OREANDA-NEWS. On 09 July 2008 was announced, that in Blagoveschensk there took place the public hearing of the environmental impact (OVOS) according to the project documentation of the second phase of the Eastern Siberia – the Pacific Ocean pipeline. In the upshot of the meeting the proposals of ecological organizations were taken into consideration and registered in the special minutes of the sitting. The Chief State Expertise Committee is to decide about the degree of implementing the proposals in the final variant of the feasibility study.

The discussion of the OVOS was organized with the participation of specialists of the AK Transneft Open Joint Stock Company, Giprotruboprovod Open Joint Stock Company and TsUP VSTO Limited Liability Company, as well as representatives of the ecological organization AmurSoES, the Amur public hunting association, the Institute of Geology and Nature Management, the Far East branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Amur Oblast Ministry of Agriculture and other inhabitants of the region. The meeting was held by Alexander Batischev, deputy technical director of the Limited Liability Company TsUP VSTO, and Alexander Grishin, Minister for Economic Development of the Amur Oblast.

Vladimir Novoselov, head of a department of the designer company Giprotruboprovod (OJSC), reported that the longest parts of the VSTO-2 would pass through the territory of the Magdagachinsky and the Arkharinsky regions of the Oblast. There length would constitute 192 and 132 kilometers correspondingly. Mr. Novoselov explained that the pipes for constructing VSTO were manufactured of high-tensile steel with three layers of polymeric coating, which ensured their durability under the temperature conditions up to minus 60 degrees. The representative of Giprotruboprovod said that the permanent monitoring of weld seams quality also ensured the safety of the pipeline. Each joint would bear the marker of the welder which would provide personal responsibility of the workers. The thickness of the pipes would be from 19 to 38 millimeters, operational period - 50 years.

The proposals of ecological organizations mainly concerned the compensation of environmental damage to the Oblast. Sergey Kalischuk, head of the Amur public hunting association, expressed an opinion that it was necessary to reconsider the 800 thousand rubles compensation for the environmental damage caused by the VSTO-2 construction across the path of roe deer migration. It is noteworthy that the head of the public hunting association did not offer his own alternative of damage evaluation. Peter Osipov, director of AmurSoES, stated the necessity to revise the projected 38 million rubles compensation for the damage to fish resources. Yet the officials of the Oblast Ministry of Agriculture believe that all the payments should be executed in the form of specific measures to be arranged in the territory of the Oblast and to be coordinated with the local government.

Pavel Muzychenkof, chief specialist of the Limited Liability Company TsNIIP Transgeoproekt, who is in charge of research work of the project, presented a detailed report about the possible environmental damage, the preventive measures and the compensation of probable losses. Mister Muzychenko said that a complex of erosion preventive measures would be taken in the process of constructing the VSTO. The project also provided for measures of land reclamation and fertile land preservation. High emphasis would be placed on air and water protection. The specialist of Transgeoproekt said that it was planned to rent about 10 thousands hectares for the period of the VSTO construction. About 233 hectares would be received for long-term use.

We remind that from the 17th to the 24th of June the public hearings of the VSTO preliminary documentation, its second phase, were arranged in twelve regions of the Amur Oblast corresponding to the route of the pipeline. The inhabitants of the Arkharinsky region showed the greatest interest in discussing the environment focused issues of the feasibility study. Public comments and proposals to the project will be accepted till the end of July in the public offices opened in the Amur Oblast.