March 6, 2004 - 18:46 AMT
REALIZATION OF BTC OIL PIPELINE PROJECT PREGNANT WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN CASPIAN
A representative of the International Environmental Fund Frank Mershel warns that rapid realization of the project of building the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline threatens the flora and fauna of the Caspian region. As reported by Trend Azeri news agency, in Mershel's words, the project is ecologically dangerous, as the pipeline has to be laid through a range of reserves of Azerbaijan and Georgia and has to cut seismically dangerous areas. "Under the conditions of the current approaches of the project participants to its realization, the environmental catastrophe can be considered as already programmed," the Ecofund representative said.