THE VOICE OF INTERNATIONAL LITHUANIA
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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuanian prosecutors won’t reopen a probe into whether two CIA prisons built in the Baltic country held prisoners, despite new information provided by human rights organizations, they said Friday.
Human rights groups Amnesty International and Reprieve last month claimed that al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah was flown on a Boeing 737 from Morocco to Lithuania in February 2005 — a flight previously unknown to Lithuanian authorities.
Officials from the organizations called on prosecutors to reopen their investigation, which they closed in January for lack of evidence.
Reprieve said that it had supplied prosecutors with names of individuals — including CIA officials, Lithuanian handlers, and eyewitnesses — who could provide testimony about the flight from Morocco.
But the General Prosecutor’s office said in a statement Friday that the new information was neither significant nor essential to the case.
The ‘Lithuanian’ senator, Richard ‘Dick’ Durbin (67) with President Barack Obama.
Durbin is the senior United States Senator from Illinois and the Senate Majority Whip, the second highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate. Durbin was born in Illinois to an Irish-American father, William Durbin, and a Lithuanian-born mother, Ann Kutkin (Lithuanian: Ona Kutkaitė). Durbin has over many years done a truly great job not only for America but also for his motherland, Lithuania!
Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
During a visit to the U.S. some years ago I spoke with immigrants from various countries who now live in the United States. All with one thing in common; that they had abandoned their homelands. I met exiled Cubans. I saw Iranians who fled to USA after their Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown from the Persian Peacock Throne in 1979. I talked to many Eastern Europeans who escaped Stalin's atrocities during and after World War II. I talked to Jews who were born in the U.S., but still feeling and having very close ties to Israel.
It strikes me that the U.S. has done much more for exiled nationalities than what our Western European nations have done.
It was probably not without reason that the majority of Eastern Europeans who managed to flee westwards towards the end of World War II preferred the U.S. over Western Europe. For in truth our Western European support to our eastern brothers and sisters was rather half-hearted during the post-war years.
The ‘Lithuanian’ senator, Richard ‘Dick’ Durbin (67) with President Barack Obama.
Durbin is the senior United States Senator from Illinois and the Senate Majority Whip, the second highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate. Durbin was born in Illinois to an Irish-American father, William Durbin, and a Lithuanian-born mother, Ann Kutkin (Lithuanian: Ona Kutkaitė). Durbin has over many years done a truly great job not only for America but also for his motherland, Lithuania!
Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
During a visit to the U.S. some years ago I spoke with immigrants from various countries who now live in the United States. All with one thing in common; that they had abandoned their homelands. I met exiled Cubans. I saw Iranians who fled to USA after their Shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was overthrown from the Persian Peacock Throne in 1979. I talked to many Eastern Europeans who escaped Stalin's atrocities during and after World War II. I talked to Jews who were born in the U.S., but still feeling and having very close ties to Israel.
It strikes me that the U.S. has done much more for exiled nationalities than what our Western European nations have done.
It was probably not without reason that the majority of Eastern Europeans who managed to flee westwards towards the end of World War II preferred the U.S. over Western Europe. For in truth our Western European support to our eastern brothers and sisters was rather half-hearted during the post-war years.
The incredibly bloody partisan war that the Balts fought against the Soviet occupiers in the years 1944-1953 was barely mentioned in Western Europe. The fact that over 100 000 people were killed, tortured and assassinated right outside our own doorsteps got shamefully little attention. Information on the countries' own language played an invaluable role. Radio signals reached behind the Iron Curtain... |
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"Chicago is Lithuania's second largest city," said the young man smilingly when he welcomed me to the LWC, the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont in the outskirts of Chicago. It is an impressive centre, with a church and much more which this 'nation outside of the nation' has built. It was here from Chicago that the struggle against the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states continued nonstop from World War II until liberation finally came in 1990-1991. I hear statements like; ‘those who fled to the United States were living the good life, while those who weren’t that lucky were subjected to deportations and atrocities of the Soviet power’. What I also see is that Lithuania's leaders only very hesitantly want their countrymen and women welcomed home after the 50 painful years of cold war between east and west. Lithuania is about to lose a tremendous opportunity. But all hope is not lost. |
Over the past 20 years I have got acquainted with many Lithuanian-Americans. There are numerous I could have mentioned, but let me at least concentrate on six fine individuals who have made a truly great contribution to their home country. All six are Lithuanian-Americans who have contributed substantially from their land-volatile positions during the post-war years, and over the last 20 years also from inside Lithuania.
One of them was even president for two periods, H.E. President Valdas Adamkus. When I met him at his presidential office in Vilnius in 2005, he concluded the meeting by saying: "I have been fighting continuously for my country, both during and after World War II, from exile and on Lithuanian soil. Yet, after all these years, I must admit that I feel like an outsider in my own country."
Sad words, but unfortunately indicative of how the Lithuanian-Americans often are received when they return home to Lithuania.
Six prominent giants who fought for their
homeland from exile positions in the U.S.
Valdas Adamkus. |
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Over the past 20 years I have got acquainted with many Lithuanian-Americans. There are numerous I could have mentioned, but let me at least concentrate on six fine individuals who have made a truly great contribution to their home country. All six are Lithuanian-Americans who have contributed substantially from their land-volatile positions during the post-war years, and over the last 20 years also from inside Lithuania.
One of them was even president for two periods, H.E. President Valdas Adamkus. When I met him at his presidential office in Vilnius in 2005, he concluded the meeting by saying: "I have been fighting continuously for my country, both during and after World War II, from exile and on Lithuanian soil. Yet, after all these years, I must admit that I feel like an outsider in my own country."
Sad words, but unfortunately indicative of how the Lithuanian-Americans often are received when they return home to Lithuania.
Six prominent giants who fought for their
homeland from exile positions in the U.S.
Valdas Adamkus. |
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More about US-Lithuanians in Section 11
Vilniaus Kamerinis Teatras, October – December:
A conversation with Alicia Gian, co-director of Kai žmonės vaidino Dievą!
Emily Šaras, Associate Editor
October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29. November 11, 12. December 20. 18:30
Vilniaus Kamerinis Teatras (Vilnius Chamber Theatre)
TICKETS: www.bilietai.lt
Sponsored by the United States Embassy, Vilnius
Anne Frank, the girl who has been the voice for millions of unheard voices from the Holocaust, is being heard in Vilnius for the first time in Lithuania’s history. In a newly adapted script by Mr. Marius Mačiulis, nine of Vilnius Chamber Theatre's actors will tell the story of family, hope, death and most importantly love. Co-Director of the production, Ms. Alicia Gian, hopes for the audience to be emotionally moved by the production, and seeks to inspire viewers to “be moved to action - moved to talk about and act upon social injustices that are occurring in our neighborhoods, cities, countries and world today.” In the words of Anne herself, "How wonderful it is that nobody has to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world" – and the Vilnius Chamber Theatre eagerly anticipates the October 21st premiere of the production.
Vilniaus Kamerinis Teatras, October – December:
A conversation with Alicia Gian, co-director of Kai žmonės vaidino Dievą!
Emily Šaras, Associate Editor
October 21, 22, 23, 28, 29. November 11, 12. December 20. 18:30
Vilniaus Kamerinis Teatras (Vilnius Chamber Theatre)
TICKETS: www.bilietai.lt
Sponsored by the United States Embassy, Vilnius
Anne Frank, the girl who has been the voice for millions of unheard voices from the Holocaust, is being heard in Vilnius for the first time in Lithuania’s history. In a newly adapted script by Mr. Marius Mačiulis, nine of Vilnius Chamber Theatre's actors will tell the story of family, hope, death and most importantly love. Co-Director of the production, Ms. Alicia Gian, hopes for the audience to be emotionally moved by the production, and seeks to inspire viewers to “be moved to action - moved to talk about and act upon social injustices that are occurring in our neighborhoods, cities, countries and world today.” In the words of Anne herself, "How wonderful it is that nobody has to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world" – and the Vilnius Chamber Theatre eagerly anticipates the October 21st premiere of the production.
Although Ms. Gian has called Vilnius her home for the past four years and is serving as the Artistic Director for the Vilnius Chamber Theatre, she is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Directing and Actor Training at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. She has won several grants from the United States Embassy in Vilnius for her theatre productions – a Fulbright Grant for her production of Kanarėlė (the story of American singer Peggy Lee) and the prestigious Smith-Mundt Grant for her production of Meilė be akcento (Love Without Accent). This experience in directing the story of Anne Frank in Vilnius, however, marks a new highlight of her career. Ms. Gian recalls her experience reading The Diary of Anne Frank as a 13 year-old girl, and to this day she remembers it as “one of the most memorable and moving literary experiences” of her entire life. “I felt that I was reading the diary of a friend, and now I feel as if I am telling the story of a friend. I am not the only one who has had such an experience.” And she is absolutely right: The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most widely read books internationally, second only to the Bible, and it is inarguably the most well-known piece of literature about the Holocaust.
The conceptualization of this production began to formulate almost a year and a half ago when Ms. Gian was approached by the American Center at the United States Embassy to direct a Jewish Heritage theatre project, in commemoration of the proclamation of 2011 as the year of Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Remembrance in Lithuania by the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas). “The idea was to create a piece of theatre that would pay homage to the victims of the Holocaust as well as serve as an educational tool to promote further discourse on the topic of tolerance” says Ms. Gian. “As a person of non-Jewish heritage, I felt that it was very important to choose a play with which I had a very personal connection.”
The most intriguing thing about this production, however, is that the themes behind Ms. Gian’s and Mr. Mačiulis’s realization of Anne Frank’s story is that the work extends into a realm of human rights and compassion, beyond the obvious themes race and tolerance. Ms. Gian notes,
“Anne Frank wrote in her diary, ‘…if we were liberated today, I would go back to school and I'd hope that they would see me as just a girl and not just Jewish.’ I think this is one of the most poignant lines in the entire book. Yes, this is a story about what happened to a group of people who happened to be Jewish. The fierce documentation by the Jewish people of these crimes against humanity has enabled the global community to recognize and confront acts of injustice.” When history is forgotten, it tends to repeat itself. Productions like The Diary of Anne Frank are what I consider to be preventative productions - productions which stay in the social consciousness in order to inspire a sense of social responsibility, so that the subject matter may never be forgotten and never repeated. Within that mindset, our vision is to share this story with as many communities as possible in Lithuania and in the Spring of 2012, the first national tour of "The Diary of Anne Frank" will take place in five different cities across the nation.
Unfortunately, we cannot say that since the Holocaust that genocide has not has not occurred. It has happened recently in places such as Cambodia, North Korea, Tibet, the Darfur conflict in Sudan, and Rwanda to name just a few. It is even happening right now in Somalia. Lithuanians themselves have also been the victims of genocide.”
The title of the production, literally translated as “When Men Played God,” was the brilliant result of a collaboration between the co-directors. “In the beginning stages of rehearsal,” remembers Ms. Gian, “I felt that the play was more of a drama than a tragicomedy and he felt otherwise. I also had reservations about using the word comedy next to the word Holocaust.” But Ms. Gian’s research into the origins of the genre revealed the basis of the tragicocomedia genre, a term defined Roman playwright Plataus as a play in which gods and men or masters and slaves change places. “When Hilter and the Nazi party decided that certain people were worthy of life and others were not,” says Ms. Gian, “and they controlled others on the grounds of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual-orientation, or physical and mental limitations, they assumed the role of God.”
“Also, in more modern interpretations of the word, tragicomedy, it is often described as a play in which laughter is the last human response left to an absurd or despairing fate” says Ms. Gian. “The element of humor in this production is very important. Humor is a survival tactic. The brain actually pauses during laughter, functioning as an automatic stress-management tool. This is the body's way of keeping mental balance. For two years, these people hid in an attic in Nazi-occupied Holland. The stress that they were living in was unimaginable and they used laughter and humor to help each other survive each and every day.”
The Vilnius Chamber Theatre promises to take us on a mental voyage of two hours and thirty minutes into the life of a terror that most of us escaped...to share an important part of history in a powerful and accessible way.
Ref. https://vilnews.com/?p=9374
We have received the following comment to our article about the new nuclear situation in and around Lithuania:
Juan Verde.
Even though Lithuanian market is rather small, it is nevertheless attractive for its strategically convenient geographical location and development opportunities. According to the heads of the first U.S. certified trade mission in Lithuania, the visit of representatives of 20 large companies shows a growing interest in running business in Lithuania.
