South East European Pipeline Network Meeting Declaration

Advocacy letter    |    2 October 2007

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South East European Pipeline Network Meeting Declaration
Sisak, Croatia
28-30 September 2007

We, representatives of civil society organisations from South East Europe and other potentially affected countries [1] gathered in Sisak, Croatia, to establish cooperation on addressing the environmental and social impacts of oil pipeline development and transportation by sea in the region, have concluded that:

1. experience has shown that oil pipeline and oil transportation projects are intrinsically linked with harmful environmental and social impacts
2. poor maintenance of the existing oil pipelines has led to continuous contamination of land and water
3. public opinion is too often disregarded and decisions on energy projects are taken without the early and well informed participation of the public
4. decisions are too often made in favour of political and business interests outside of the affected countries
5. prioritisation of fossil fuels is contributing to climate change
6. in view of this we are concerned about planned oil pipeline projects such as the AMBO, Pan-European and Burgas Alexandrupolis pipelines which are being developed with the support of major political and corporate powers
7. the region is not sufficiently exploiting its potential for renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency.

In view of this, we have decided to:

• establish co-operation among civil society organisations from the potentially affected countries with the aim of minimizing the negative impacts of oil pipeline and transportation projects
• establish working groups that will share experience, information and expertise concerning oil pipelines and transportation projects
• participate jointly in public consultations on oil pipelines in the affected countries in the region
• promote energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy as a means to increased security of supply and safety as well as the energy independence of the region.

Taking into account the cumulative impacts of these projects and the Convention on the Protection of the Danube River Basin, Buchurest Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution and related protocols, Declaration of the Adriatic Sea as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area, Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice on Environmental Matters and the Espoo Convention on EIA in a Transboundary Context we call on the national governments to:

1. carry out a common Strategic Environmental Assessment on all the planned oil pipelines and related sea transport and infrastructure projects
2. conduct separate Environmental Impact Assessments for each of these projects
3. conduct separate Natura 2000 assessments according to the Article 6 of the EU Natural Habitats Directive, and impact assessments of other protected areasdisclose inter-governmental and host government agreements, feasibility studies, cost-benefit analysis, environmental assessments, decommissioning plans, oil spill response plans, other project-related documents
4. adopt and ratify the Ballast Water Management Convention and other documents of international importance relevant to the issues of oil transportation
5. ensure the well informed and early participation of the public in decision-making on oil pipeline and transportation projects

In solidarity with the people of Sisak suffering from the daily detrimental impacts of the oil industry, we call on the Croatian government and judiciary to:

• accelerate the modernisation of state-owned polluting industry (INA refinery – Sisak, Sisak thermo-electric power station)
• strengthen existing monitoring mechanisms and introduce more stringent and independent monitoring mechanisms over pollution sources in Sisak and its neighbourhood
• seriously implement the long-overdue sanctioning of the polluters

[1] Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine