The Nord Stream Pipeline Repair Dilemma
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Who did not sign onto to reducing the methane pledge?
Fulfilling the Global Methane Pledge: “polluter pays”, more electrification, less gas At COP26 the U.S. and the EU led a global pledge to slash methane emission by 30% by 2030 . Methane makes up at least one-quarter of all greenhouse gases, and is more than 80 times more damaging than CO2 over a 20-year period. Success in cutting these emissions would be a major step towards meeting our 1.5°C goals. But far from declining, 2020 saw methane emissions grow at the fastest rate in 40 years . The increased use of natural gas (mostly made up of methane) to supplant coal is likely to see that rise continue. Bruce Robertson at IEEFA summarises the global scale of methane emissions before looking at the most straightforward solutions. They include “polluter pays” fees implemented in the U.S. alongside proven methane leakage solutions . Rapid electrification , too, will reduce the need for natural gas in the first place. Robertson also argues the case that gas should not be considered a transition fuel , saying a full lifecycle calculation makes it a high-emitter of greenhouse gases.
This week our friends and allies, the U.S. and European Union and partners, formally launched the Global Methane pledge, an initiative to reduce global methane emissions.
In all, more than 100 countries representing 70% of the global economy and nearly half of anthropogenic methane emissions have now signed the pledge.
The global methane pledge commits signatories to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and is worse for the climate than coal over the short term. It is more than 80 times more powerful than CO2 on a 20-year view. Methane is the principal component of what is branded “natural gas”.
Twenty years is the critical timeframe for reaching the Paris Agreement target of halting temperature rises to less than 1.5°C, a trajectory the world is sorely missing at the moment.
Methane emission reduction is vital to curbing the worst effects of climate change. It makes up at least one-quarter of all greenhouse gases .
Methane from the oil and gas supply chain accounts for 23% of emissions , while coal mining accounts for 12% .
Far from declining, during 2020 methane emissions grew at the fastest rate since records began in 1982, despite it being a COVID-19 recession-affected year.
Since 1990, methane emissions have grown by a considerable 25%. It is little wonder a global methane pledge has become a necessity
This year, it is expected that methane emissions will continue to rise at an even faster rate as the production of the highest fossil fuel emitters — oil, gas and coal — has recovered.
The easiest way to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030
It is highly unlikely that signatories have already created detailed roadmaps on how they will reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 as the global methane pledge dictates.
There are however some easy-to-implement measures they could use that will quickly reduce methane (or as it is commonly called, “natural gas”) consumption and hence emissions.
In many countries, it is now cheaper to heat a home with renewable electricity and more efficient to heat hot water with a heat pump and cook with an induction cooktop.
“Cutting methane emissions is the best way to slow climate change over the next 25 years.” Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP
Some governments have already implemented programs to encourage a switch of energy that will result in reduced methane emissions.
The U.S. for example has implemented a methane leak fee on gas that doesn’t reach the customer, of up to US$1,500/tonne. This will encourage the gas industry to clean up their business, reduce venting and fix municipal and supply chain gas leaks.
Essentially, the U.S. has recognised that to meet its climate change commitments, it has to tackle the methane issue. The U.S. gas industry has struggled to secure capital in recent years and has been unprofitable for most of the past decade.
The methane leakage fee is a “polluter pays” fee. It will have little effect on the economics of gas in the U.S. as gas prices have risen so strongly that it will be comfortably absorbed.
With pre-existing technology, a 75% reduction in methane from the oil and gas sector is possible; 50% of this could be done at zero net cost.
Using basic measures, signatories could comfortably achieve the global methane pledge.
Methane – or gas – cannot be a transition fuel any longer, anywhere in the world
As IEEFA has previously noted, methane is a significant danger to the climate and governments are only just waking up to its powerful effects, especially in light of the need to reduce emissions in the necessary short 2030 timeframe.
Over the years, governments around the world have fallen for the marketing line run by the gas industry that gas is a “transition” or “bridge” fuel. It is not. Taking the full lifecycle into account, gas is a high-emitting fuel.
