WHALES FAVOR NEW ENERGY

Full Disclosure: NewEnergyNews has no direct whale testimony on behalf of New Energy, just the facts reported in this story that the whales are running from oil and gas exploration faster than the guys at The Oil Drum.

Russian energy project threatens whales: campaignersJuly 11, 2007
(AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Western grey whales, Russian gas giant Gazprom-led Sakhalin Energy consortium

WHAT
Noise from Sakhalin-2 project oil/gas offshore exploration and production is a threat to the whales.
western grey whale (click to enlarge)

WHEN
Warning came July 11.

WHERE
Sakhalin Island is a long narrow strip of land off Russia’s east coast, northeast of Vladivostock and immediately north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It separates the Straits of Tatar from the Sea of Okhotsk.

WHY
- Environmentalists are especially angry at the drilling consortium’s apparent disregard for concerns regarding the whales. A company spokesman said data was shown to the environmentalists proving the noise was below harmful levels.
- Only about 100 western grey whales remain. They are classified as critically endangered. The Sakhalin-2 region is one of the last summer habitats.
- The Russian government used environmental concerns to wrest contro of the consortium from Shell last year. Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi remain as minority partners. The government may be less interested in environmental issues now that Gazprom is running the operation.
Sakhalin Island and environs (click to enlarge

QUOTES
- International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW): "Ecological organisations have been warning for a long time of the critical danger of sound levels close to oil and gas extraction…"
- Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Sakhalin Energy: "From the very beginning of our operation we were very aware and very resolute not to have an impact on whales…"