Russian President Vladimir Putin backed down in the face of popular protest on Wednesday and ordered that an oil pipeline be diverted away from Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest mass of fresh water.
The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline will carry 1.6 million barrels of oil a day to fast-growing markets in Asia, bolstering Russia's role as an energy power. It was originally intended to pass within a kilometer of Lake Baikal but will now clear it by 40km. The 1.6km-deep lake in the middle of Siberia holds a fifth of the world's fresh water and some 1,500 unique species of plants and animals.
Construction of the US$11.6 billion pipeline, which begins tomorrow, is expected to last for years. The original route sparked protests across Russia at the weekend, after ecologists said that seismic activity at the lake, which causes it to widen by 2cm a year, meant it was only a matter of time before the pipeline would rupture.
Putin used a meeting with officials, including Semyon Vainshtok, the head of the state pipeline monopoly, Transneft, to rule out the original route.
At the meeting in Tomsk, where Putin is holding a summit with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Russian president said: "If there is even the smallest, the tiniest chance of polluting Baikal, then we must think of future generations. We must do everything to make sure this danger is not just minimized, but eliminated."
The pipeline will now run 40km to the north. Vainshtok, who had claimed that the previous route carried virtually no risks, seemed surprised at the decision. The diversion will add an estimated US$890 million to the pipeline's cost.
Ecologists welcomed the decision. Igor Chestin, director of the WWF in Russia, said: "President Putin's order today says that the state is ready to listen to the opinions of citizens if they are able to organize themselves."
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