Putin Reroutes Oil Line to Avoid Landmark Lake

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: April 27, 2006


MOSCOW, April 26 — President Vladimir V. Putin ordered Wednesday that an oil pipeline being built across Siberia be rerouted away from the northern shore of Lake Baikal, one of the world's natural landmarks.

Mr. Putin's edict reversed a controversial government decision last month to allow Russia's pipeline monopoly, Transneft, to build the line within a half mile of Lake Baikal, the world's most voluminous body of fresh water.

The pipeline, a $11.5 billion, 2,500-mile project, will pump Russian oil to markets in Asia.

Rare public protests followed the approval in March of the initial route, with rallies from Moscow to Irkutsk, the Siberian region bordering the lake.

"It was not a huge wave," Aleksandr Shuvalov, deputy executive director of Greenpeace Russia, said of the protests, "but it was a wave."

The pipeline's route, so close to Lake Baikal, had raised concerns that any accident in a remote, seismically active region could send oil spilling into a lake holding more than 20 percent of the world's fresh water and an abundance of unique wildlife species. Not only environmental groups, but also Russian scientists opposed Transneft's planned route.

A commission of specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences initially opposed the route on environmental grounds. Its recommendation was rejected and a new review ordered with new specialists.

Mr. Putin's decision on Wednesday was an unexpected reversal and appeared choreographed for state television networks. Meeting with federal and regional officials in Tomsk, a Siberian city, he publicly chided Transneft's director, Semyon M. Vainshtok, after asking if there was an alternative to the contested route.

"Since you hesitate, it means that there is such a possibility," Mr. Putin told a visibly uncomfortable Mr. Vainshtok. "If there had not been such a possibility, you would have said 'no' without any doubt."

Mr. Putin then ordered that the route hew more closely to one previously recommended by the Academy of Sciences but rejected by a regulatory agency. He said a new route should be charted at least 40 kilometers, or nearly 25 miles, from Lake Baikal. That would put it outside of Baikal's watershed, environmental groups said.

Mr. Shuvalov called it "a victory of common sense."

The reversal underscored Mr. Putin's highly centralized power and his penchant for dramatic gestures. Wielding a pen in front of an oversize map of the Baikal region, he swept aside decisions by several government agencies, as well as those by Transneft, which had warned that finding another route would be prohibitively expensive.

Mr. Vainshtok and other officials from Transneft could not be reached for comment. They had said that the planned route would be safe and that moving it could add nearly $1 billion to the cost of the pipeline. When Mr. Vainshtok, in the televised exchange, suggested that the pipeline would have to move "much farther north," Mr. Putin responded curtly.

"If there is at least a tiny chance of polluting Baikal," he said, "we, thinking of future generations, must do everything not only to minimize this threat, but to exclude it."

Natalya Podkovyrzina, a leader of Baikal Wave, an environmental group in Irkutsk, said it was not yet clear if the pipeline could easily be built where Mr. Putin said. "Forty kilometers to the north is a mountainous area, highlands and impassable taiga," she said. Mr. Putin decided to move the pipeline as Russia, with Ukraine and Belarus, commemorated the 20th anniversary of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. The authorities broke up a protest against nuclear energy in Moscow, briefly detaining a dozen Greenpeace protesters who had chained themselves to a fence at St. Basil's Cathedral, in Red Square.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/world/europe/27pipeline.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wed Apr 26, 1:02 PM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin ordered that a planned pipeline to pump Siberian oil to Asia be re-routed far from Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake, in a decision hailed by Russian environmentalists as a major victory.

