Senators want US to use all options to oppose Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Thirty-nine US senators urged the Trump administration to use all tools at its disposal—including a provision in the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)—to prevent construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.

The project represents a step backward in Europe’s efforts to diversify its gas suppliers and make US allies there more susceptible to Russia’s coercion and malign influence, the 28 Republicans and 11 Democrats said in their Mar. 15 letter to US Sec. of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin and Deputy US Secretary of State John J. Sullivan.

“For too long, European nations have been held hostage to Russian political pressure on a whole host of issues due to their dependence on [Russian Federation gas supplier] Gazprom to deliver gas needed to keep their people warm throughout the winter,” the lawmakers said.

“The best way to guarantee Europe’s long-term economic health and independence is to enable and support investment in a variety of energy sources, suppliers, and routes to meet Europe’s needs and to force Gazprom to negotiate as a market actor and not a monopolist,” they said.

Noting that Trump, then-State Sec. Rex W. Tillerson, and other administration members already have publicly opposed the pipeline, which would carry gas from Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany in addition to the existing Nord Stream 1 system, the senators said that CAATSA Section 232 provides the administration more tools to sanction US and foreign entities “supporting or expanding or expanding Gazprom’s near-monopolist role in providing energy to US allies.”

The letter said, “It is clear that the Kremlin uses Gazprom to exert unacceptable and divisive political pressure on sovereign European governments. Russia is attempting to use this influence to break transatlantic resolve on renewing sanctions intended to compel Russia to cease its illegal aggression in Ukraine and to live up to the Minsk commitments to which it has agreed but continues to violate.”

It said, “Congress intended CAATSA to be a tool for the administration to use in our efforts to support European energy security, and we encourage the administration to carefully examine how CAATSA sanctions can be used to meet that goal.”

Earlier in the week, speakers at an Atlantic Council debate disagreed over whether Nord Stream 2 would serve a broader Russian political purpose or simply increase available supplies for European customers. They generally seemed to agree, however, that the US should encourage an effective solution, but keep its distance otherwise (OGJ Online, Mar. 13, 2018).

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].