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Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood.

A slight departure from the norm, three guests, though, are the almost regulation, two segments.

We'll hear from the Energy Adelaide's Jamie Webster, on why European natural gas prices have mostly returned to earth after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And then Carrie Lighterson and Ron Kamenka will make the case for nationalizing the railroads.

First, energy. Just after Russia invaded Ukraine, Europe went into an energy panic.

Reflecting its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas imports, prices soared across the continent.

Prices, which had averaged about twice US levels, are just below in the years before the invasion, soared to about seven times.

There were widespread predictions of business failures and people freezing in their houses.

The worst didn't happen. Prices fell back.

There's still about twice what they were before the war, but that's a lot less than the seven-fold increase between 2021 and the August 2022 peak.

What happened? Why did prices recede? And what are the effects of still elevated prices on European households and businesses?

What's happening with Russian gas now and what has the impact of sanctions been in the country?

What's the effect on carbon emissions in the transition to a cleaner energy future?

And what about the rest of the world? Germans can pay, but can't bang with their shoes?

Here to answer those questions is Jamie Webster.

He is less than behind the news, and my god, 2012 to discuss the boom in US oil and gas production.

Now that boom is helping keep Europe and supplies of LNG, liquefied natural gas, that is.

He's an energy analyst with the Boston Consulting Group based in their Seattle office, Jamie Webster.

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