Documents: Fracked Gas Exports Central to Panama Canal Expansion

Documents: Fracked Gas Exports Central to Panama Canal Expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Steve Horn - Posted on 30 June 2016

After nearly a decade of engineering work on the project, the Panama Canal's expansion opened for business on June 26.

At the center of that business, a DeSmog investigation has demonstrated, is a fast-track export lane for gas obtained via hydraulic fracturing ("fracking&quot in the United States. The expanded Canal in both depth and width equates to a shortened voyage to Asia and also means the vast majority of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers — 9-percent before versus 88-percent now — can now fit through it.

Emails and documents obtained under open records law show that LNG exports have, for the past several years, served as a centerpiece for promotion of the Canal's expansion by the U.S. Gulf of Mexico-based Port of Lake Charles.

And the oil and gas industry, while awaiting the Canal expansion project's completion, lobbied for and achieved passage of a federal bill that expanded the water depth of a key Gulf-based port set to feed the fracked gas export boom.

Control of the Panama Canal by U.S. big business and Wall Street has, for over a century, served as a focal point of U.S. foreign policy in the Americas.

More:
http://warisacrime.org/content/documents-fracked-gas-exports-central-panama-canal-expansion