Shell To Reroute Pipelines in Project

[struggle4progress]

Royal Dutch/Shell said Wednesday it would reroute planned pipelines at its oil and gas project off the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin, bowing to environmentalists' demands who said the pipelines passed too close to the feeding grounds of the endangered gray whale.
Shell, which leads the Sakhalin Energy Consortium in developing the hydrocarbon-rich fields, said it would move pipelines that are to join two production offshore platforms to the shore 12 miles south. <snip>

Environmentalists have argued that the grey whales could be killed in collisions with vessels, and their habitat could be harmed by oil contamination and loud noises. The gray whale population off Sakhalin has been reduced to about 100 -- largely due to commercial whaling -- and the species is now listed by Swiss-based World Conservation Union, as "critically endangered." <snip>

Some of Russia's largest oil and gas fields are located off shore of Sakhalin Island, which is more than 6,200 miles east of Moscow and some 430 miles north of Tokyo. Many multinational oil companies are currently working to tap the reserves.

Many indigenous groups and environmentalists, however, say the massive drilling projects will harm the island's fragile maritime environment and disrupt traditional culture of the island's native inhabitants. In January, protesters blockaded construction sites belonging to Shell and Exxon Mobil.

http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Shell-To-Reroute-Pipelines-in-Project&story_id=123.3941166&category=business

[illflem]

1. Great first step, it comes in stages

Environmentalists held up the construction of the Alaskan pipeline for almost ten years. When it was all said and done the oil companies finally admitted it would have been an ecological disaster if they would have built it the way they had originally intended.

[Auntie Bush]

2. Environmentalists got a foot in the door!

:woohoo:

[VegasWolf]

3. Yes! n/t