Russian energy project threatens whales: campaigners

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

MOSCOW (AFP) — Environmental campaigners warned on Wednesday that noise from an offshore energy project in far eastern Russia led by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom was threatening endangered whales.

"Ecological organisations have been warning for a long time of the critical danger of sound levels close to oil and gas extraction," the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said in a statement.

The environmental group said that Sakhalin Energy, the consortium developing the Sakhalin-2 project, "has remained deaf to the conclusions and warnings of environmentalists."

There are only about 100 western grey whales left and the species is regarded as critically endangered. The island of Sakhalin off eastern Russia is considered one of the last remaining...