China, Russia and India are among the top six global emitters of methane. Clearly their non-participation in the pledge to reduce methane is not helpful.
China is the world’s largest methane emitter. It is expanding the use of all fuels – including renewable energy – as it rapidly develops.
Russia is a massive “natural gas” producer and, via the Power of Siberia pipeline, major supplier to Europe –and increasingly to China. As such, gas is a major foreign exchange earner for Russia, and the methane pledge rubs up against its historically weak climate change commitments.
As a fast developing nation, India has clearly defined targets to produce 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030. Despite its rapidly growing renewables investments, India sees gas as a lower emitting fuel. Gas has less particulate pollution and is a relatively cleaner burning fuel compared to coal, wood or dung, but it is not clean on a lifecycle basis due to venting, flaring and gas leaks across the supply chain.
Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of LNG, also didn’t participate in the methane reduction pledge. Instead, the Australian Government is continuing to push through a “gas-fired recovery” post COVID-19, heavily subsidising companies in the production of gas and LNG and attempting to open up new gas fields in almost every state and territory. Instead of reducing emissions, the Government wants to see the gas industry – and emissions – grow.
That a major methane emitter — the U.S. — has signed up and led the initiative along with Europe is very positive, as is the inclusion of top emitters Brazil and Indonesia. Three of the top six emitters have signed the pledge, which is a great way to begin.
As with all pledges, they start with a few interested countries. We expect membership of the methane pledge to gather momentum over time, and in-country strategies to develop to move out of oil and gas extraction.
Fulfilling the Global Methane Pledge: “polluter pays”, more electrification, less gas - Energy Post
A Swedish newspaper claimed that RAND came up with a plan to provoke Russia into attacking Ukraine to damage Germany
https://www.rt.com/news/562911-rand-corp-ukraine-plot/
Link to the Swedish newspaper report:
A document signed RAND, under the opening heading of “Weakening Germany, strengthening the U.S.”, suggests that there is an “urgent need” for an influx of resources from outside to maintain the overall American economy, but “especially the banking system”.
The 'fake' report (pdf):
West’s Desperate Play for War – Blowing Up The Pipelines
The sabotage of the Nord Stream Pipelines was most likely accomplished with US intelligence. Not only is the Biden Administration intent on ending fossil fuels, but this was a strategic maneuver on how to wage war. Just as adversaries would counterfeit each other’s currencies in a desperate measure to undermine their economy to strip them of the ability to fund the war, blowing up these pipelines was a deliberate blow to inflict a death blow to the Russian economy they believe they have Putin on the ropes. Ending Russia’s #1 income, energy, they believe will undermine Putin and lead to a domestic revolution. The problem for the Russian people is that the West will NEVER accept Russia as an equal member. They indeed want to kill the bear completely.
Naturally, there are those claiming Russia blew up the pipelines. Just before this sabotage, Putin said to lift the sanctions and he will return the gas flow as reported on September 7th, 2022. There was NO POSSIBLE WAY that Putin sabotages those pipelines for that was his bargaining chip. That is now gone. He cannot now say lift the sanctions and I will turn on the gas. This was done by the climate zealots who have control of most Western governments. To even blame Russia is in reality proof that they know that this was a strategic play by the West most likely carried out with US intelligence.
The Minsk Agreement brokered by Germany and France was to allow the Donbas to vote on their separation from Ukraine. The West has totally renigged on all of that and this is intentional for the objective here is this Great Reset and the end of fossil fuels. Khruschev grew up there in the Donbas and was in charge of Kiev rebuilding it after World War II before he rose to the leadership of Russia. His successor was Brezhnev who was also born there in the Donbas. This has been occupied by the Russian people since the days of the Tsars. The border of Ukraine was NEVER Ukraine as a nation state. It was Drawn solely by Khruschev for administrative purposes. The Donbas and Crimea were always predominantly Russian
The West simply refuses to recognize that the people in that region are Russian and would naturally vote to join Russia for they are hated by the Ukrainians. In 2014, it was the West that installed a “temporary” government in Ukraine which was UNELECTED and they immediately upon orders from the USA, launched a civil war and attacked the Donbas.
