* Philip Merrill has left Exim Bank. Send emails to the Chairman and Acting President of Exim Bank, James H. Lambright; same address as before, with this email: james.lambright@exim.gov .
* There are newer details now know concerning project impacts. Before groups were demanding various changes in the project before EBRD or Exim Bank provide financing, now that the project is deep into construction with already harmful impacts the position is that the EIA is permanently ‘unfit for purpose’and that the banks should make a final decision to not provide financing.
o An independent panel of experts convened by Shell found in February 2005 that the off-shore platforms and subsea pipelines of Sakhalin II threaten the last 100 critically endangered Western Gray Whales with extinction, and that the loss of one additional adult female per year ‘would be sufficient to drive the population towards extinction with high probability.’
o Meanwhile, Sakhalin II has no oil spill response plan proven to work in dangerous sea ice conditions, threatening the island’s ecology and economy.
o The project’s eight hundred kilometers of onshore pipelines slice through wild salmon rivers and damage spawning beds despite the fact that these ecological keystone species are a primary source of income for 1/3 of island residents and are crucial to indigenous people’ culture and livelihood. The dumping of dredged wastes into the fisheries-rich Aniva Bay worsens these community impacts still further.
o Sakhalin II is based on an inequitable Production Sharing Agreement between the Russian Government and the company that will result in far less revenues for the Russian side than originally promised, and only then after most project costs are covered. This, combined with billion cost overrun will result in little if any economic benefit for Russia or Sakhalin Island.
New Letters to Lambright and Lemierre could read something like:
Your banks are being asked to support the Sakhalin II oil and gas project in the Russian Far East. EBRD’s professional environmental staff has found that the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment is ‘unfit for purpose.’Meanwhile, EBRD management has suggested it might recklessly overrule this professional determination despite that for three years there have been worsening examples that Sakhalin II does not comply with EBRD and Ex-Im Bank environmental and social policies:
* Independent experts conclude the project threatens the critically endangered Western Gray Whale with extinction;
* No oil spill response plan is in place that is proven to work in dangerous sea ice conditions, threatening the island’s ecology and economy;
* Pipeline construction is slashing across over100 wild salmon rivers and spawning beds; damaging habitat of keystone species that provide primary income for 1/3 of island residents, and that are crucial to indigenous people’ culture and livelihood;
* Dredging wastes are being dumped into Aniva Bay and the illegal construction of a pier occurred despite the importance of this fisheries-rich waterbody to the island’s economy;
* A billion cost overrun, an inequitable revenue sharing scheme, and long-term environmental damage will leave the island worse off than before.
Acceptance of the Sakhalin II EIA will send a dangerous message that EBRD is willing to ignore its own policies, disregard spiraling project risks, and pass on severe reputational damage to other banks considering the project. We urge you to finally and permanently reject the Sakhalin II EIA as ‘unfit for purpose.’
