There is a narrative percolating through the internet that ‘Europe’ should have enough natural gas this winter. They spent a small fortune to fill storage tanks (infrastructure) built for this sort of thing, much of it with LNG from the US. So why is the BBC prepping scripts to calm folks during blackouts?
Related: Northeast Activists Still Working to Ensure We All Freeze to Death
The Guardian has obtained scripts from the BBC to be read over the air if a “major” power loss results in phone, internet, banking, and traffic light failures across England, Wales, and Scotland. The broadcast could be received over FM radio or “long-wave frequencies usually reserved for Radio 2 and Radio 4,” according to the UK news outlet.
“One draft BBC script warns that a blackout could last for up to two days, with hospitals and police placed under ‘extreme pressure,’” The Guardian shared.
Another script for a potential news bulletin reads, “Officials are saying there is no current risk to food supply and distribution. But they’re asking people to look out for vulnerable neighbours and relatives.”
This seems a bit ironic.
They are preparing scripts in the event of power outages resulting from a headlong embrace of a flawed energy strategy without any backup plan. Sorry, my mistake. Europe has a backup plan.
Related: Pay Attention America: Winter is Coming, and Green Energy Can’t Keep Europe Warm
In May 2022, [European Commission president Ursula] Von Der Leyen declared regarding Russia’s restriction of gas supplies, “This behavior has only strengthened Europe’s resolve to get rid of Russian fossil fuel dependency, rapidly.”
“The climate cannot wait. But now the geopolitical reasons are evident, too. We have to diversify away from fossil fuels. We have set our course already towards climate neutrality. So now we must accelerate our clean energy transition.”
The answer is more of what didn’t work and won’t work. Yes, all-in, they are, and no turning back. The climate can’t wait… for them to kill people, so there’s more of it for them. A strategy that appears to have been duplicated in the northeast where, unlike Europe, we lack the infrastructure to prepare for an oil, gas, or electricity “shortage.”
Related: Vermont Democrats Want You to Freeze to Death
We have to hope there’s a foreign tanker filled with natural gas willing to divert to Boston at a cost higher than our already unaffordable energy prices.
