Over 80% of the experts, commissioned to assess the
environmentalimpact of building the 4,200 km pipeline, rejected the
proposal becauseof its proximity to one of the world's most fragile
ecosystems, LakeBaikal - which has been a World Heritage Site since
1996.
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the proposed
pipeline wascommissioned by Russia's Federal Service for
Ecological, Technologicaland Atomic Supervision in November 2005.
The agency convened a panel of52 top Russian scientists, who
delivered their assessment on 24thJanuary 2006. 43 out 52 of them
signed a statement concluding that thepipeline would have a
negative impact, highlighting that it would bebuilt just 800 metres
away from Lake Baikal, and poses "a greatpotential danger to the
lake".
Following these conclusions, the agency was expected to issue a
specialdecree endorsing the results of the assessment, and
blockingconstruction of the pipeline. However, the agency has
failed to publishthe decree and a number of the scientists on the
panel have nowcomplained that they have been pressured into
changing their mind andapproving an immediate start to
construction.
"We are receiving phone calls asking to think twice before
goingpublic with the outcome of our work. In the meantime, the
FederalService is using loopholes in the Russian legislation to
block thenegative conclusions", said one of the experts.
Experts claim that the agency is now recruiting more scientists
in abid to change the conclusions of the panel. Speaking at a
Greenpeacepress conference, one expert said "Issuing a decree
approving theEIA is just a bureaucratic formality, and the law does
not bind theFederal Service to sign it. However, it says the
Federal Service canhire additional experts to reach a decision,
this time in favour ofTransneft, while blocking the negative
conclusion".
The so-called 'Pacific Pipeline' developed and promoted by the
Russianstate-owned oil transport monopoly Transneft is going to
become thelargest pipeline project in the world. With its total
length of 4,200kilometers, annual capacity of 80 million tons of
oil and the totalcost of up to 18 billion US dollars, the pipeline
is three times aslong and the Alyeska pipeline in the United
States.
Roman Vazhenkov, Lake Baikal Campaign Coordinator of
Greenpeacecommented "We want to show our support to all experts who
are notgiving in to the pressure and urge the Federal Service to
approve thenegative conclusions of the state EIA signed already by
theoverwhelming majority of the experts. At stake is Lake Baikal
and thefuture of Russia as a civilized country".
Under existing legislation, the deadline for the agency to issue
thedecree is February 3rd, 2006, but sources within the Federal
Servicesay that the approval process may not be completed until
April.
VVPR info: For more information, please, contact Roman Vazhenkov or Evgeny Usov of Greenpeace Russia Tel/fax: +7 (495) 926-5045mobile +7 903 739 49 57 e-mail: rvazhenk@ru.greenpeace.org.
Exp. contact date: 2006-02-08 00:00:00