Credit Suisse Bank – Swiss Guarantee of Destruction of Sakhalin’s Ecosystem?

Tomorrow on June 28 local residents of Sakhalin will once again block the road at a construction site in order to physically stop hazardous for nature and people project. On the same day a protest will be held near the headquarters of the Credit Suisse Bank in the U.S. In London the coalition of non-governmental organizations will organize a demonstration near the headquarters of Shell – the principal stakeholder of the Sakhlin-2 project.

Credit Suisse provides further funding of the project. In May the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) already refused to finance the project with the total value of 10 billion dollars. Now the project initiators have to look for alternative sources of funding.

The project causes threat to the unique population of grey whales. The area of oil production is their only summer breeding ground. To transport oil and gas the pipeline is being constructed through almost the whole island from the North to the South. The pipeline will cross more than a thousand rivers and streams, about 600 of them are spawning sites. The pipeline will cross 21 active joint fissures, which together with complicated terrain can cause disastrous oil leakages.

Realization of the first stage of the project has already caused damage to the nature of Sakhalin: the small in number shoal of grey whales has decreased, in the north of the island fish has become extinct in the rivers where heavy construction machines were transported. Benefits, which were promised by oil workers to local residents who live a traditional lifestyle based on sea resources’ exploitation, turned out to be a tragedy.

“Oil companies that work on the Sakhalin shelf have already showed their irresponsibility toward the fragile nature of Sakhalin. Now they are looking for a Swiss guarantee to completely destroy the unique ecosystem of the island”, says Vladimir Chouprov, Greenpeace Russia Energy Department Head. “Oil is going to be exhausted soon and a really far-sighted bank would focus on the alternative wind, solar, wave and geothermal energy and energy saving rather than investing in a shady project.”

Greenpeace handed a letter with a demand to the heads of the Credit Suisse to stop funding oil production on Sakhalin. The bank was offered to focus on safe and financially perspective projects on energy saving and renewable energy sources. For these purposes a thick reference book of Russian companies that produce equipment for renewables was presented to the bank.

For further information please contact Greenpeace Russia:
257-41-16/18/22/24 – Vladimir Chouprov, Elena Surovikina

Additional information:

Economic and technological potential of renewable energy sources is 30 percent in the total energy balance of the country. The energy saving potential is 40 percent.

Sakhalin is a spawning area for 30 percent of salmon in the Far East. This is a habitat of the last unique population of grey whales included in the Red Data Book. This is a habitat of indigenous small-in-number peoples who live a traditional lifestyle based on sea resources’ exploitation.

In the framework of the project the drilling platform ПА-Б (РА-В) is going to be constructed at the Piltun-Astokh deposit in a dangerous proximity from the only summer breeding ground of western grey whales in the world. There are only about 100 whales left, and the female whales of the reproductive age are strongly exhausted. Only this year two of them have died.

To deliver oil and gas the pipeline is being constructed, which will cross 105 spawning rivers in the most dangerous trench method directly through salmon spawning sites (including the Sakhalin taimen included in the Red Data Book), which is a violation of the Russian laws.

Furthermore, it is the Russian legislation and standards that require applying overhead construction of pipelines in the places of crossing active joint fissures. However, Sakhalin Energy managed to lobby for special licenses to deviate from the Russian standards for their pipeline’s construction.