Environmental Concerns Halt BTC

Authorities demand better environmental security guarantees for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

Construction of the strategic Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline was halted for at least two weeks on July 22 after the Georgian authorities demanded the tightening of environmental security measures along the 17-km long section of the pipeline that passes through the ecologically sensitive Borjomi Valley, in western Georgia.

British Petroleum (BP), which heads-up the international consortium running the construction of the BTC, says that the halt in Borjomi will not be a set back for the $3.6-billion, 1750-km pipeline, which is projected to carry 800 thousand barrels of crude oil per-day from Azerbaijan to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan via Georgia.

“We are complying with the Georgian government’s request and have suspended construction works temporarily in the Borjomi sections of the rout; however construction activities are ongoing in all other parts of the route,” Rusudan Medzmariashvili, a spokesperson of the BP Tbilisi office, told Civil Georgia on July 23.
 
The Georgian Ministry of Environment expects BP to submit paperwork within two weeks guaranteeing specific environmental protections for a section of the pipeline which passes close to the Borjomi Valley, famous for its mineral waters and unique ecology.

“We are seeking the observation of stricter environmental safety measures in the Borjomi Valley. The Borjomi district is of vital importance, due to its natural resources. Thus, we are demanding additional safety guarantees,” Georgian Minister of Environment Tamar Lebanidze said at a news briefing on July 23.
 
The Minister also said that since the Borjomi Valley is an area susceptible to landslides, the construction works are endangered. “We demand additional guarantees, which will envisage deeper pipe-laying in order to protect both the pipeline and the environment against landslides,” Tamar Lebanidze said.
 
The Minister’s statement was preceded by an open letter from more than 50 employees of various geological and ecological organizations and institutions addressed to the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. 
 
“The entire portion of the pipeline on the territory of the Borjomi region is distinguished by high seismic activity. Hence, strict observation of safety measures is of vital importance,” the open letter reads.

The Georgian Ministry plans to assess the situation within the next two weeks in order to further determine a plan of action. However, the Georgian Ministry of Environment claims that the request does not envisage a long-term suspension of the project or the changing of the route.

“We recognize the international commitment, which the Georgian government has undertaken by giving a go-ahead to the project. So, its long-term suspension is not anticipated,” the Georgian Minister of Environment said.
 
“But we urge BP to also meet its commitments undertaken during the 2002 November agreement, particularly, the fulfillment of paragraph 9 of the agreement which directly refers to the Borjomi portion of the oil pipeline,” Tamar Lebanidze added.

The 17-kilometer portion of the route, which runs through the Borjomi Valley, has been a matter of controversy since 2002. The Georgian authorities gave its go-ahead to the construction of the BTC through the Borjomi Valley after burdensome talks with the Georgian International Oil Corporation and BP in December, 2002. The Georgian leadership claimed that consent was given only after the BP provided “unprecedented measures of ecological security.”

The Borjomi valley is a picturesque, mountainous region with beautiful gorges, pine forests and ski resorts. Georgian and foreign experts believe that an oil leakage, caused either by a natural disaster (landslide, earthquake) or the human factor (sabotage, mismanagement) would inflict irreparable damage on this area, which is also famous for its mineral waters that are exported to dozens of countries.

Manana Kochladze, of the Georgian non-governmental organization Green Alternative, is among those critics of the BTC who were lobbying for a change of the pipeline route. Manana Kochladze won the annual Goldman Environmental Prize, the best-known award for environmentalists, in April for advocating better environmental security guarantees for the BTC. 

“From the very beginning we were against the construction of the oil pipeline via Borjomi, since there are no sufficient guarantees that the BP-led project would not have a negative impact on the fragile ecology of the region,” Manana Kochladze of the Green Alternative told Civil Georgia. 

She hailed the decision of the Ministry of the Environment to halt construction, however added “two weeks are not enough to determine the environmental safety measures.”