excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
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Meanwhile, our President is all in for fracking and our energy independence.
Impeachment Testimony Describes Putin’s Propaganda War On American Fracking
Among the many subplots to emerge from recent impeachment hearings, one, in particular, might have been unexpected: fracking. In recent testimony to House lawmakers, Fiona Hill, John Bolton’s former direct report at the National Security Council and the White House’s former top expert on Russia, reported that Russian propaganda was working to undermine the use of hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, in the United States.
Such news was easy to overlook amidst a steady stream of bombshells from the hearings, but lawmakers should take note. After all, fracking has been - and continues to be - an essential part of America’s energy renaissance and an indispensable tool in ensuring energy security.
Why is Russia so interested in American natural gas production? In her testimony, Hill explained that Putin “saw American fracking as a great threat to Russian interests” and that a fracking ban would “play into strengthening Putin’s hands.” That’s because natural gas supplies are central to European economic markets. Not only do more abundant gas supplies make the U.S. stronger, but they make us more capable of supplanting Russia as a key supplier of European gas. Russia desires neither of those outcomes, mainly since it has used its largest gas company, Gazprom, as a weapon of political influence in Europe for years to significant effect.
The evidence of Russian meddling in the fracking debate is clear. For example, a 2017 report by the Director of National Intelligence, drafted in coordination with the CIA, FBI, and NSA–ODNI, found that “as the threat of American energy continues to grow, so does the Kremlin’s incentive to influence energy operations in Europe and the United States.” The report also noted that RT, the “Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet,” is engaged in an anti-fracking campaign in the U.S. as a way to combat American gas production and the threat it poses to Russia’s projection of power in Europe through Gazprom.
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Such news was easy to overlook amidst a steady stream of bombshells from the hearings, but lawmakers should take note. After all, fracking has been - and continues to be - an essential part of America’s energy renaissance and an indispensable tool in ensuring energy security.
Why is Russia so interested in American natural gas production? In her testimony, Hill explained that Putin “saw American fracking as a great threat to Russian interests” and that a fracking ban would “play into strengthening Putin’s hands.” That’s because natural gas supplies are central to European economic markets. Not only do more abundant gas supplies make the U.S. stronger, but they make us more capable of supplanting Russia as a key supplier of European gas. Russia desires neither of those outcomes, mainly since it has used its largest gas company, Gazprom, as a weapon of political influence in Europe for years to significant effect.
The evidence of Russian meddling in the fracking debate is clear. For example, a 2017 report by the Director of National Intelligence, drafted in coordination with the CIA, FBI, and NSA–ODNI, found that “as the threat of American energy continues to grow, so does the Kremlin’s incentive to influence energy operations in Europe and the United States.” The report also noted that RT, the “Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet,” is engaged in an anti-fracking campaign in the U.S. as a way to combat American gas production and the threat it poses to Russia’s projection of power in Europe through Gazprom.
...
Impeachment Testimony Describes Putin’s Propaganda War On American Fracking
