From Ukraine, looking at Alaska
Can this state be key to European energy independence from Russia, without harming its Biosphere?The war over the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made evident Europe’s energy dependence on Russian gas and oil, except for Spain, which imports it from Algeria, and to a lesser extent France, the second country in the world in terms of number of nuclear power plants (58), only surpassed by the United States (98). President Joe Biden has banned Russian oil imports. This has produced a “cascade effect” in the European Union (EU) and now international energy experts are looking to Alaska as an alternative.
Alaska has an oil and gas reserve larger than Portugal and more than ten times the size of Puerto Rico. But oil exploration and gas extraction in the state could damage the biosphere reserve on its territory. In addition, Alaska “is an almost inexhaustible source of raw materials,” say analysts, which will also be essential because of feared shortages and scarcity. All this could benefit Alaska economically, but could harm its biosphere, which is key to mitigating climate change. Alaska, in the United States, and Siberia, in Russia, are neighboring territories, separated only by the Bering Sea. The war in Ukraine is not alien to us. In Ukraine, a high percentage of the population is fluent in Spanish, which makes them similar to Hispanics in the USA and Latin America. So much that there are groups on social networks created by “Hispanics in Ukraine.” While European countries are deciding what alternative source of oil and gas to look for, with their sights set on Alaska, the United States has proposed to Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela to be its supplier. But the drama of war continues to claim hundreds of lives every day and has caused more than two million refugees to flee the country in just 15 days. It is the largest exodus since World War II. |