美国国家公共电台 NPR--Encore: The U.S. may soon export more gas to the EU, complicating climate goals

Encore: The U.S. may soon export more gas to the EU, complicating¹ climate goals

Transcript²

CLIMATE

The U.S. may soon export more gas to the EU, but that will complicate³ climate goals

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Because of Russia's war in Ukraine, Europe wants to stop buying Russian natural gas. And that could have implications here in the United States. More gas export terminals may be bought along the Gulf⁴ Coast to handle demand, which makes the Biden administration's climate goals harder to achieve. And as WWNO's Halle Parker reports, those new plants likely would be built in communities already living with pollution.

HALLE PARKER, BYLINE⁵: Southwest Louisiana is a hub for casinos, culture and petrochemical refining. It's also been battered⁶ by hurricanes. The city of Lake Charles was struck by not one but two hurricanes in 2020. Roishetta Ozane still lives in a FEMA trailer - right next to one of the area's many petroleum⁷ plants.

ROISHETTA OZANE: The flares⁸ are large and so loud, and people can hear them all the way in Lake Charles. So that's the first thing we see in the morning, you know, industry.

PARKER: To drive her six children to school, Ozane passes through an industrial area in the city of Sulphur.

OZANE: It's called Sulphur for a reason. It smells horrible most days.

PARKER: Across the region, she says low-income Black neighborhoods are located next to plants burdened by those smells and chemicals every day. Ozane works as an organizer for the environmental nonprofit Healthy Gulf, advocating for the environmental justice communities President Joe Biden pledged to help. Now Ozane says residents are making the connection between these fossil fuel plants and climate change. As frustration⁹ has grown, Ozane's community meetings have, too, from just one or two people a year ago to a few dozen. And now they're protesting the prospect¹⁰ of more liquefied natural gas plants.

OZANE: They showed up to that hearing for Commonwealth¹¹, that was unheard of. People don't go to hearings around here. They're like, whatever. But they see folks are fighting for them.

PARKER: To export natural gas, it has to be supercooled, and that requires energy. One terminal could emit up to 10 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to state permits. That's about the same annual footprint as the entire country of Costa Rica.

(SOUNDBITE OF CONSTRUCTION)

PARKER: There's already one liquefied natural gas export terminal under construction near the Gulf of Mexico, and at least nine others are proposed just in southwest Louisiana. Some have permits, but they're in limbo¹² without financing yet. However, the Biden administration's push to boost gas exports to Europe to wean countries off Russian gas could bring more construction soon. Even the industry agrees Biden's export goals can be met with the seven plants already operating. But LNG Allies president Fred Hutchison argues even more global demand is coming.

FRED HUTCHISON: We've got these 10 projects that are fully¹³ permitted by the U.S. government, shovel¹⁴ ready. All they're waiting for is contracts. It'll take a few years once the go-ahead decisions are made, but we can do more. Question is, will we do more?

PARKER: Economist¹⁵ Clark Williams-Derry advocates for a faster transition to cleaner energy at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. He says those contracts would lock European countries into several more decades of relying on gas, hurting the world's ability to limit global warming.

CLARK WILLIAMS-DERRY: Building new infrastructure¹⁶ without clearly getting rid of or abating¹⁷ problems from the old infrastructure - that's just going to make that problem worse.

PARKER: And community organizer Roishetta Ozane says that's the exact opposite of what environmental justice communities need.

OZANE: If you care about those communities, you want to protect those communities, there's no way that you would be steadily¹⁸ agreeing to bring more things that harm those communities to them.

PARKER: And Ozane says residents aren't letting more plants come without a fight. For NPR News, I'm Halle Parker in Lake Charles, La.

(SOUNDBITE OF EMANCIPATOR'S "DAFFODIL PICKLES")

1 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

2 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。

3 complicate   

vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂

参考例句：

• There is no need to complicate matters.没有必要使问题复杂化。
• These events will greatly complicate the situation.这些事件将使局势变得极其复杂。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

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 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

7 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

8 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

11 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

12 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

15 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

16 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。

17 abating   

减少( abate的现在分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The storm showed no signs of abating. 暴风雨没有减弱的迹象。
• The recent public anxiety about this issue may now be abating. 近来公众对这个问题的焦虑心情现在也许正在缓和下来。

18 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。