EER: Nord Stream Appeal Churns Up Old Debates

Nord Stream's interest in surveying Estonia's marine territory for the possibility of installing additional gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea has raised old debates on national security and the environment.

Having finished laying its second gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed earlier this summer, Nord Stream is considering adding two additional pipelines along a different route. The company contacted the Estonian Foreign Ministry on August 22 about the possibility of conducting studies in the Estonian territorial waters for this purpose.

A leading member of the Social Democratic Party, Vadim Belobrovtsev, said he saw no reason at present for the Estonian government to oppose Nord Stream's surveying operation, as it did in 2007.   MORE