15.12.2008 14:26  The Republic of Lithuania initiated discussions in the United Nations on an ecological threat posed by the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline based on the fact that after WWII a large amount of chemical munitions was dumped in the Baltic Sea. The project faces also other problems.
Discussions of an ecological disaster in the Baltic Sea, which may be caused by the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, were initiated in the UN by the Lithuanian delegation. It explains its initiative by the fact that more than 30,000 tons of WWII chemical munitions were dumped on the Baltic Sea bed in the Bornholm Basin at a depth of 95 meters east of the Bornholm Island.
However in the opinion of V. Pak, Director of the Atlantic Branch, the RAS Ocean Science Institute, Kaliningrad, the concerns over the pipeline construction are baseless because the pipeline route will run at a distance of 30 km from the chemical munitions dump. Nevertheless, the question was raised, problem was identified, and its solution will take time that inevitably postpones launching the project.
A new obstacle to the pipeline construction appeared also in the Gulf of Finland. The point is that a team of Finnish businessmen filed an application with the Ministry of Labor and Economy for a geological survey on the sea bed in the neck of the Gulf. One boundary of the survey area is adjacent to the economic waters of Estonia, which prohibited laying the Russian-Germany gas pipeline across its shelf, while the other boundary is adjacent to the Finish territorial waters. Thus, the Finnish economic zone will be also blocked for laying the gas pipeline.
The businessmen who filed the application say that they are going to search for the ore containing Copper, Silver, Nickel and Platinum in the sea bed, and pursue no other aims. However Finnish experts are doubtful that these statements are sincere. “It is unlikely that the sea bed in this area may contain mineral resources. In this case their traces would be discovered on the mainland of Estonia”, said Veli-Pakka-Salonen, Professor of Geology in the Helsinki University.
Lawyer Kari Silvennoinen representing the interests of the businessmen insists that from the legal point of view the position of his clients is perfect: “For such sea-bed development applications it is important who is the first to file the document with the Ministry. The Nord Stream Project still undergoes ecological expert examination; it means that there is no permit for the pipeline construction”. Meanwhile the Finnish businessmen filed their project late in August.
Although the Finnish competitors of the Russian-German gas pipeline refused to name themselves, there is a speculation that they represent so-called Refugees from Finnish Karelia. Last autumn this Organization symbolically blocked the Gulf of Finland with Finnish and Estonian flags made of stainless steel, interconnected with a plastic tape and posted on the sea bed. The Estonian partners of this action were represented by an Estonian nationalist movement.
The Finnish Ministry of Labor and Economy promises to review the application by late November. Experts issuing the permits should make sure that the applicants actually are going to develop the deposits but not pursue other aims.
Naturally, the solution of new problems and search for a compromise will take time, and it will shift the date of launching the Nord Stream Project to the right for an indefinite period, i.e. it will increase its cost. If initially the estimate prepared by Gazprom amounted to 6 billion Euros, now it amounts to 7.4 billion. Representatives of the company and experts do not exclude that the current “hand-made problems” are not the last ones.
A new turn in the Nord Stream Project destiny may happen after the statement of Russian Premier Vladimir Putin that if European states claim on needlessness of gas volumes offered by Gazprom, Russia may withdraw from the Baltic Sea undersurface pipeline project, and start construction of LNG plants to ship the LNG to the world market by tankers. 
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