Juan Verde, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the initiator of the trade mission idea, says that this visit is part of the new trade strategy of the United States. "For instance, the majority of trade missions this year were conducted to such countries as Russia, Turkey, Germany, and the UK. Therefore, this visit to Lithuania is exceptional as we believe that cooperating with Lithuanian companies, we will be able to grow and expand into third countries," he said.
The U.S. official also stressed that Lithuania's strategic location allows developing ties not only with Western markets, but also with Eastern and Scandinavian countries, in which the U.S. business is very interested.
Read more:
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/good_for_business/?doc=46307
In 1971 I lived thru the trauma of the near melt-down of the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Don't live there anymore, but there are too many nuclear plants in the USA, it's hard to find a town that's far enough away from one. And no one wants the barrels of waste buried near their neighborhood, and do we really know where it is being stored and buried? Most people don't! It's time we make use of solar and wind energy, it's clean, it's green. Our grandchildren will thank us.
Paulette Rynkiewicz Wise, USA
I could not agree more, this is long overdue coming and there are enough people outside of Lithuania that have the means, Education, Business expertise, etc... that would only help our country and everyone involved or connected to it.
Keeping all the diaspora at bay and not welcoming such people seems such a waste, when together all as a whole can make things better, in all aspects, Economy, Banking, Education, Investments in companies the list goes on...
The majority of people I speak with have no interest in doing anything, because of the unwelcome feeling or worries of being taken advantage of and wondering if they will get any kind of return on investment or just watch it all go down the drain.
There is no bottom to this well of people from all different fields and many experts, but this well will dry up and soon another generation will pass and there will be less interest in knowing our homeland and trying to keep it a strong vibrant economically sound country, one we can all be proud of and one many still are of.
JOE BARLOW
OIL, GAS AND NOW POTENTIALLY 3 NEW
NUCLEAR PLANTS IN THE BALTIC AREA:
Ticking time bombs?
Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It surprises me that the warning bells are not ringing much louder in Scandinavia and the rest of northern Europe, as I presume it now must be well known what is going on here in the Baltic region with regards to old as well as new energy installations, and potential disasters connected to them. Oil, gas and polluting elements from World War II and later have long been known concern factors. Now the situation has become further worrying by the fact that Russia has built an underwater gas pipeline from St. Petersburg to Germany, and not least that it is planned no less than three (!) new nuclear power stations very close to the Baltic Sea's southern shore.
We all remember Chernobyl 25 years ago. We all remember the terrible disasters in Japan earlier this year, in a nation that claimed to have the world’s safest nuclear installations – a claim that showed yet again that nuclear plants will never be safe enough. They are always ticking time bombs.
For the whole time nuclear plants operate they emit radiation to their surroundings, often causing illness and genetic damage to humans, animals and nature. No nuclear installation, wherever it was, has ever been really safe.
I can hardly imagine living in Vilnius any more if that means I will have to live surrounded by three nuclear plants, just kilometres away. In particular, I would be extremely worried about my children and their descendants. Living in a neighbourhood of nuclear reactors is simply not a chance I can take.
Can Europe accept that three nuclear power stations are built right here, at its very ‘epicentre’?
Nuclear technology is a high-risk technology
A new nuclear power plant, due to be located at Visaginas in eastern Lithuania, has been in the pipeline for several years. Construction costs are expected to be at least three to five billion euros (4.5 to 7.4 billion dollars). |
Human mistakes, natural disasters, material fatigue – nuclear technology is a high-risk technology, on top of which comes the danger emanating from radioactive waste that has to be safely disposed of for a million years. The only thing that is certain is that nothing is safe, which is why I think the plans in Lithuania, Belarus and Kaliningrad should be reconsidered immediately.
A recent report from the U.S. ‘Union of Concerned Scientists’, based on data from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), contains troubling news also about the state of America’s vast network of nuclear power plants.
The report, which examined serious incidents at 14 U.S. nuclear power plants from New York to California in 2010, found fault with both plant operators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which is supposed to oversee them.
“Many of these significant events occurred because reactor owners and even the NRC tolerated known safety problems,” the report stated.
While none of the 14 safety incidents tagged in the Union’s report as ‘near misses’ produced harm to nuclear plant employees or the public, the report terms the frequency of these incidents, which averaged more than one per month, ‘high for a mature industry’.