This is so unnecessary and I cannot imagine any world leader before Biden would have DELIBERATELY set the stage for war with Russia. The problem is, Biden is not mentally competent. The climate zealots are running the White House. All they care about is destroying the world’s capacity to produce and utilize fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, our computer has NEVER been wrong on these major trends. It is the ONLY unbiased means of seeing the future for it is not based upon any human opinion for that is all any analyst has at his disposal right now. There is no question that these climate change zealots are out of control. They will kill more people than Marx could ever have imagined. World War III is materializing if we like it or not. We so desperately need a political revolution and vote these people out of their offices to overthrow all of these climate zealots controlling world leaders from behind the teleprompters to even hope to reduce the amplitude of what is on the horizon.
I have met and advised many world leaders. NEVER in my 40-year career have I EVER witnessed such an absurd group of world leaders who are just hurling the world into a major global war all over fossil fuels. There are no peacemakers. Like Biden, all they are doing is reading the word written by someone else. Biden is incompetent and will lead the world into disaster and the real sad part about it, he is clueless as to the risks he is putting the entire population of the world in over fossil fuels.
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From May 27
Ukraine has demanded that Germany either halt or severely curtail natural gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the head of Ukraine’s gas system operator said on May 27.
Serhiy Makogon said the Ukrainian gas transmission system and Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz have sent an appeal to the German Economy Ministry and the German regulator on the suspension of gas from Nord Stream 1.
Ukraine is willing and able to provide an alternative transport route to the pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea, Makogon said on Ukrainian television.
Russia may be able to fix the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were damaged earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Sunday.
“There are technical possibilities to restore the infrastructure, it requires time and appropriate funds. I am sure that appropriate opportunities will be found,” Novak told Russia 1 TV.
According to the official, however, the first step should be to determine who is behind the incident.
“As of today, we proceed from the fact that it is necessary, first of all, to figure out who did it, and we are sure that certain countries, which had expressed their positions before, were interested in it. Both the US and Ukraine, as well as Poland at one time said that this infrastructure is not going to work, that they will do everything to make sure of it, so, of course, it is necessary to seriously look into it,” Novak stated.
Citing German security services, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper earlier reported that the damaged routes could be permanently out of use if they are not repaired quickly, as salt water could cause corrosion.
The Danish authorities reported leaks on both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on Monday after a local pipeline operator noted a loss of pressure following a series of undersea explosions in the area. The Danish Energy Agency reported earlier on Sunday that the pressure on the Nord Stream 1 is stable and the gas leakage is over, while on Saturday, it said the Nord Stream 2 also stopped leaking gas.
The incident is widely considered to be the result of sabotage. Russia has called it a terrorist attack. While those behind it have not yet been identified, Moscow has blamed the US.
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Nord Stream gas leak investigation
29 Sep, 06:07
Nord Stream repair may take at least six months, says lawmaker
Four Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks have been uncovered, with the most recent one being pinpointed by Sweden’s coast guard
Head of the State Duma Energy Committee Pavel Zavalny
© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS
YUZHNO-SAHALINSK, September 29. /TASS/. Repairing the ruptures that occurred on the lines of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines may take more than six months, Pavel Zavalny, who heads the State Duma’s (lower house) Committee on Energy, believes.
In his opinion, there are two ways to fix the damage: making a caisson (a watertight chamber used in underwater construction work or as a foundation - TASS), or hoisting the gas pipelines to the surface.
"One way is to manufacture a caisson that will be brought to the pipe. Work will be carried out in the caisson to either replace the pipe or fix it. The depths allow this. Of course, a complex engineering underwater structure would have to be created. That being said, the timeframe - the design, manufacturing and the works - all this would take not just months but even longer. The second option is lifting [the pipes]," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Sakhalin Oil and Gas forum on Thursday.
According to him, raising the gas pipeline to the surface would require cranes with a lifting capacity of 3,000 tons.