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"The route will be to the north of that zone," Putin was shown on state television saying, as he stood before a map of the region and drew arrows pointing north away from Lake Baikal, signifying the route of the new pipeline.
Speaking during a meeting with local officials in the central Siberian city of Tomsk, Putin said he approved of a plan that calls for the route of the strategic pipeline to be moved to at least 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Lake Baikal.
"In this way we are significantly reducing the ecological risks before construction begins," Putin said, adding: "We can consider this agreement final."
Russia's state-owned oil pipeline concern, Transneft, had planned to build the new pipeline, a major strategic project, on a route that would run for a stretch 800 metres (yards) from the northern shores of Lake Baikal, taking advantage of an existing railway route.
But the region is notoriously prone to earthquakes and environmental activists -- joined recently by local and regional officials -- have protested that the pipeline posed a major threat to what is one of the largest and purest lakes on Earth.
Russian environmental groups were elated at Putin's decision.
"We consider this a great victory," said Andrei Petrov of the Greepeace environmental group.
"There were demonstrations in several Russian cities against this project and this proves that, for once, society expressed its demands and they were heard.
"Putin's decision is a good sign for the future environmental situation. It is the first time that such a positive environmental decision has been taken in a long time," Petrov told AFP.
The pipeline is a central element of Russian strategic plans to supply energy-hungry markets in the Asia-Pacific region with oil from huge fields in Siberia, plans that also envisage construction of new pipelines for shipping Russian natural gas to the region.
Last Friday, some 500 people rallied in Moscow in the latest protests against Transneft's route near Lake Baikal.
In addition to its purity -- or because of it -- Lake Baikal is home to a range of unique flora and fauna, including the world's only freshwater seal.
In an interview published Wednesday in the liberal daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the head of Transneft, Semyon Vainshtok, said the cost of building the pipeline would grow by around 900 million dollars if the planned pipeline were shifted from near the lake to a route further north.
Vainshtok said the project was not practical because there were high mountains and no transport infrastructure in the region further to the north of Lake Baikal.
Earlier this month, environmental activists lamented that informed public debate on the pipeline route was not possible because state-controlled media were not giving any coverage to the dispute.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060426/sc_afp/russiaoilenvironment_060426170227

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Thursday April 27, 2006
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1762073,00.html?gusrc=rss

Vladimir Putin backed down in the face of popular protest yesterday and ordered that an oil pipeline be diverted from Lake Baikal, the world's largest mass of fresh water.
The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline will carry 1.6m barrels of oil a day to fast-growing markets in Asia, bolstering Russia's role as an energy power. It was originally intended to pass within half a mile of Lake Baikal but will now clear it by 25 miles. The mile-deep lake in the middle of Siberia holds a fifth of the world's fresh water and some 1,500 unique species of plants and animals.

Construction of the £6.5bn pipeline, which begins tomorrow, is expected to last for years. The original route sparked protests across Russia at the weekend, after ecologists said that seismic activity at the lake, which causes it to widen by 2cm a year, meant it was only a matter of time before the pipeline would rupture.
Mr Putin used a meeting with officials, including Semyon Vainshtok, the head of the state pipeline monopoly, Transneft, to rule out the original route. At the meeting in Tomsk, where Mr Putin is holding a summit with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Russian president said: "If there is even the smallest, the tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations. We must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimised, but eliminated."

The pipeline will now run 25 miles to the north. Mr Vainshtok, who had claimed that the previous route carried virtually no risks, seemed surprised at the decision. The diversion will add an estimated £500m to the pipeline's cost.

Ecologists welcomed the decision. Igor Chestin, director of the WWF in Russia, said: "President Putin's order today says that the state is ready to listen to the opinions of citizens if they are able to organise themselves."

Lilia Shevtsova, a political analyst, said this was the second time this year that Mr Putin had intervened after popular protests, the first being when Siberian courts unexpectedly overturned the jail sentence of a driver involved in a car crash that killed a regional governor. "He is not sensitive to political demands but he is to social ones," she said. "It is populist rather than democratic."

04/26/2006
BY AKIYOSHI KOMAKI

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

MOSCOW--A plan by Russia to build part of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline near Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site in southern Siberia's Irkutsk province, has provoked an angry response.

Activists and local governments in Siberia fear the clear waters of the crescent-shaped lake could become the site of an environmental disaster if an earthquake or terrorist attack ruptured the pipeline.

Considered the most transparent lake on Earth, Baikal is 639 kilometers long and 80 kilometers at its widest. It covers 31,500 square kilometers, about 47 times as large as Japan's biggest lake, Biwako, in Shiga Prefecture.

