WASHINGTON – Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 20 to 2 on July 31 to approve legislation aimed at preventing completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring Russian gas to western European markets, bypassing Ukraine’s land-based pipeline network.
The committee passed the Protect European Energy Security Act, which will impose targeted sanctions against vessels that would be used to construct deep-sea pipelines for Russian energy export projects including Nord Stream 2.
The fear is that Nord Stream 2, with a route under the Baltic Sea, will allow Moscow to stop transporting European-bound gas through Ukraine, where most of it travels through now. If it becomes operational, the new $12 billion pipeline, funded by the Kremlin and French and German companies, would deprive Ukraine of billions of dollars in transit revenue and threaten its energy security.
The pipeline under construction would double the capacity of the existing line, to 110 billion cubic meters.
America has led opposition to construction of the pipeline saying it will increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, thus making it vulnerable to Kremlin political demands. Washington is backed by Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and other countries worried about increasing Moscow’s potential for malign political influence.
Denmark has prevented completion of the pipeline by forbidding its construction, as originally planned, through its territorial waters. Moscow has vowed to reroute the pipeline, if necessary, and said the project will be finished by 2020.
The new American measure is meant to dissuade companies from taking part in laying pipeline. The companies, which use specialized vessels for undersea construction, will be told that if they continue with Nord Stream 2, they will be banned from any work in the vast and lucrative American market.
Senator Bob Menedez, a New Jersey Democrat, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a senior Democratic member of the committee, said: “I am opposed to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which poses a significant risk to European energy security. If completed, this pipeline… would further undermine Ukraine’s economic security and potentially increase its vulnerability to further Russian military incursions… it would be foolish to give Putin yet another, powerful lever of power and think he will not use it against the West.”
Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, said: “Putin’s pipeline is a trap.”
