11/17 AT 12:44 PM
Forget about allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections for a moment, or even “collusion” between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives.
The real action is in the European and U.S. energy markets, according to a letter from two Texas congressmen to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that details what they call “a covert anti-fracking campaign” with “little or no paper trail.”
The Daily Signal obtained a copy of the June 29 letter to Mnuchin from Reps. Lamar Smith and Randy Weber, both Republicans who chair energy-related House panels. (See the full letter below.)
Smith and Weber quote sources saying the Russian government has been colluding with environmental groups to circulate “disinformation” and “propaganda” aimed at undermining hydraulic fracturing. Commonly called fracking, the process makes it possible to access natural gas deposits.
 Protesters at an anti-fracking demonstration in Oakland, California, February 7, 2015.ELIJAH NOUVELAGE
The sources include a former secretary-general of NATO, who is quoted by the GOP congressmen as saying:
Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations—environmental organizations working against shale gas—to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas.
[ The European anti-fracking movement succeeded in getting fracking banned in France and is agitating it everywhere, especially in Europe. Russian govt revenue comes about 50% directly from o&g exports. ]
This anti-fracking campaign seizes upon environmental issues and health concerns that could be used to constrain U.S. drilling and fracking exercises, the letter explains.
Gazprom, a large Russian oil company, stands to benefit if Russian-funded environmental activism results in reduced levels of fracking and natural gas production in the United States, Smith and Weber tell Mnuchin. They write:
It is easy to see the benefit to Russia and Gazprom that would result from a reduction in the U.S. level of drilling and fracking—a position advocated for by numerous environmental groups in the U.S.
Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, joined Weber, chairman of that panel’s energy subcommittee, in calling on the treasury secretary to investigate whether Russia works with American environmental activists to prevent the U.S. from developing its natural gas resources.
Top U.S. government officials who have acknowledged the connection between Russian and environmental groups include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.
In 2014, Clinton delivered a “private speech” in which she discussed Russia’s financial support for environmental groups, the letter says. The speech was included in documents released by WikiLeaks, it says.
An Oct. 10, 2016, report in The Washington Times quoted Clinton as saying:
We [the State Department and the U.S. government] were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand up against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of that money supporting that effort was coming from Russia.
Contrary to what Russia’s propaganda machine and its environmental allies have told news consumers in Europe and America, fracking is safe, effective, and enormously beneficial, Nick Loris, an economist and energy policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, said in an email to The Daily Signal.
“If successful, an anti-fracking campaign is depriving Americans of good-paying jobs and affordable, dependable energy,” Loris said. “Despite smears and outright lies from environmental activists, smart drilling and energy extraction technologies have been proven to be safe.”
“It feels like every week a new study is published, confirming what we already know,” he said. “Hydraulic fracturing does not contaminate drinking water. The facts and history of hydraulic fracturing, a history that dates back more than half a century and over 1 million fracked wells, indicate that many of the fears associated with the process are grossly exaggerated or flat-out unsubstantiated.”
Loris added:
The good news, however, is that the anti-fracking campaign really hasn’t been all that successful in ‘keeping it in the ground.’ The U.S. is the world’s largest petroleum and natural gas producer, and we can thank fracking and American energy companies for it.
The result is that money is going back into bank accounts of hardworking families through lower energy bills, and American businesses are more competitive because of lower input costs. And we’re in a position to supply our allies with power, significantly reducing the ability of any one nation’s ability to manipulate energy markets for political gain.
In their letter to the treasury secretary, Smith and Weber also say the Russians have been able to advance their strategy without “a paper trail.”
They pass along reports that Russia apparently funnels the money through a Bermuda-based “shell company” known as Klein Ltd.
Tens of millions of dollars are moved from Russia through Klein “in the form of anonymous donations” to a U.S.-based nonprofit called the Sea Change Foundation.
The money, the congressmen write, then is moved in the form of grants to U.S. environmental organizations.
Here is their opening of their letter to Mnuchin:
 SMITH, WEBER LETTER TO MNUCHIN RE RUSSIA AND GREEN GROUPS BY THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ON SCRIBD.
For the complete letter, link here to Smith, Weber Letter to Mnuchin re Russia and Green Groups by The Heritage Foundation on Scribd.
newsweek.com
Putin’s revenge—anti-fracking protests in Europe
qz.com
Russia Pushes Western Anti-Fracking Movement
Few things scare Vladimir Putin, the Russian head of state who routinely poses with his shirt off, flies airplanes to douse the fires threatening the lives of millions of Russians, shoots Siberian tigers with tranquilizer guns, and still finds time to steal Super Bowl rings. However, there is one thing the leader of Russia, an 8th degree black belt, actually fears: hydraulic fracturing. This technology, also known as “fracking,” has revolutionized the way oil and natural gas are produced in the United States, which is likely why Putin has gone to great lengths to discredit this new technology and attempted to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the world.
Putin’s fear of fracking, from a purely logical standpoint, makes perfect sense. Russia is a petro-state, a nation dependent on the sale of oil and natural gas to keep its government, and economy, afloat.
According to the Energy Information Administration, 50 percent of Russia’s federal budget revenue in 2013 came from mineral extraction taxes and export customs duties on oil and natural gas, and the prospect of low oil and natural gas prices for the foreseeable future threatens to push the Russian economy into a recession.
Fracking has transformed the United States into the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world, nearly doubling U.S. crude production since 2008. Other nations, such as Poland, have sought to replicate this success, and if fracking were to spread to European nations such as Bulgaria, France, Germany, and Ukraine, Russia would see its largest markets for natural gas exports disappear.
This reality is surely not lost upon the Kremlin, and it may be a key reason why RT, formerly known as Russia Today, Russia’s state-funded international television news network, which Time magazine describesas the Kremlin’s most sophisticated propaganda machine,has been a consistent echo chamber for anti-fracking sentiments. As noted by theSpectator (UK), “RT is an enthusiastic reporter of almost any protest against fracking anywhere, reflecting the interest of the Russian state and Gazprom in discouraging competition and keeping energy prices high.”
Another feature of RT’s coverage of the hydraulic fracturing debate has been to sensationalize the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing in the United States. The network is far less critical of the fracking operations in Siberia; in fact, RT hailed fracking in the region as a “Shale Revolution,” and “ an important element of our growth strategy.”
Few people will likely be shocked by this double standard, especially since RT has a direct line to the Kremlin. While RTis an obvious anti-fracking mouthpiece for Russian oil and gas interests, there is speculation Russia may be influencing the debate on fracking in less direct ways, as well.
The journal Foreign Policy reports Anders Fogh Rasmussen, then-Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stated, “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engage actively with so-called non-government organizations—environmental organizations working against shale gas—obviously to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”
Additionally, the magazine reports, “Researchers working on the ground in Central and Eastern Europe say there is plenty of anecdotal evidence, if no smoking guns, of Russian financial support for some environmental groups that have recently mobilized opposition to shale gas development.”
Putin may be a showoff, but he’s no dummy. He realizes most of his geopolitical power comes from his almost-exclusive ability to export energy to European markets. With American oil flooding the market and the prospect of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States growing ever-nearer, the Kremlin’s is actively working to protect its self-interest and prevent fracking from spreading to other nations that depend on Russian resources.
But will the Obama administration and U.S. press investigate those efforts and report on them? That’s one thing Putin probably need not fear.
spectator.org |
