EU Sees Environment-Friendly Russia-German Pipeline
Date: 08-Dec-05
Country: BELGIUM
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have called on the EU to have a broader involvement in the pipeline, which they said posed a potentially catastrophic environmental threat to their region.
"I really have no doubts ... that the companies involved will do everything necessary for protection of the environment," Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told reporters on Wednesday.
He said companies involved had promised during meetings with him there would be "no question about environmental impact".
Germany's E.ON and BASF unit Wintershall will build and run the pipeline along with Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom. The pipeline has generated fierce controversy because it will bypass Poland and Baltic states.
Baltic news service BNS reported in November that the presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said the pipeline would be built upon a seabed which had been littered with tonnes of dumped chemicals weapons.
Any mistakes made during construction could release the chemicals with drastic consequences, they said.