"As part of the design of these gas pipelines, the risks of its work being disrupted were factored in, and, accordingly, the possibility of repairs was taken into account. Therefore, the pipe was laid in such a way that would make it possible to hoist it up. This will also take time, technical equipment, cranes, ships, and so on. But, in my opinion, technically it is possible. It may take a long time, it's not a month or two, it's six months or a year, at least," Zavalny explained.
He noted that the decisive factor in choosing options is the availability of ship equipment to carry out repairs.
"Probably, these pipe-laying vessels are under sanctions, so they simply won't be allowed to be used to repair the gas pipeline," the legislator admitted.
Nord Stream pipeline ruptures
Four Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks have been uncovered, with the most recent one being pinpointed by Sweden’s coast guard.
Earlier, the Nord Stream AG company reported that three threads of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 offshore gas pipelines had suffered unprecedented damage on Monday. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow was "deeply concerned about the news" and did not rule out that the pipelines’ operation could have been disrupted by an act of sabotage. Swedish seismologists later reported that two explosions had been recorded along the Nord Stream pipelines on Monday.
The UN Security Council will discuss the situation with the pipelines at a meeting on September 30 convened at Russia’s request. The Danish Energy Agency reported that a large amount of gas had spilled into the sea. Aircraft and ships are barred from approaching the site any closer than five nautical miles.
Nord Stream gas leak investigation
Novak considers possible repair of Nord Stream, with time and funds required
Four Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks have been uncovered, with the most recent one being pinpointed by Sweden’s coast guard
Read more
](Novak considers possible repair of Nord Stream, with time and funds required - Business & Economy - TASS)
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According to experts, explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines that run from Russia to Europe could lead to extraordinary damage to the environment due to leakage of natural gas found on the surface of the Baltic Sea.
Methane, a greenhouse gas many times more environmentally harmful than carbon dioxide, found in the leakage of the Nord Stream pipeline ruptures could result in the biggest release of greenhouse gas into the water and atmosphere on record, potentially turning into a climate disaster.
More than one hundred thousand metric tons of natural gas are bubbling on the surface of the Baltic Sea over a one-kilometer area. Experts say that around ninety percent of the leak is comprised of methane with potentially catastrophic effects on climate.
The volume of methane within the leak is as much as five times more than the methane which escaped into the environment in the infamous Aliso Canyon disaster in 2016, during which 97,700 tons of methane were released, though at a much slower pace than the Nord Stream leakage.
According to the head of the Danish Energy Agency, Kristoffer Bottzauw, the leakage could potentially be equivalent to one-third of Denmark’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate disaster
Experts worry that the damage on the Nord Stream pipelines could be so large that it will eventually contribute heavily to the world’s emissions of methane into the atmosphere. The atmosphere, as is widely known, is already burdened by the effects of gas, oil, and coal infrastructure.
Jackson and David Hastings, a retired chemical oceanographer in Gainesville, Florida, estimated that the leak could release around half a million tons of methane.
The leak was discovered earlier this week. Shocking footage released by the Danish military from a flyover of the affected region showed huge swathes of the Baltic Sea churning as the gas bubbled to the surface.
Russia Today reported:
The US and UK orchestrated the blasts on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, which delivered Russian natural gas to Germany, because they “obviously” benefit from it, President Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday.
Putin accused Washington of trying to pressure the EU into banning Russian supplies to “completely get its hands on the European market.”
“But the sanctions are no longer enough for the Anglo-Saxons,” he said, using Russian shorthand for the US-UK transatlantic alliance. “They have turned to sabotage – it’s unbelievable, but it’s a fact – by organizing the explosions on the Nord Stream international gas pipelines,” the president stated.
“They de facto began the destruction of the common European energy infrastructure. It’s obvious to everyone who benefits from it. Those who benefit are the ones who have done it.”
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Although this article places the blame on Russia, it explains other countries interests/stance.
NORD STREAM ATTACK: EUROPEAN INFRASTRUCTURE NOW AT RISK, EXPERTS WARN
Some points:
Europe’s critical infrastructure is now at risk after the Nord Stream gas pipes were blown up in an attack widely thought to have been orchestrated by Russia, senior politicians, defence chiefs and experts have warned.