Nuclear waste
Another fear I have, is that there in Kaliningrad, Belarus and potentially other Baltic regions are a lot of nuclear remains after the Cold War period.
"We are sitting on a powder keg with a fuse that is burning, but we don't know how long that fuse is," said Alexander Nikitin, a former Russian navy officer, now an environmental activist who first revealed the existence of the dump at Andreeva Bay, on the Kola peninsula of north-western Russia.
The nightmare scenario, identified by Russia's Federal Nuclear Agency, raises new fears that Moscow is failing to properly manage the potentially deadly nuclear legacy of the Cold War, which has left the country with tonnes of plutonium and uranium and millions of tonnes of nuclear waste to deal with. That is for Kola, but I am afraid there also here in the Baltic area exist a number of unknown ‘powder kegs’ from those days.
Baltic Sea oil spill may be inevitable
It is well known that the Baltic Sea has a severe water pollution problem. Nations surrounding the sea have been dumping untreated human waste, toxic materials, and metal into the sea since WWII. Countries from the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc gave little regard to the possible damage done from this dumping. Specific waste being dumped into the sea includes factory waste being deposited directly into the sea or rivers which feed directly into the sea. The environmental pollution in the Baltic Sea can cause irreversible damage to the sea which is an important economical and recreational source for 80 million people around its waters.
“Regarding the Baltic Sea, the question should be asked not whether an ecological incident will ever happen [there], but rather when it will happen. Therefore, we all have to get ready for it.” This said Magnus von Schenck, manager of the Swedish project ‘Baltic Master II’, at a conference in Budapest earlier this year.
And he continued: “All Baltic States should prepare special plans aimed at dealing with seemingly inevitable ecological incidents in the Baltic Sea.” He stressed that the Baltic Sea has one of the world’s busiest cargo ship, including oil-transporting tanker traffic. According to the World Nature Fund, crude oil and oil products export volumes have doubled over nearly 15 years in the Baltic Sea, reaching 160 million tons in 2011.
“The Baltic Sea is particularly susceptible to ecological dangers, as it is a closed sea – its waters change slowly. Statistically, yearly we register 120-150 various accidents related to oil spills in the sea, resulting in spills of several hundreds tons of oil products, which makes the sea particularly vulnerable compared with other seas,” Schenck pointed out, according to The Baltic Times.
Potential environmental disasters in Klaipeda, with both LNG and oil terminal in the city?
There are currently 235 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers in operation worldwide. New LNG tankers have an average capacity of three billion cubic feet, costing approximately EUR 180 million each. LNG tankers differ from traditional oil tankers in that their cargo, liquefied natural gas, must be cooled to extremely low temperatures (-160°C) and has slightly different characteristics than oil (including a higher propensity to burn). LNG tankers might be dangerous for environments and communities claims a new movie and web page: http://timrileylaw.com/LNG_TANKERS.htm
The Kiaules Nugara (Pig’s back) island in the southern part of the Klaipeda port area, at the border between the port and the Curonian Lagoon is the most likely place to build Lithuania’s planned LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) terminal. This means that it will regularly sail large LNG tankers through the narrow strait between Klaipeda city and Neringa (which is now designated as one of the Lithuania’s national parks). How risky can it be to get a gas terminal and such a heavy sea traffic close to the big city that Klaipeda after all is? What about the explosion and fire risk? What about emissions and other forms of pollution? Is the water, beaches and fisheries in the Curonian Lagoon at risk? May Neringa and Klaipeda city be at risk?
BNN (Baltic News Service):
On July 26, 2011, Riga City Council approved establishment of a port terminal «Riga fertilizer terminal» on the island of Kundzinsala for handling and storing mineral fertilizers. Of the terminal’s capacity – 2 million tons per year, ammonium nitrate of all kinds will make up 52% or 1.05 million tons of cargo.
Ammonium nitrate, an extremely explosive and fire hazardous product, is widely used for terrorist purposes. It was also used by terrorists for the bombings in the United States, Britain, Spain, Norway, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Middle East, Russia and other countries. It is exactly for this reason why many states have taken drastic measures to limit the amount of ammonium nitrate located in their territory. For example, Ireland, China, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the Philippines have banned using ammonium nitrate in agriculture.
