No Effect to Environment in Gulf of Finland from Nord Stream
The Nord Stream pipeline has had no significant or negative environmental effect on the Gulf of Finland, a report presented by the Russian Ministry of the Environment and the Nord Stream consortium has said.
The report was conducted under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Russian and FinnishMinistries of Environment to share environmental information on the pipeline.
According to director of the International Cooperation Department in the Ministry of Natural Resources Nuritdin Inamov, the report is the result of a comprehensive programme of daily monitoring of the Gulf from the 1st of April to the 30th of June this year. The monitoring aimed to track and chart the environmental impact of the Nord Stream pipeline on the Gulf of Finland. Monitoring of the pipeline and its effects on the environment included satellite monitoring to detect any increases to surface temperature, changes in the structure of ice fields, effect on birds and wildlife, turbidity of water and increase in sediment, among other things.
Following this monitoring, the Russian government and Nord Stream have said there has been no negative environmental effects noted as a result of this monitoring. This is a particularly important result, Mr. Inamov said, in light of the impending launch of the second Nord Stream pipeline, due to be launched in the next quarter of this year.
"The most important result of environmental monitoring in 2010-2011 is the lack of any significant impact of the building of the offshore gas pipeline Nord Stream to the various components of the environment. The results of monitoring in the second quarter of 2012 have confirmed this fact, which is particularly important in the context of preparing for the launch of the (second) gas pipeline," he said in a statement from the Russian Ministry for the Environment.