There are fears that pipelines, rigs and undersea cables that countries including Britain rely upon for energy, banking, stock trading and business could now be targeted, as German interior minister Nancy Faeser today warned leaders to prepare for ‘previously unimaginable’ threats to their nations
[PERHAPS THAT WILL KEEP AWAY THOSE PESKY PEOPLE WITH BANK ACCOUNTS FROM BANK RUNS].
Some have already begun scrambling to shore up their defences, with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Denmark today for talks which he said ‘addressed the protection of critical infrastructure’. Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norway’s prime minister, said the military would be visibly deployed around oil and gas rigs to protect them.
That suggests the UK – connected to Norway via two major pipelines which carry a third of this country’s gas – is also at risk. Britain’s largest oil and gas fields, which are dotted with dozens of rigs and criss-crossed by pipes, also sit close to Norwegian waters. The MailOnline has contacted the MoD for comment
Dr Stepan Stepanenko, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told MailOnline it shows the Kremlin wants to stop offering energy to its potential enemies.
German officials warned that Nord Stream has been so badly damaged by the blasts that it will likely never work again.
German security services said the explosions left three of four undersea tubes so severely damaged they are now beyond repair, Tagesspiegel reported.
Investigations are ongoing into major leaks in Russian pipelines that are now spewing gas into the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, including assessing evidence of possible sabotage
Unprecedented’ climate catastrophe fears over Nord Stream gas leaks.
Atmospheric chemist David McCabe, who is senior scientist at the non-profit Clean Air Task Force, said: ‘If these pipelines fail, the impact to the climate will be disastrous and could even be unprecedented.
A ‘conservative estimate’ based on available data suggests the leaks together were releasing more than 500 metric tons of methane per hour when first breached, with the pressure and flow rate decreasing over time, said Jean-Francois Gauthier, vice president of measurements at the commercial methane-measuring satellite firm GHGSat.
By comparison, the huge Aliso Canyon gas leak in the United States in 2016 spewed around 50 tons of methane per hour at its peak. ‘So this would be an order of magnitude more,’ Gauthier said
Releasing that amount in entirety to the atmosphere would result in around 200,000 tonnes of methane emissions, said chemical engineer Paul Balcombe at London’s Queen Mary University.
That amount of methane would have about the same global warming potential over a 100-year timeframe as about 6 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to Reuters calculations based on IPCC conversion factors.
Stefano Grassi, head of the European Union energy commissioner’s cabinet, said Tuesday that the leaks risked becoming ‘a climate and ecological disaster’.
A reading from a German Centre for Georesearch seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm shows two spikes, at 0003 and 1700 GMT, followed by a lower-level ‘hissing’ on the day when the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic gas pipelines sprang leaks one after the other
Ships can lose buoyancy if they enter the area affected by the leaks, and there may be a risk of an ignition over the water and in the air, the Danish energy agency warned
(Good thing the Amazon Warrior wasnt near there)
(Meanwhile, back at the ranch,)
Meanwhile, a new subsea pipeline delivering Norwegian gas to Poland and neighbouring countries with an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic metres per day was inaugurated today.
The Baltic Pipe is seen as a key element in the diversification away from Russian energy sources for Poland and other European and Nordic nations, and was completed ahead of schedule in light of the impending energy crisis.
The European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said: ‘The Baltic Pipe is a key project for the security of supply of the region and the result of an EU policy drive to diversify sources of gas. The pipeline will play a valuable role in mitigating the current energy crisis.’
At a ceremony in western Poland, Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland said the project was ‘a milestone on the important path towards European independence from Russian energy.’
And Polish President Andrzej Duda called the new pipeline ‘a Polish dream’, which Prime Minister Morawiecki said showed that ‘the era of Russian gas dominance is ending’.
The case against Nord Stream 2
By opening up an additional route for cheap Russian gas to Germany, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project may look like a good deal for Europe. However, its advantages are primarily short term, writes Agata Loskot-Strachota of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland. In the longer term the pipeline increases the possibilities for Russia’s excessive influence on the European gas market, undermines the policy goals of the Energy Union, and hinders the realisation of a cohesive EU foreign policy towards Russia and Ukraine.
Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline joint venture through the Baltic Sea that Gazprom has entered into with some of the largest European energy companies (Eon, BASF/Wintershall, Engie, OMV, Shell), is leading to renewed controversy within the EU. Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel in a recent visit to Russian president Putin declared that Nord Stream 2 is “in our interest; but it is not just in Germany’s interests, it is a very interesting project even beyond Germany’s borders”, adding that he hoped the project’s legal framework will remain under the competence of the German authorities. If it will, “then opportunities for external meddling will be limited”, he said.
By contrast, the new Polish government has called upon the EU to take action to ban the pipeline altogether. In its progress report on the Energy Union released on 18 November, the European Commission said “these pipelines [Nord Stream 2 consists of two pipelines] will have to comply fully with EU law. The Commission will assess any such project against the European regulatory framework on its own merits. ”A similar controversy occurred over the first Nord Stream project, which became operational in 2012.
It cannot be ruled out that some of the regional interconnectors currently being built, for example within the North-South Gas Corridor[6], would be utilised for the transfer of Russian gas from Nord Stream 1 and 2 to the East and South of Europe. This in turn would limit the capacities available for gas from non-Russian sources. Simultaneously, the possibility for Russia to divert gas from its existing export routes to Nord Stream 2 would increase the uncertainty regarding the utilisation (and hence profitability) of the existing transit infrastructure in Slovakia or Poland. This could hinder network development planning and indirectly increase the dependence of regional gas policy and strategic infrastructural decisions on external factors (the strategy of Gazprom and Western companies, German gas policy, Russian policy, etc.).
U.S. ARROGANCE will be one of the causes of their downfall.
They cannot supply Europe with enough fuel and have lured them into a trap. Is it really going to be a shock to anyone that Germany sides with Russia in WW3?
IMAGINE that today you are a German waking up to the reality of destroyed Nord Stream pipelines. They will take years to rebuild. It is very likely that the US sabotaged them. The US will supply you gas at 400-500 per cent more cost, plus the diesel pollution required to power ships halfway across the world. The US has wanted this business for years even though it makes little sense.
This winter, even if peace is brokered with Putin, there is only a slim chance of heating, businesses will close, lights will go out, food will get difficult to find. There is no firewood available in Germany, and they are talking of cutting down forests to provide it. Worse, you have found out that the US is no friend. Is the US pushing Western civilisation off a cliff? - The Conservative Woman
Revelation 11:10 And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these Two Prophets ("Olive" trees) tormented them that dwelt on the Earth.
Many countries that the US and the UK have tormented will rejoice when Russia and China defeat them in WW3.
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Sweden cordons Nord Stream leak area for investigations
The pipelines were built to transport gas from Russia to Germany and the Swedish government has said that the explosions were most likely set off deliberately but has so far refrained from speculating who may be behind them.
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Monday that an area around the Nord Stream leaks in the Swedish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Baltic Sea has been cordoned off in order to conduct a criminal investigation.
According to a press release from the Swedish Prosecution Authority on Monday, intensive investigations are underway among "several authorities in the matter."
Swedish Coast Guard on Monday started to enforce an exclusion zone around the Nord Stream pipelines that ruptured last week in the Swedish EEZ, where all forms of activities on and under the water are banned within five nautical miles, just over nine km, of the leak sites.
"It is within this area prohibited to navigate a vessel, anchor, dive, fish, navigate an underwater vessel or carry out geophysical mapping," Swedish Coast Guard said in a press release.
A Swedish Coast Guard vessel had already been in the area continuously since the leaks were discovered and the exclusion zone was announced after the Swedish Navy had earlier in the day deployed a rescue and diving vessel to the area.
Aerial photos taken by the coast guard on Monday of the two leaks in Sweden's EEZ showed that the smaller leak from Nord Stream 2 still covers an area approximately 15-20 meters in diameter.
