Ukraine Energy Aid
In response to the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, some in the US have advocated using natural gas exports as a way of reducing Russian leverage on Ukraine. However, removing gas export restrictions would still leave the US unable to effectively challenge Russian gas export decisions. In fact, even if the United States had the capacity to export meaningful quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Ukraine does not yet have the terminal and gasification infrastructure to receive shipments of natural gas via the Black Sea. In a recent blog post, RFF’s Joel Darmstadter cites such factors as making it unrealistic to believe that US gas exports could have a “a decisive impact over the next few years, much less on current events.”
Belief in Climate Change
Recently a group of Senate democrats held an all-night session to draw attention to the “impacts of climate change and the benefits addressing it will bring to [the] country.” They called for a need to take action, noting that “climate change is real.”
Results from a new survey by RFF, Stanford University, and USA Today show that a large majority of Americans also believe climate change to be an existing and serious problem, with three out of four respondents stating that it “has occurred in the past century and will likely continue.” RFF President Phil Sharp commented on the consistency of public’s belief in global warming, noting that “hardcore skeptics remain a tiny fraction of the nation.”
