By Wyatt Carvalho
Recently in Nord Stream, part of a lake connecting Russia and Germany, bubbling has been seen coming up from underneath the water. Upon further inspection, damaged gas pipelines were found. They were distributing natural gas into the ocean.
The suspicion seems to be sabotage, as it happened 3 separate times, with evidence of explosion. The perpetrator is suspected to be Russia. However, Russian spokesperson, Dmitri S. Peskov, stated that the idea of Russian sabotage is “stupid”, immediately deflected blame onto the United States. It is expected that Russia sabotaged their own lines as a potential punishment for opposing the war in Ukraine. Russia originally closed the pipes for maintenance earlier during the beginning of the war. Europe has interpreted that Russia may close off Ukraines allies from natural gas for winter.
While neither pipeline was actively moving gas at the time of the leak, they contained menthane. Methane entered the water, causing possible environmental damage. Luckily, methane will mostly dissolve in water, however the amount released into the atmosphere is still enough to worry about. Methane is a greenhouse gas, one of many gasses that can harm the ozone layer. This has brought up discussion on potential environmental damage as well.
With the damage, we can expect a lack of natural gas to many portions of Europe, including Ukraine. This may be sabotage, or just pressure from the ocean floor.
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