Following the first reports of leaks a week ago, the Swedish Maritime Authority issued navigational warnings for the area. Air traffic in the immediate area was also diverted.
An analysis of the seismic activity in the area subsequently revealed patterns consistent with two blasts, one in the early hours of Monday, [Sept]. 26, and one in the evening.
The pipelines were built to transport gas from Russia to Germany and the Swedish government has said that the explosions were most likely set off deliberately but has so far refrained from speculating who may be behind them.
Also, in a joint letter to the United Nations Security Council, the governments of Sweden and Denmark said that the explosions were probably caused by hundreds of kilos of explosives, Danish TV2 reported on Friday.
"We take this situation very seriously, and the detonations must be viewed in the light of the security policy situation," Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a press conference on Sept. 28.
In a press release issued the same day, the Swedish Security Service said it had opened a criminal investigation into "gross sabotage.
Shocking moment of truth on Bloomberg when Professor Jeffrey Sachs says he believes the US was behind the Nord Stream pipelines destruction. The reporters start to lose it, of course.
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1576976409485901827?s=12&t=n3DW8vzDXdsZaq_ov-kVFw
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Renowned economist and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs told Bloomberg TV on Monday that he believes that the US and Poland were behind the destruction of Nord Stream pipelines. He added that he is aware that his stance runs counter to the US narrative, and that western journalists "are not allowed to say these things."
"It was certainly a dramatic escalation of American lawlessness," explained Ron Unz, an US technology entrepreneur, political activist, writer and the publisher of the Unz Review, while commenting on the Nord Stream sabotage. "I think the American government was fearful that the Germans would politically crack in the next few months under the strain of the very difficult loss of Russian energy and decided to forestall that possibility. It was intended to cut off any German line of retreat, much like the 'blocking detachments' sometimes deployed during World War II."
In his recent op-ed Unz has drawn attention to large public demonstrations in Germany and the Czech Republic which demanded that anti-Russia energy sanctions be lifted. According to the publisher, "there was widespread speculation that such popular protests would eventually carry the day" but the sabotage attack on Nord Stream pipelines on September 26 brought an end to those aspirations.
Even though the blasts occurred near the coastal waters of Denmark and Sweden, in an area of the Baltic heavily monitored and patrolled by NATO warships, the mainstream press pointed the finger at Russia.
The publisher went on to guess that 70% of US citizens are unaware that the pipelines were attacked, 25% are sure that the Russians did it, and maybe 5% realize that it was probably NATO.
"Among relatively educated and knowledgeable Americans who follow the international news, watch CNN, and read the New York Times or the Washington Post, probably 90% are sure that the Russians did it because the media says so," Unz said. "The only small segments that think otherwise are those individuals who get their information from the Internet or a small handful of alternative media sources, plus America's own political elites, like government officials. Both these groups know that America probably did it, but the latter group would obviously never say so."
Observers: A Big Winner From Nord Stream Destruction is US
30 September, 12:28 GMT
However, some US public figures from both sides of the US political aisle openly broke the "orthodox" media narrative and named Washington as the most probable culprit. Among them are Fox News host Tucker Carlson, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs, and Ron Unz.
In particular, Sachs cited several reasons to back his assumption. First, "direct radar evidence that US military helicopters that are normally based in Gdansk were circling over this area". Second, Biden's threat earlier this year that "one way or another, we are going to end Nord Stream". Third, "a remarkable statement from [US] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken last Friday in a press conference where he said 'this is also a tremendous opportunity'."
The sabotage attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines "sets an extremely dangerous precedent," according to Unz.
"I think it might have been the single largest peacetime military attack on civilian infrastructure in world history, and the primary victim was Germany, America's own NATO ally," said the political activist. "There were stories in the papers that NATO was considering treating the attacks as an act of war, requiring military retaliation. So, I suppose that NATO would have to declare war against the United States and also Poland. Obviously, there's an enormous amount of vulnerable civilian infrastructure all across the world and if countries begin deploying their special forces to target it, everyone might suffer a tremendous amount of damage, America and the West most of all. The sheer recklessness of America's ruling elites is beyond understanding."
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