"We have sent a letter to the EBRD demanding that it should not support the project," said Alexei Tyndik, the lawyer of the Kalipso and Kontrakt companies and the Korsakovsky fish cannery. The companies said the construction had had an adverse environmental effect on the region and the volume of fish caught. He said the bank was expected to make a provisional decision on the issue in the next 45 days.
EBRD spokesman Richard Wallis said the bank was already discussing a request by Sakhalin Energy Investment, the project's operator, to fund the project, but had not yet made a decision.
Wallis said the EBRD and Sakhalin Energy were working together to settle numerous environmental issues, a very time-consuming process.
The EBRD had received previous complaints about Sakhalin Energy's operations. The fishing companies asked the EBRD to help facilitate dialogue with Sakhalin Energy to receive compensation for damages, which, Tyndik said, amount to $10 million overall.
Ivan Chernikhovsky, a Sakhalin Energy spokesman in Moscow, said the company was intent on reaching a mutually beneficial agreement with the fishing companies, and that oil terminal construction had not had a considerably hazardous environmental effect.
"No major effect on the environment has been made," Chernikhovsky said. "It has been contained and limited in scale."