However, the Riga City Council has agreed to build a terminal for handling and storing ammonium nitrate near terminals operating with petroleum products and liquefied gas. This implies about 4,000 tons of ammonium nitrate will travel by rail via the center of the capital of Latvia each day. It is impossible to guarantee safe transport of these hazardous chemicals along the entire route.
Furthermore, according to the decision of the Riga City Council, «Riga fertilizer terminal» is allowed to store 90,000 tonnes of all kinds of ammonium nitrate. No port in the entire world is allowed to store more than 5 000 tons of this product.
Initiators of the project have been using the mass media to claim that the project is going to be highly beneficial for the city. Moreover, the permission was backed by the conclusion of the State Environmental Supervision Office that the terminal will not be dangerous for the environment or the health and life of Riga residents.
Independent experts in the field of ports operations, environmental protection, life safety and terrorism express reasonable doubt on the integrity and objectivity of the Riga City Council decision. Experts give strong arguments why various stages of «Riga fertilizer terminal» construction project agreement lack transparency and formal public debate. The company has misled about the exceptional economic benefit to the city and the matter of the country handling and storing ammonium nitrate is highly questionable. Most importantly, the project conceals what mortal danger it poses to the inhabitants of Riga.
If people do not pay close attention to this disastrous decision taken on July 26, 2011, by Riga City Council, the capital of Latvia will turn into a ticking time bomb.
Shale gas: Energy security laced with possible ecological calamity
Poland and Lithuania are these days about to make their first moves towards exploration and production of shale gas. How dangerous may such exploration and production be?
Here is what http://www.lloyds.com wrote about shale gas in March 2011:
With the world’s rapid consumption of its finite fossil fuels – and the environmental effect this is having – causing growing alarm, the discovery of vast deposits of cleaner natural gas has been hailed as a potential “energy saviour”.
But the method of reaching this hard-to-extract resource has prompted accusations it damages health and the ecology, prompting a US Government investigation into whether the process is safe.
It has long been known that enormous pools of natural gas are locked in underground rock formations, particularly shale. But with plentiful supplies of oil, gas and coal available it was largely ignored. However, dire warnings about the limited remaining stocks of these fuels and the environmental harm they cause have prompted a rethink.
The shale gas supplies are estimated to be so large that they could satisfy America’s gas needs for the next century. The shale gas boom in America, where it is already providing 10% of the nation’s gas, has led to exploration in China, India, Australia, Indonesia and Europe. The first exploratory well was dug in the UK at the start of this year.
There is enough existing conventional gas to last the world for another 60 years, says the International Energy Agency. But by adding in “unconventional” sources, such as shale gas, reserves could last another 250 years, although it stresses this estimate is very uncertain.
As natural gas has only half the carbon emissions of coal, shale gas could also help in the fight against climate change, by providing a bridge between polluting oil and gas and new renewable energy sources.
Environmental worries
But there are growing concerns that developing these gas reservoirs may cause serious environmental harm. That is because the shale gas boom has been enabled by a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. It involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and chemicals at high pressures deep underground to break up rock formations and allow the gas to escape into wells from where it can be piped to the surface. Most of the brew of water and cocktails used to extract the gas stays far beneath the earth, however, with uncertain long-term consequences. Campaigners are calling for the technique to be halted until further research can be carried out.
In America, where there are now around 35,000 shale gas wells, there are growing protests over fracking. There have been cases of blowouts and gas leaks while hundreds of residents living close to gas wells in Texas, Wyoming and Pennsylvania have complained the cocktail of chemicals used in the drilling process has polluted their groundwater, causing many illnesses, while farmers blame poisoned well water for deaths and deformities among their cattle.
Energy companies deny that fracking is to blame for contaminated water. The technique has been used for decades but has only become widespread recently since shale gas has been seen as a viable alternative to oil and coal. The drilling companies are exempt from legislation on clean water so can keep the chemicals they use a closely guarded secret.
Action being taken
The US Congress has responded by directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the effects of fracking. In February, the EPA issued a draft plan outlining how it will investigate the issue, including proposals to take water samples from sites before, during and after fracking has taken place. The EPA expects to publish its initial report by the end of 2012, with a further in-depth study due two years later.
