自然の写真集

This is a personal message from Izuru Toki, addressing to my friends around the world.

Please forward and post it as appropriate. Simultaneous actions around the globe is needed.

Sakhalin Needs Your Help now!
Breeding Ground of the Steller’s Sea-Eagle, summer home for the Western Pacific Gray Whale, bottleneck passage of countless migratory birds that travel between Russia and Japan, thousands of rivers that foster salmon and trout, rich marine environment of Okhotsk Sea will be all vanishing from our planet.

Next several days may be our last chance to save the wilderness of Sakhalin. Please take action today.

EBRD(European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation) will close their doors to the public opinions soon(by Apr. 20th) and make their decision on financing the 20 billion dollar project of Sakhalin II (operated by SEIC-Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, consortium comprised of Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui & Co.,Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corporation) by May 2006. If the financing becomes reality(which seems very likely now), it would not only put the entire Sakhalin Island and Okhotsk Sea in peril, but also would pave the road to all the rest of Sakhalin Oil & Gas projects and eventually entire Okhotsk Sea hydrocarbon energy frenzy.
It is crucial for the future of this region to stop this financing or at least delay them now so that SEIC must come up with more environmentally responsible solutions, and all the future developers know Sakhalin would not be ‘easy money’ as they think it is now.


What we are losing is too precious. Please see:
FoE Japan : http://www.foejapan.org/aid/jbic02/sakhalin/index.html
Pacific Environment : http://www.pacificenvironment.org/


Actions to take:
Call, e-mail, fax or write to send your messages to EBRD and JBIC and require them not to approve the financing to Sakhalin Energy (Sakhalin II project) that is threatening one of the most pristine wildernesses of the world.

I personally would tell them that, we (as the stakeholders and tax payers) would also like EBRD and JBIC, before even putting the loan into consideration, to require Sakhalin Energy:
1) to stop the development for now and have a panel of independent scientists and specialists to study EIA from the point of total ecosystem
2) to come up with concrete measures to cope with oil leak accidents (in every situation i.e. in sea with drifting ice, in shallow lagoons and rivers, etc.)
3) to come up with a concrete plan and budget to clean up all the facilities, structures and residue(chemicals) to recover the original condition of the environment after the last drop of oil & gas extracted (in 50-60 years)


Arguing Points:
SEIC has not been environmentally responsible. We recognize the disastrous results are highly likely to happen and do not wish to approve our money to be used for such projects:
- EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) had too many faults, and not balanced (example: Rerouting the pipeline to avoid Gray Whale feeding habitat ended up penetrating highly valued habitats of endangered Steller’s Sea-Eagle and migratory bird species which are also protected by Russia-Japan Migratory Birds Act.
- They should have stopped the project and had an independent panel of specialists to study and investigate the EIA when it was so utterly criticized by NGOs and scientists.
- Their construction measures are putting the environment at risk and we don’t think they have been improved enough.
- 1600km long ‘Trans Sakhalin Pipeline’ being constructed by SEIC is seriously threatening the island’s environment and its flora and fauna. The impact of construction (of pipelines) is tremendous and risk of major oil leaks are almost inevitable as Sakhalin is earthquake ridden country with more than 20 active faults underneath. The outcome would be devastating as the pipelines will be crossing over 1000 salmon spawning rivers and shallow lagoons and marshes, not to mention the frozen sea where there is no realistic measures to cope with oil leaks.


Where to Send Your Messages:

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square, London EC2A 2JN, United Kingdom
TEL： + 44 20 7338 6000
FAX： + 44 20 7338 6100
E-mail：sakhalinfeedback@ebrd.com
Or, generalenquiries@ebrd.com

JBIC
1-4-1 Otemachi, Chiyodaku, Tokyo 100-8144
Japan
TEL：+81-3(5218)3101　FAX：+81-3(5218)3955
E-mail：kankyoshakai@jbic.go.jp

Direct contacts to persons in charge of environmental issues
JBIC Environmental Judgmental Department, Manager, Fumihiro Takaoka(Mr.) h-takaoka@jbic.go.jp
Kenji Gyoten(Mr.) k-gyoten@jbic.go.jp

EBRD Environment Department Alistar Clark clarka@ebrd.com
　　 or, Mark King Kingma@ebrd.com

If you wish to send messages to SEIC directly:
SEIC-Sakhalin Energy Investment Company
Vice President, David Greer
Fax: +7 4242 662 012
E-mail：ask-sakhalinenergy@sakhalinenergy.ru


Most important thing is to voice our message by April 20th! And let’s do that from all over the world at one time!

Thanks for joining me,

Izuru Toki
http://members.aol.com/izurutoki/
izurutoki@aol.com