Russian journalist: gas pipeline’s damaging environmental effects underestimated

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The environmental effects of the planned gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea and the additional costs brought on by these effects have been grossly underestimated, believes Russian environmental journalist Grigori Pasko.
      Pasko, who is preparing a documentary on the Nord Stream gas pipeline undertaking, says he has familiarised himself with environmental studies regarding the Vyborg area commissioned by the company.
      “According to the report produced by a Danish company, the cost of the damage caused to the area’s nature would be in the region of EUR 100,000. This is a trivial sum considering the extent of the project”, Pasko says.
     
In Pasko’s view, it is also unclear what kind of construction waste the laying of the pipeline will produce.
      “Who cleans up the mess, to which country is the waste transported, and in which ships?” Pasko asks.
      Pasko points out that Nord Stream will only be responsible for the construction of the pipeline. As yet, it is not known which company would bear the responsibility should there ever be an accident caused by the pipeline.
      Pasko states that if all the environmental aspects were taken into consideration, the undertaking would become unprofitable.
      “The price of the project was recently raised from EUR 5 billion to EUR 7.5 billion. Many experts agree that this statement was misleading. In fact, the pipeline’s actual price tag will read something like EUR 13-14 billion.”
      According to Pasko, the outlay for an overground pipeline would have been a mere sixth of that of the underwater version, but that idea was dismissed for political reasons.
     
Still, Pasko thanks Nord Stream for its openness, which is in a different league compared to that of the firm’s largest owner, the Russian energy company Gazprom.
      “The German and Dutch ownership of Nord Stream has forced Gazprom into the sort of transparency unheard of in Russia.”
      Pasko says that Nord Stream has no other choice but to make concessions in order to keep the undertaking alive. Last week the company announced it would give up the planned service platform in Gotland waters, opposed by Sweden.
      Pasko believes Finland will largely follow decisions made in Sweden when forming its opinion of the undertaking.
     
For his documentary to be aired in July, Pasko has interviewed the gas pipeline supporters and objectors from government officials to fishermen. In Finland he will meet, for example, with the University of Helsinki professor Erkki Hollo and MP Heidi Hautala (Green). The Gazprom leaders have refused to be interviewed.
      Pasko says he is particularly annoyed by the fact that despite the large pipeline undertakings, many ordinary Russian citizens do not have access to gas.
      “In the starting point of the Nord Stream pipeline, the city of Babajevo in the southwest of Russia, there are three main pipelines. And yet only 40 per cent of the homes in the city itself have been connected to a gas network.”
      In 2001 Pasko was sentenced to a four-year custodial sentence for treason, because he revealed to the Japanese media the location of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s dumping-area for hazardous waste in the Sea of Japan.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Baltic Sea gas pipeline project facing big difficulties (10.3.2008)
  Swedish government sends back Nord Stream gas pipeline application, demands clarification on environmental impact (13.2.2008)
  Cost of Baltic Sea gas pipeline looks to be higher than expected (8.1.2008)

Links:
  Nord Stream (Wikipedia)
  Nord Stream homepage

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