Impact of the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on the Baltic Sea environment
9.6.2011
Question for written answer E-006027/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė (PPE) , Konrad Szymański (ECR) , Sandra Kalniete (PPE) , Anna Rosbach (ECR) , Tunne Kelam (PPE) , Krišjānis Kariņš (PPE) , Algirdas Saudargas (PPE) and Vytautas Landsbergis (PPE)
On 18 May 2011, representatives of Nord Stream AG, during a visit to Lithuania, informed the public and national institutions of the completion of the construction phase of the gas pipeline project and announced that the effects of the construction work on the Baltic Sea environment were less than had been expected. Nord Stream AG is monitoring 16 parameters, in accordance with the requirements of the various national permits for the project.
The data and findings on impact are provided to the national institutions of each country and, individually, provide each state with only a fragment of the picture for the overall Baltic Sea environment. Moreover, the genotoxicity of fish due to chemical contamination is not included in the list of parameters monitored. Unfortunately, the latest data collected under the EU‑financed BONUS programme by 100 scientific stations around the Baltic Sea show a notable increase of genotoxicity in fish throughout the period 2009‑10, with especially high levels of damage recorded in the Gulf of Finland and the Southern Baltic. In some parts of the Baltic Sea, levels of genotoxicity are 200 % above the threshold, and genetic damage is being observed in virtually all individuals tested.
Bearing in mind that Nord Stream is a TEN‑E European priority project, does the Commission intend to request all the data collected by Nord Stream AG, and will it evaluate all aspects of the project’s impact on the environment of this EU‑internal sea?
Will the Commission present its findings to Helcom and to all the littoral states, as it was requested to do by Parliament in its resolution of 8 July 2008 on the environmental impact of the planned gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea to link Russia and Germany (A6‑0225/2008)?
Does the Commission believe that the data on genotoxicity being collected by scientists around the Baltic Sea year by year through the EU‑financed programme provide valuable and objective information on the status quo of the Baltic Sea environment, and that they should not be disregarded?
OJ C 128 E, 03/05/2012