美国国家公共电台 NPR--Germany rushes to decouple itself from Russian gas

Germany rushes to decouple itself from Russian gas

Transcript¹

Germany is scrambling² to build infrastructure³ to replace its dependence⁴ on Russian gas. NPR's Rob Schmitz reports that time is not on its side.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Germany relies on Russia for about a third of its natural gas, which has turned out to be a big problem for Europe's largest economy as it tries to separate itself from Russia over the war in Ukraine. Germany is now scrambling to build its own infrastructure. But as NPR's Rob Schmitz reports, time is not on its side.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE⁵: Industrial-sized vehicles crisscross the port of Brunsbuttel as an oil tanker⁶ begins to offload its precious cargo⁷. This port lies at the mouth of Germany's Elbe River along the North Sea. It's the entry to the Kiel Canal, the world's busiest artificial waterway. And it's also where Germany wants to build one of its first liquefied natural gas terminals.

FRANK SCHNABEL: It will be an important step towards just becoming partly independent of Russian gas. It will be difficult to become completely independent, but we have to start at some point.

SCHMITZ: Frank Schnabel is managing director of Brunsbuttel Harbor. He's been trying to get Germany to build a liquefied natural gas, or LNG, terminal here for years. And now the government is finally listening. That's because a third of the country's natural gas arriving by pipeline⁸ from Russia is now in jeopardy⁹. Russia has cut the supply of gas on one of its main pipelines¹⁰ to Germany by nearly half, prompting Germany's government to urge citizens to take shorter showers and turn off their lights to save energy and to save money.

ANDREE STRACKE: But in a strong, industrialized country like Germany, it would be very tricky¹¹ to maintain industries here on these price levels.

SCHMITZ: Andree Stracke, CEO of RWE Supply & Trading, says skyrocketing energy prices means the country needs to find a quick solution.

STRACKE: That means more LNG to bridge the period until more renewables come in and we can electrify¹² the country further.

SCHMITZ: LNG is a gas that's cooled to a liquid state. That makes it easy to transport it by ship before it's turned back into gas. Stracke's company is in charge of installing a temporary LNG terminal, essentially¹³ a massive ship, here in the port of Brunsbuttel. It's 1 of 4 such terminals that Germany has chartered and hopes to have up and running before the end of the year. But not everyone's happy about this.

NORBERT PRALOW: (Through interpreter) I don't think Germany should be building any LNG terminals. There are studies that show we can do without them.

SCHMITZ: Norbert Pralow, a retired¹⁴ ship engineer, opens a cattle fence before climbing a grassy¹⁵ embankment overlooking the Brunsbuttel port. He shows me why he thinks constructing an LNG terminal here is a bad idea.

PRALOW: (Through interpreter) Over here, you can see a shut-down nuclear power plant where nuclear waste is still being stored. On this side, there's an incineration plant for fertilizer. A facility like this one exploded in Germany last year. Next to that is the town's chemical park, where they make adhesives¹⁶, plastics and other supplies. Then there's an ammonia plant. And next to that is where they want to build an LNG terminal.

SCHMITZ: On top of that, the town of Brunsbuttel, population 14,000, is less than a mile away. Pralow and others are fighting against the construction of an LNG terminal here, but he admits it'll be an uphill battle. In May, Germany's parliament passed a law to fast-track the typically lengthy¹⁷ approval process for LNG terminals, eliminating the need for an environmental impact assessment¹⁸. Constantin Zerger, lawyer for the environmental group Deutschland Umwelthilfe (ph), says this law may pave the way for a fossil fuel future.

CONSTANTIN ZERGER: And we really feel that this is going to lead into a fossil trap and into a new fossil lock-in, while this infrastructure will be there for the next 20, 30, 40 years. And the companies will want to use that. So that's going to be a huge problem.

SCHMITZ: Thanks to the new law, German energy companies now have plans to build up to 12 LNG projects to replace Russian gas. Zerger calls this overkill. He says RWE has already signed an agreement to import LNG from the U.S., where fracking remains¹⁹ legal.

ZERGER: Fracking is forbidden. It's banned in Germany, out of good reasons. And I can't see a reason why we should buy fracked gas and import that. It's a kind of environmental destruction that we don't want to see here and not anywhere else on this planet.

SCHMITZ: RWE's Andree Stracke says he can't rule out some of the gas will be derived²⁰ from fracking. He says he'd prefer to solve this energy crisis with renewables, but given the present circumstances, it wouldn't be the quickest solution.

STRACKE: The coming winter is coming closer, and the question is, what are the alternatives? How quick can we install more renewables or connect to the German system? Because that would be the answer. It's either you save significant amount of energies and you don't heat up your homes in winter, which is not a real solution - close down industries is not a real solution. So therefore you need energy.

SCHMITZ: And he says LNG remains the most efficient solution. Germany's vice²¹ chancellor²², Robert Habeck, seems to have arrived to the same conclusion, much to the chagrin²³ of his political party. Habeck, one of the highest-ranking members of the Greens, a party devoted²⁴ to eliminating fossil fuels from Germany's economy, has not only called for more LNG terminals, he's also calling on Germany to burn more coal so that Europe's largest economy is prepared for what many believe will be a long, cold winter.

Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Brunsbuttel, Germany.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

7 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

8 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

9 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

10 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

11 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

12 electrify   

v.使充电；使电气化；使触电；使震惊；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The country is now making effort to electrify and informationize manufacture.国家正在致力于制造业的电气化和信息化。
• He needs money to electrify his surface lines.他需要钱把他的地面线路电气化。

13 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

14 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

15 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

16 adhesives   

黏合剂( adhesive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These include dyes, adhesives, solvents, detergents, metals, and other foreign materials. 其中包括染料，粘合剂，溶剂，洗涤剂、金属等外界物质。
• Preparation, properties and kinds of polyurethane adhesives were described. 综述了聚氨酯胶粘剂的合成、特性和种类。

17 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

18 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

22 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

23 chagrin   

n.懊恼；气愤；委屈

参考例句：

• His increasingly visible chagrin sets up a vicious circle.他的明显的不满引起了一种恶性循环。
• Much to his chagrin,he did not win the race.使他大为懊恼的是他赛跑没获胜。

24 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。