At nearly 1,700 meters, Lake Baikal is also the world's deepest freshwater lake. The lake and its surroundings teem with wildlife, prompting UNESCO to declare it a World Heritage site in 1996.

The Russian government plans to construct a 4,000-kilometer pipeline linking Tayshet in eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. Plans are for it to begin pumping oil by late 2008. Japan has shown interest in the project.

The chosen route brings the pipeline only 500 to 700 meters from the northern end of Lake Baikal, along a 100-kilometer stretch.

The Russian government last year asked a panel to assess the proposed pipeline's environmental impact. In March, the panel gave its approval to the project.

Environmental groups have filed lawsuits to block construction, but Russia's supreme court declared the project legal. Construction could begin as early as May.

Irkutsk Governor Alexander Tishanin is one of many who have spoken out against the project.

"The Russian government says it will stop any oil leaks within two and a half hours. But (should a pipe leak) 3,000 tons of oil could reach Lake Baikal in 20 minutes," Tishanin said.

The governor wants the pipeline route to be shifted northward, where the land is relatively flat and there is less danger of earthquakes. It would cost less to built there, too.

On the other hand, Transneft, the state-run company that is to build and operate the pipeline, says adequate safety measures are in place.

Company officials say the pipeline near Lake Baikal would be thicker than usual. Along the stretch near the lake, emergency shutoff valves will be installed every 5-6 kilometers--six times more frequently than elsewhere on the pipeline.

Environmental groups such as Baikal Ecological Wave (BEW), based in Irkutsk, do not trust the government.

"The environmental assessment experts at first turned down the project. So the government simply replaced those experts with other people, who turned around and approved the project," said Marina Rikhvanova, co-director of BEW.(IHT/Asahi: April 26,2006)

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200604260125.html

State company Transneft is planning to build an oil-pipe line along the coast of Great Lake Baikal, which is a storage of 20% of world’s fresh water of the highest quality. Lake Baikal existed million years before mankind and now the momentary chase of benefit can destroy the lake in a few precious days. Transneft insists on the project that guarantees annihilation of Lake Baikal despite the obvious contradiction with the tasks of environmental protection, execution of national and international laws, opinion of scientists and society and common sense.
By official estimations from 5 to 10 percents of oil escapes to the environment in Russia. Only one Transneft had about 10-15 accidents on its oil lines this year. The high seismicity of the region adds up to standard possible leaking. The area is one of the most seismically active in Siberia where earthquakes measuring 10 on the Richter scale occur – not a single oil-pipe line is going to bear this. And what is then going to be with Baikal?
A leakage from the pipeline that passes directly along the coast (as close at 800 meters at one point, and crossing 10 major rivers flowing into the lake) can occur due to a slightest crash. In case of such an accident within 20-40 minutes up to 40,000 tons of oil could enter the lake with catastrophic consequences. Academy of Sciences have warned that in this case some 10 thousand square kilometers of the lake (one third of it) would be covered by oil. Nothing alive is going to stay in the water, the surface of which is covered with oil film in 5-8 hours. No emergency service will be able to deal with this breakdown in that short time even if it will arrive on the place immediately.
Lake Baikal is the self-cleaning ecosystem unique by its potential and complexity. For many years it has been studied by limnologists, biologists, chemists and physicists. The scientists are far from understanding all details of the tremendous recreation capability of Baikal. But it is already clear that this capability is connected with an extremely subtle trimming of biochemical properties of endemic animals and bacterias with large masses of water physical properties on different depths – its specific transparency, temperature, salinity, quality of saluted oxygen and its geologic and climatic peculiarities.
The ruthful experience of Baikal Pulp And Paper Mill had shown that changes of the waters physical properties disrupts subtle trimming of chemical communication between Baikal inhabitants and leads to abrupt depopulation of endemic omul and freshwater Baikal seal. After all, Baikal Pulp And Paper Mill dumps “merely but” treated water!
As soon as amount of oil in Baikal will exceed the one that Baikal bacterias can recycle, the irreversible changes of water physical properties will arise. They will disrupt biochemical cycles of Baikal inhabitants, which will make changes of water physical properties even worse and lead to break-in of defense mechanism and death of Baikal – the lake will turn into a catch pit.
People of the Baikal region are trying to defend the lake. More than 60 thousand signatures against the pipe are collected to the moment. Two mass-meetings of many thousands took place in Irkutsk. Moreover, on 21st and 22nd of April meetings were held in Angarsk, Ulan-Ude, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhni Novgorod, Severobaikalsk, Rostov-on-Don and Kazan. Actions were dated to the International Earth Day.
But the government doesn’t want to hear anything about this. Public hearings on the project were held in secret. The state commission of ecologists defeated the bill, but the decision was reversed. The examination has been prolonged for a month, during which new 34 experts joined the commission. The new commission approved the project. Also on this occasion the actual water codex was edited so it won’t disturb the destruction of Lake Baikal.
A group of world’s heritage defenders is fighting with a government monster in isolation from the whole world.
Transneft and the head of the state are in the advantageous position in all spheres: economic, administrative (all state levels have proper instructions), legal (even if the laws have to be changed), informational (the informational blockade is organized well and the world hears only Vainstock and Putin). Vainstock blamed people that stand up for the Lake – people that gathered in one solid unselfish impulse – for anti-national activity. The central TV accused independent organizations of being sponsored by foreign intelligence.
The defenders ask international banks to stop financing Transneft projects and call people from all over the world to give us moral and informational help and support of any kind.
And if the laws can be rewritten for the pipe we head for involving the international human rights organizations. The defenders have no other way to fight except by means of information. The break-through of informational blockade is the necessary condition of victory.

