Environmental groups challenge EU support for gas projects

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Environmental groups have started legal action against the European Commission to challenge the inclusion of 30 gas projects in a list of priority operations considered as beneficial to the bloc’s energy market. The campaigners said on Tuesday that the European Commission has given “these climate-destructive projects VIP status, in contradiction of its legal obligations.” The groups’ legal action came as European lawmakers debated Tuesday proposals from the “Fit for 55” package set up by the Commission to achieve the EU’s climate goals of cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming by 55% over this decade.