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Europe Plan for Floating Gas Terminals Raises Climate Fears

A tugboat helps guide a French ship, known as the LNG Endeavor, through Calcasieu Lake near Hackberry, La., on March 31, 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine shattered its relations with Europe, which soon lost most of the natural gas that Moscow had long provided. Now, as winter nears, European nations have backed a short-term fix set to begin before the end of 2022 that has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long term consequences for the climate. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine, File)
A tugboat helps guide a French ship, known as the LNG Endeavor, through Calcasieu Lake near Hackberry, La., on March 31, 2022. Russia’s war against Ukraine shattered its relations with Europe, which soon lost most of the natural gas that Moscow had long provided. Now, as winter nears, European nations have backed a short-term fix set to begin before the end of 2022 that has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long term consequences for the climate. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine, File)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CATHY BUSSEWITZ)
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New York (AP) -- As winter nears, European nations, desperate to replace the natural gas they once bought from Russia, have embraced a short-term fix: A series of roughly 20 floating terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from other countries and convert it into heating fuel.

Yet the plan, with the first floating terminals set to deliver natural gas by year's end, has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long-term consequences for the environment. They warn that these terminals would perpetuate Europe's reliance on natural gas, which releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it's produced, transported and burned.