Nord Stream explosions injured Baltic wildlife—scientists

(RT) ⸻ The destruction of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in 2022 killed and poisoned fish and marine mammal species in the Baltic Sea, according to a new report by Danish, Polish and German scientists. The explosions stirred up chemical waste and threaten cod and porpoise populations. The researchers estimated that a quarter million tons of contaminated seabed, an area twice the size of Bornholm, may have been stirred up by the explosions. The Nord Stream sabotage has threatened the Baltic Sea cod and porpoise populations, which have breeding grounds nearby. The explosions may have deafened all porpoises within 50 kilometers of the blasts, while those within 4 kilometers were "probably killed." Bo Oksnebjerg of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) urged the Danish and Swedish governments to come up with a "sea plan" to safeguard the Baltic from future incidents. Denmark's Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke promised to monitor and share the information with neighboring countries around the Baltic Sea. Denmark, Sweden and Germany have refused to release any information about their investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage, despite Russia's repeated requests. Seymour Hersh published an article blaming the US and Norway for blowing up the pipelines. President Joe Biden had threatened Nord Stream 2 last January and multiple State Department officials spoke approvingly about its destruction.