Gas, Oil And The Whale

The UQ (aka UK) Ltd government assumes its usual arrogant stance and in the pursuit of either money or wealth in some respect walks roughshod over all comers. This time the whale. Even after warnings from its own officials regarding "potentially devastating effects" on a critically endangered species of whale, the effort to hide this appalling situation has spanned three years. The Freedom of Information Act, and only after a High Court ordered documents to be disclosed, has revealed that drilling off Sakhalin Island in the far east of Russia, could cause the extinction of one of the world's most vulnerable populations of the marine mammals. It has taken three years to force this issue originally made by Friends of the Earth. Even before this on 14th March 2003, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had noted "substantial concerns about this project" and had "significant worries about the possible impacts" on the endangered species and that "any losses are likely to be significant to its future". And "also concerned about longer-term impacts on this population of (sic) disturbances caused by mining and explosions, or oil spills".

• Such concerns and potentially BIG money never make for good partners. Total conflict, but money (nearly) ALWAYS wins.

The government's Export Credits and Guarantees Department (ECGD) supports the export industry and has been flexing its (allegedly) powerful muscles. It has agreed to act as sponsor and bankroll controversial drilling for oil and gas. The $20bn (£10bn) project by Sakhalin Energy Investment Company has a major partner in Shell now nears completion and is to exploit a "world-class oil and gas province" at "the end of the world" (Chekhov).

• Somewhat inconveniently, the western grey whales use these waters as their (only known) feeding ground and only around 120 survive today. They are listed as "critically endangered" and as such could become extinct simply through the demise of only one breeding female each year for three years.

In March 2004, the (ECGD) wrote to the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company stating that it had approved conditional support for several UQ (aka UK) contracts for the project. Both the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Foreign Office voiced objections, but (presumably) since Sakhalin Island is north of Japan (Hokkaido) and lies off the coast of eastern Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk it is so far from the UQ (aka UK) it can safely be ignored. Predictably, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that became the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has "no concerns at this stage".

• This department (BERR) has been making noises recently regarding energy issues.

The WWF and Corner House (Saudi Inquiry) as environment campaigners took the (ECGD) decision to judicial review and last month the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company withdrew its request for backing. Friends of the Earth, Phil Michaels (head of legal): "It's shameful that (ECGD) should even consider supporting such a project and even more so that it should keep official warnings of the consequences secret for so long." Shameful, maybe, but this would almost certainly have been kept diclosed until any deal had been done and the money had been 'made'. It's predictable when only money is considered. Any climate change implications are disregarded as not important and this serves to illustrate the truly contemptible attitude of that human subspecies (aka low-life) that worships money. That the possible extinction of a mammal that has existed on Earth for 30 million years is at stake has absolutely no bearing.