Le léopard de l’Amour : nouvelles du mois de juin 2005

The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin 4 Staraya Square Moscow 103132 Russia

Dear Mr. Putin,

Your government recently decided to build an oil pipeline from Taishet in Siberia to Bukhta Perevoznaya on the Amur Bay in Southwest Primorsky Krai. I would like to request you and your government to reconsider this decision and not to build the terminal on the Amur Bay. The ports near Nakhodka, proposed in earlier versions of the plans, would be a much better terminal location.

The Amur Bay is the worst possible location for an oil terminal and oil refinery for a large number of reasons, including :

1. Oil spills in the Amur Bay would threaten to pollute : • The most popular beaches and tourist resorts in Primorsky Krai, visited by tens of thousands of tourists annually. • The coasts of Vladivostok located on the opposite side of Bukhta Perevoznaya on the Amur Bay. • Russia’s only marine reservewhose beauty you enjoyed during a visit in 2003. We urge you to save the richness of the marine reserve for future generations. • Primorsky Krai’s main commercial marine cultures and important spawning grounds for fish on which the large local Russian fishing fleet depends. 2. SW Primorye is probably Russia’s most biodiverse region and home to 30% of Russia’s endangered “Red List” species. 3. One of the endangered species is the Amur leopard ; with a remaining population of around 30 individuals, the Amur leopard is probably the rarest cat on earth. The Amur leopard occurs only in SW Primorye and may well become extinct if the terminal is built in SW Primorye. 4. The pipeline will run along or through two protected areas in SW Primorye : Barsovy Wildlife refuge and Kedrovaya Pad reserve. Kedrovaya Pad is Russia’s oldest reserve and was recently awarded the status of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. 5. The coasts of Bukhta Perevoznaya are shallow and oil tankers will have to navigate past a string of small islands at the mouth of the Amur Bay to reach it. This substantially increases the likelihood that accidents will occur. 6. The pipeline will be the longest in the world. With estimated investments of between 11 and 17 billion $US, the project will be the largest in the history of Russia. Ecological considerations will play an important role when Japanese and other foreign investors consider providing investments. A terminal location that does less damage to the environment will therefore make it considerably easier to find the investments needed for the project’s implementation.

The selected terminal location on the Amur Bay will needlessly lead the pipeline through protected areas and will needlessly threaten rare and endangered species. The local citizens of Primorye have clearly spoken out against a terminal location on the Amur Bay during public hearings, but Transneft and the Russian authorities have ignored their opinion, despite the fact that other, preferable locations are available such ports near Nakhodka.

For all of these reasons, we urge you and your government to halt plans for the pipeline route to SW Primorye with a terminal and oil refinery on the Amur Bay.