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VILNIUS, Jun 09, BNS - Lithuania has dismissed as "insufficiently comprehensive" the environmental impact assessment report of the Nord Stream gas pipeline projected on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Lithuania's official stance drafted by the Environment Ministry accentuates possible effects upon the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea due to contact with dumped munitions, particularly the chemical weapon, secondary pollution of the Baltic Sea, countries' actions in case of emergencies and compensation of damages, etc.

"The Lithuanian position is that the level of detail of the transboundary EIA is not sufficient to discuss the issues regarding the permits for construction and operations of the gas pipeline in the parties of origin," the ministry said in a press release on Tuesday. Lithuania together with the other Baltic countries has no right of veto when it comes to the Nord Stream project, however the German-Russian enterprise will require the blessing of Finland, Sweden and Denmark, with these three expected to issue permits already this year. The conclusions drawn by the Nord Stream company says that the gas pipeline will pose an insignificant and short-lived environmental impact.

The Lithuanian position also raises a question on the compensation of environmental damage in case of emergencies, also noting that the report also failed to properly and thoroughly examine alternative routes of the pipeline, including that on land. The position highlights possible negative effects on the European Union's (EU) protected territories, the socio-economic environment and sectors of fisheries, tourism and recreation. Considering this, Lithuania requests to amendment and supplementing some chapters of the report with more comprehensive analysis and new research data. According to the press release, the position will be submitted to all nine countries involved in the transboundary assessment process and Nord Stream AG. The 1,220-kilometer pipeline should run from Vyborg in Russia under the Baltic Sea to Greifswald in Germany. The first phase of construction should produce a pipe with annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters that would be launched in 2011. The pipeline's capacity should doubled to approximately 55 billion cubic meters in the second phase of the project. The controversial 7.4-billion-euro pipeline should be built by Nord Stream AG company, which consists of Gazprom (holding a 51-percent stake in Nord Stream), two German concerns BASF and E.ON (20 percent each) and Gasunie of the Netherlands (9 percent).

Lithuania's senior officials have criticized the Nord Stream project. President Valdas Adamkus virtually divided the countries around the Baltic Sea. In his words, large-scale industrial projects of this type may cause irreparable damage to the highly sensitive environment of the Baltic Sea. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this month expressed astonishment over "artificial objections" to the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. In his words, countries against Nord Stream apply dual ecological standards and "tend to overlook environmental aspects of other projects including the construction of a submarine infrastructure in theBaltic Sea that is only needed by them."