Congress Considers about 10 Bills against Russian Energy Sector

U.S. Department of State called Nord Stream 2 pipeline an instrument of the Russian state to increase dependency and have coercive effect on importing countries There are about 10 bills at the U.S. Congress which include Russian energy as a key component and its export capacity to reduce European dependency from Russian energy, said Assistant Secretary Francis Fannon from Bureau of Energy Resources. “I think there’s something like 10 bills out there, all of which include Russian energy as a key component” said Francis Fannon and added that “we can’t comment at this time on any particular bit of legislation, but we are tracking it quite closely”. The first to consider by the Congressmen is a nonbinding resolution expressing opposition to the building of the pipeline to deliver Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. “We anticipate that Congress’ resolve on this issue and going after the Russian energy exports sector will only increase subsequent to that”, said Fannon. “U.S. position is pretty clear. We oppose Nord Stream 2 and we would call on all parties to exit the project”, he said. According to him, Nord Sreeam 2  is an instrument of the Russian state to increase dependency and have coercive effect on importing countries. U.S. opposition to Nord Stream 2 is rooted in our abiding concern that the pipeline presents broad geostrategic threats to Europe’s security, a point that we have consistently conveyed to leaders across the continent, noted Fannon. Fannon stressed that “diversification” of energy is the key to preserving Europe’s energy independence. He mentioned several projects aimed at achieving this goal, in particular the construction of a connecting pipeline (interconnector) between Greece and Bulgaria, the synchronization of the Baltic grids with continental Europe and the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) on the island of Krk in Croatia. “That terminal could import LNG from a wide range of suppliers. It allows for broader diversification away from Russian sources, in particular for Hungary”, said Fannon. Source: golos ameriki