Report Summary: Transneft, Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline monopoly, plans to build the world’s longest oil pipeline (4,188 kilometers) to transport oil from western and central Siberian oilfields to the Sea of Japan. The pipeline will be Russia's largest federal project to date with total investments estimated at between 11 and 17 billion USD.

The two major environmental issues associated with the pipeline are the proximity of the route to Lake Baikal and the proposed oil terminal location on the Amur Bay near Vladivostok. This report will focus on the terminal issue.

Conservationists strongly oppose a terminal located on the Amur Bay. Alternative terminal locations, including several sites near Nakhodka, are not only superior from an environmental perspective, but also from social and economic perspectives. Located east of Vladivostok, Nakhodka is the region’s largest port. Perevoznaya is presently a pristine coastline with little development and infrastructure. It would be much more efficient to utilize already existing infrastructure near Nakhodka, where oil terminals already exist.

The Marine Protected Area at sunset. Phoro vy Leah Zimmerman.

Of all the alternatives examined by specialists, Perevoznaya on the Amur Bay is the worst possible spot for an oil terminal. Strong winds and fog are common in the Amur Bay, and the bay is large, open and shallow. As a result, the terminal must be built at least two kilometers offshore where tankers will be exposed to frequent storms and periods of high waves.

Tankers will also need to navigate through a string of small islands to reach the terminal. Given these unfavorable conditions, the risk of accidents resulting in oil spills is 17 times higher in the Amur Bay than if an alternative terminal site is selected near Nakhodka or elsewhere in south Primorsky Krai. Moreover, a spill in the Amur Bay would do much more damage than at other sites. Conditions in the bay make it difficult to control spills and spills are likely to spread over a large area and to pollute long stretches of the coastline.

Fifteen percent of Russia’s endangered species can be found exclusively in the area of the proposed terminal site in Southwest Primorsky Krai. One of the endangered animals found only in Southwest Primorsky Krai is the Amur leopard; with a population of about 35, the Amur leopard is probably the world’s rarest big cat. The pipeline would run directly through a wildlife refuge and the proposed terminal site is adjacent to Kedrovaya Pad, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and important leopard habitat. Vladivostok, the region’s largest city, is opposite the terminal site on the Amur Bay. The most popular tourist resorts and sandy beaches in the Russian Far East – visited by thousands of tourists annually – and Russia’s only marine reserve are also located nearby.

On 1 July 2005, a court in Khabarovsk, Russia, ruled the official Environmental Impact Review (EIR) of the project invalid as a result of serious irregularities and violations of Russian law. Irregularities include the following: withholding of essential project information, failure to investigate alternative terminal sites, providing of incorrect information to the public, use of inaccurate information in the project assessment (including inaccurate data on the suitability of the proposed terminal site) and obstruction of independent NGO participation in the EIR process.

President Putin recently criticized Russian environmentalists for creating obstacles for Russia’s economic development. He accused NGOs of accepting finance from “competitors,” citing the Siberia-Pacific Pipeline Project as his main example. However, NGOs argue for a changed pipeline route, not for cancellation of the entire pipeline project.

The present controversy concerning the proposed terminal site is the result of poor planning by Transneft and Russian authorities, such as not selecting the site on the basis of objective scientific data. Contrary to statements by certain Russian officials, NGOs opposed to the

A total of 17 public hearings were organized in August along the pipeline route. On 15 August 2005, public hearings were held in Vladivostok and in Khasan, the district where Transneft wants to build the terminal. The vast majority of the participants in Vladivostok opposed the plan to build at Perevoznaya. In Khasan, not a single participant spoke out in favor of the plan. In spite of this, opposition to a terminal at Perevoznaya is not mentioned in the protocol summarizing the hearing results. The protocol states that the hearing participants approved of the project.

At a conference in Vladivostok on 18 September 2005 three Russian ministers spoke out against the plan to build the terminal at Perevoznaya. Yury Trutnev (Ministry of Natural Resources), Igor Levitin (Ministry of Transport) and German Gref (Ministry of Economic Development and Trade) stated that Nakhodka is a more suitable terminal location because it is a developed industrial area. However, Transneft declared it still plans to build at Perevoznaya, claiming the statements by the ministers are not an official government decision.