It is the question of life and death of Great Lake, world’s heritage and the future of our children. It claims for drastic solution.

Friday, March 24, 2006 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/news)

The Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee, Ina Marčiulionytė, has sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, concerning the state of conservation of the World Heritage site of Lake Baikal.

The World Heritage Committee, the intergovernmental body established by the World Heritage Convention, regularly examines the state of conservation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Committee has already expressed its concern regarding the potentially negative impact of the proposed oil pipeline crossing the World Heritage site on several occasions. At the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee in Durban, South Africa, in July 2005, the Committee stated that any pipeline development crossing the watershed of Lake Baikal and main tributaries would make the case for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The letter follows several articles in the international press reporting the recent decision of the expert commission responsible for the State Ecological Expertise to accept the proposed routing of a pipeline through the World Heritage site, and its approval by the Federal Service for Ecological Technological and Atomic Supervision (Rostechnadzor).

In the letter, the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee expresses extreme concern at the developments which constitute a potential threat to the outstanding universal value of the property, and which may result in the Committee deciding to inscribe the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger at its 30th session in Vilnius, Lithuania. She therefore urges the re-examination of the proposed routing of the pipeline to take into account the World Heritage status of Lake Baikal, and honor the commitment made by the Russian Federation for the conservation of Lake Baikal World Heritage site in accordance with the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

Situated in south-east Siberia, Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world, and contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996.

Lake Baikal is in danger!
Help stop the construction of an oil pipeline in a World Natural Heritage Site!

This might be our last chance to stop a project to build an oil pipeline through the Lake Baikal basin in the immediate vicinity of the lake (as close at 800 metres at one point, and crossing 10 major rivers flowing into the lake, and 113.4 kilometres (70.5 miles) of the UNESCO World Heritage Site).

In very dubious circumstances the state organisation responsible for carrying out environmental impact assessments has approved the project of the state oil pipeline monopoly, Transneft. It is likely that only the intervention of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, can prevent the project going ahead before it is too late.

Thousands of signatures have been collected against the project via the Internet (statistics: http://www.babr.ru/truba/, also en English). Thousands more (over 20,000) have been collected in Irkutsk region to a petition to President Putin to call off the project.

In the event of an accident, within 20-40 minutes, up to 4,000 tons of oil could enter the lake with catastrophic consequences. The area is one of the most seismically active in Siberia where, in 1911, the most severe earthquake on Russian territory occurred. Scientists of the Irkutsk branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have warned that in the case of such an accident some 10 thousand square kilometres of the lake (one third of the lake) would be covered by oil, bringing about the destruction of the major part of the lake’s endemic organisms.

