Italy Found a Fix for Its Gas Crisis, but Locals Are Resisting

The struggle in Tuscany illustrates the difficulties that Europe faces as it moves to cut its decadeslong dependence on Russian energy because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. European countries are rushing to replace Russian gas, including by importing more LNG, carried on oceangoing tankers from suppliers including the U.S. and Qatar. For that, however, Europe needs more LNG terminals.

Dozens of new terminals are being set up across the continent, but the challenges are formidable, ranging from getting major engineering projects approved and built within months instead of years to opposition from climate-change activists and residents worried for their safety.

For Italy and Germany, which were particularly dependent on Russian gas, getting the new infrastructure up and running as soon as possible is a matter of national security, officials say.

European Union countries managed to fill up their gas-storage facilities ahead of this winter, partly because they were still buying Russian gas at high prices. But without the new LNG terminals allowing greater supply from overseas, many EU countries will struggle to replenish their gas reserves next year, with potentially devastating consequences for households and businesses.

The job of LNG terminals, such as the floating facility intended for Piombino, is to store the superchilled liquid delivered by tankers and return it to gaseous form before injecting it into the grid.

This year, Italy has ramped up its imports of natural gas via pipelines and ships from suppliers including Algeria and Azerbaijan. Over the summer, Italy’s state-run gas grid operator

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SpA bought two floating storage-and-regasification units for $750 million. The twin vessels would meet around 15% of Italy’s annual gas consumption and bring the total number of LNG terminals on the Italian peninsula up to five.

The Italian government soon identified Piombino as the site…