But some cities have pre-empted the EPA investigation and taken unilateral action. The cities of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo in New York have already chosen to ban fracking in their regions. Others have called for a moratorium on the process until more is known about its potential consequences.
Investors have also raised concerns. In 2010, 12 energy firms, including Exxon Mobil, faced shareholder resolutions at their annual meetings calling for them to introduce better safeguards against environmental damage caused by fracking.
Some critics argue the rush to develop shale gas is diverting attention away from the need to find new, clean energy supplies. In January, the Tyndall Centre – a respected climate thinktank – published a report warning of the dangers of developing shale gas. The gas would not be used to substitute coal but, instead, is likely to be used as well as coal to meet the growing demand for energy, it said. Without a tough cap on greenhouse gases, shale gas exploitation could result in an increase – not a decrease – in overall carbon emissions.
Its image as an energy saviour is also likely to sap investment in renewable energy sources, the report added. The Tyndall Centre concluded that the UK and Europe should halt shale gas development until more evidence is gathered in America about the potential harm fracking can cause.
OIL, GAS AND NOW POTENTIALLY 3 NEW
NUCLEAR PLANTS IN THE BALTIC AREA:
Ticking time bombs?
Text: Aage Myhre, Editor-in-Chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com
It surprises me that the warning bells are not ringing much louder in Scandinavia and the rest of northern Europe, as I presume it now must be well known what is going on here in the Baltic region with regards to old as well as new energy installations, and potential disasters connected to them.
Oil, gas and polluting elements from World War II and later have long been known concern factors. Now the situation has become further worrying by the fact that Russia has built an underwater gas pipeline from St. Petersburg to Germany, and not least that it is planned no less than three (!) new nuclear power stations very close to the Baltic Sea's southern shore.
We all remember Chernobyl 25 years ago. We all remember the terrible disasters in Japan earlier this year, in a nation that claimed to have the world’s safest nuclear installations – a claim that showed yet again that nuclear plants will never be safe enough. They are always ticking time bombs.
For the whole time nuclear plants operate they emit radiation to their surroundings, often causing illness and genetic damage to humans, animals and nature. No nuclear installation, wherever it was, has ever been really safe.
I can hardly imagine living in Vilnius any more if that means I will have to live surrounded by three nuclear plants, just kilometres away. In particular, I would be extremely worried about my children and their descendants. Living in a neighbourhood of nuclear reactors is simply not a chance I can take.
Can Europe accept that three nuclear power stations are built right here, at its very ‘epicentre’?
Lithuania’s planned new nuclear power plant is to be built by Japan’s Hitachi Corporation. Construction costs are expected to be at least € 3.0 to 5.0 billion ($ 4.5 to 7.4 billion).
A court in Tokyo has ruled Japan’s Hitachi liable for over $1 billion in damages resulting from an accident, and subsequent loss of profit, at Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant’s (NPP) Hitachi-made ABWR reactor. Boiling reactors, to which the ABWR series belongs, have earned their share of infamy with Chernobyl’s explosion and the disaster at Fukushima– but they have also proven challenging both in operation and repairs. Still, Hitachi continues to promote ABWRs for export construction, including in Lithuania, where it hopes to build a new station to replace the shut-down Ignalina.
Read more:
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2011/hitachi_lithuania
CONSUL GREETINGS
TODAY: From Carl Thomas Carlsten in Telemark, Norway
VilNews is hereby inviting the honorary consuls of Lithuania around the world to write commentary articles. What we want to learn more about is what characterizes the cooperation between Lithuania and the area the consul represents. We would also like to know more about the consul's connections with Lithuania, and we are eager to listen to his or her thoughts and opinions on current topics and news from Lithuania.
First to write, is the Honorary Consul of Lithuania to Telemark County in Norway, Mr. Carl. Thomas Carlsten.
Click here to read his article...
Ostrovets NPP? No thank you! atomby.net
Belarusian officials on Thursday said they intended to move quickly to build a nuclear power station in the north of the country, despite worries in adjacent Lithuania that the plant might be dangerous.
Belarusian Vice Minister of Energy Mikhail Mikhailyuk in comments reported by the Interfax news agency said workers already were clearing territory in preparation for the project, and that he expected actual construction of the Ostrovetsky station to begin in early 2012.
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