Translated by Baikal Environmental Wave, e-mail: sutton(at)baikalwave(dot)eu(dot)org.

(..to be completed)

Oil Pipeline East Siberia – Pacific Ocean: Overview

The dispute over the Transneft's oil pipeline project named East Siberia – Pacific Ocean (known as VSTO), a part of which is scheduled to pass along the North coastline of Lake Baikal, has come to its final phase.
This project has been opposed by the Irkutsk Oblast Administration and the Regional Legislation Chamber, the People’s Khural of the Buryat Republic, along with scientists working in all scientific and educational institutions of Irkutsk, including the Institute of Earth's Crust and the Limnological Institute.
On March 18, 2006 over five thousand people gathered to protest in Irkutsk; on April 1, pickets in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don were driven away by the state militia.
Over fifty thousand people from Russia and abroad have voted against the project, out of which more than 23 thousand (UPD: almost 25 thousand at present) posted their votes on the Internet. 10 thousand of these signatures were delivered to the Russian State Duma, and 14 thousand – to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
On March 28, the Council of Public Chamber of the Russian Federation has accepted a petition on the threat posed to Lake Baikal by the oil pipe line.
On April 9th, another protest event is scheduled to take place in Irkutsk.
On April 18 and 19, 2006, the oil pipe issue will be examined by the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region.
Federal mass media and press are keeping silence on the protest movement, yet grant attention to the positive side of the project. All criticism against the project is available only on the Internet.

On January 24, the State Environmental Expertise Committee (GEE) has ruled disapproval of the oil pipeline project. The chief of Rostekhnadzor (Technical Control), Konstantin Pulikovskiy (former Pleniponentionary Representative of the President in Far Eastern Federal Okrug), instead of approving the GEE negative resolution, has extended the expert evaluation period for another month and rendered another 34 new experts members of the Commission, as not stipulated by the law “On Environmental Expertise Evaluation”. The composition of the Commission was questionable: No ecologist or seismologist were members, none of the experts ever worked or studied Lake Baikal or its neighboring regions, some never even had any published scientific works.
Without obtaining positive ecological resolution, the Russian Government Chairman Mikhail Fradkov, on January 31, 2006, has signed the enactment to commence drafting and construction of the pipe line.
On February 26 the Commission held its meeting and approved the project. Only 60 experts out of 89 were present, which makes an only 67% composition. In order to grant approval, the positive resolution had to gather 61 votes. From 22 to 25 experts present voted against the project. When 27 experts voted against as opposed by 58 experts, the positive resolution was adopted after the voting by way of expelling four experts, predetermined to oppose the project. Moreover, part of the experts couldn’t physically be able to read all the documentation because they had only 7 days to get acquainted with them due to delay in delivery.
On March 3, the Rostekhnadzor Chief Konstantin Pulikovskiy approved the resolution of the Commission.
The experts’ conclusions were never made public, as well as the project documentation itself.

