Tomsk, Russia – President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered a planned Siberian oil pipeline to be moved farther away from Lake Baikal, the world’s largest body of fresh water, in an announcement that dismayed energy officials and delighted environmentalists.
Putin’s decision – on the 20th anniversary of one of the world’s greatest environmental catastrophes, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – was called “wonderful” by Greenpeace.
The route should be moved more than 25 miles north of Lake Baikal, Putin said.
“If there is even the smallest, the tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations. We must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimized, but eliminated,” he said.
Officials had proposed routing the pipeline within 875 yards of Baikal, alarming environmentalists who said the lake’s unique ecology could be destroyed in the event of a rupture. The lake is in an earthquake-prone area.
The 2,550-mile pipeline is set to run from Siberia’s Irkutsk region to the Chinese border, then on to Russia’s Pacific coast. Energy officials fear moving it will greatly add to its cost.
Its 1.6 million-barrel-per-day capacity will allow increased oil exports to the energy-hungry markets in China, Japan and South Korea.
The 25-mile distance, which would put the pipeline beyond Baikal’s drainage area, had been proposed by the deputy head of Russia’s Academy of Sciences.
More than 5,300 feet deep, Baikal contains one-fifth of the world’s fresh water and up to 1,500 unique species of plants and animals.
It has been designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations agency, UNESCO.