General objections to the current pipe route are as follows:
First of all, accordance with the project, the pipeline will pass only within 800 m from the north coast of Lake Baikal, crossing a wide nature resource established UNESCO World Heritage site (Ref. No. 754, http://whc.unesco.org/fr/list/754 (in French), http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/754 (in English)), thus violating the international laws and the Russian Law "On Lake Baikal". Moreover, in some areas the beach width does not exceed 30 m, this part being already occupied by highway and railroad. A similar project was presented in 2003, to pass within 12 km from the coast, however it was rejected due to the fact that it was impossible to construct the pipe line in the mountains.
Secondly, the project developers indicate that the pipe line would be separated from Lake Baikal with a railroad embankment, and 60 kilometers of the pipe line will be made out of special steel of excessive thickness (up to 36 mm) with blocking slide valves set up every 5 km instead of every 32 km as compliant to the regular norms. Yet, there is no railroad embankment in the transit area and the higher concentration of slide valves does not eliminate the possibility of a 3 thousand tons oil spill (as estimated initially by Transneft, this figure being later removed from the project documentation). As experts estimate, Transneft has never before used pipes with thickness exceeding 12 mm.
This year, Transneft has already had 8 accidents involving oil spills. In 2005 it had 12 accidents, in 2004 – the figure was 11. Accident risk is estimated at 0,22-0,24 cases per a thousand km, which is more than declared by Semyon Veinshtock, the president of Transneft OJSC (0,04 cases per a thousand km). In fact, in 2006 the accident level has reached 0,16 cases per a thousand km. With all of these facts in mind, the pipe line reliability is highly questionable.
Previously, there was an oil pipe accident on Transneft's pipeline in Irkutsk Oblast in 1992, which lead to an oil spill of over 30 thousand tons. The oil has reached subsurface waters thus depriving Tyret settlement of its own water supply. On January 30, 2006 from a pipe rupture in Udmurtia, an oil fountain 20 m high broke out spilling 3200 tons of oil. As the GEE commissioner I. I. Maximova states, this fact has not even been mentioned by the Transneft representatives.
If we were to consider the capacity of the projected oil collection fleet at Lake Baikal, the project seems to allow for a 180-240 tons of oil spill directly into the lake. Moreover, as experts say, the process losses will reach the lake continuously.
Thirdly, there is a fact that is paid too little attention: Transneft suggests implementing durable pipe-inside-pipe technology with blocking slide valves only for the 60 km of the oil pipe route passing along the coast. However, the pipe is projected to pass along other areas adjacent to the rivers which flow into the Lake Baikal, and no protective technology is stipulated along that part of the route. The pipes are regular, slide valves projected every 32 km. Moreover, this is a strong earthquake zone. From 1950 to 2005 there were nearly 30 earthquake occurrences ranking 4 to 11 on the 12-graded Mercalli intensity scale. Earthquake focuses are clustered around the route of the pipe. The effects can lead to cracks in earth’s crust as wide as tens of meters. Neither pipe thickness nor special steel are able to withstand such occurrences.
The project stipulates protection from earthquakes by setting oil pipes several meters underground, however such protection is meant to withstand the maximum of an earthquake ranking 8 on the Mercalli scale. Still more, the possibility of oil pipe placement into hard rock is highly questionable.
The Russian construction standards (SNiP) prohibit oil pipe construction within territories with seismicity ranking 9 (on the Mercalli scale) and higher. In case pipe rupture occurs within the zone, an immense amount of oil will be spilt because slide valves will be installed only every 32 km under the project. This oil will undoubtedly reach the rivers flowing into the Lake Baikal, penetrate into underground waters, which will lead to water pollution on a large area.
And four, Transneft acts contrary not only to the laws and regulations, but to the common sense of economy as well. An alternative route passing through Ust-Kut, Kirensk and Lensk along the right bank of the Lena River is better from every point of view. Although it is greater in length than the existing project, it can be cheaper due to the absence of necessity to provide for additional environmental protection. The oil pipe thus avoids Baikal’s watershed and the earthquake zone, passing within a considerable distance from the Lena river along planes without crossing mountain ridges. It can be bound with the large river transport system and ports of inland navigation: Ust-Kut and Kirensk. The route passes along large oil deposits, including those ready for development. New oil deposits can be discovered in the region.

The opposition to the current oil pipe project holds the following point of view: The oil pipeline project section route from Taishet to Skovorodino must be reconsidered to bring the pipe out of Lake Baikal’s watershed and the earthquake zone. The optimal project variant could pass along the route from Taishet to Ust-Kut to Kirensk to Lensk to Tynda. The alternative project is supported by the experts, scientists of the Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as regional authorities of Irkutsk Region and Buryatia.
The major argument of pipe-backers against rerouting the pipe is possible cost increase and longer term of construction. Yet they never presented any information on the alternative project cost. (UPD: the cost increase is evaluated at about $900,000,000).

Suggestions: It is necessary to influence the head staff of Transneft, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Government Chairman Mikhail Fradkov, the minister if industry and energy Viktor Khristenko, the president of Transneft OJSC Semyon Vainshtok, in order to convince them that the north routing passing through Ust-Kut and Kirensk is economically expedient and profitable, bearing far less threat to the ecology.

Compiled by Dmitry Verkhoturov, Konstantin Hlyzov, Vladimir Potapov. Translated by Dmitry Shulga