The Estonian government is allowing dangerous maritime operations (“ship to ship” or STS) to take place right in front of Tallinn, next to the Naissaar natural reserve and the Kakumäe coastal area.
These operations consist of transferring petroleum/chemical products between two oil tankers via a hose while they are at sea, and are thus very risky. Recently, they caused one of the worst environmental disasters ever recorded in Brazil (Sep 2019, 300 beaches affected) and South Africa (Jul 2019, 100 penguins & other endangered species oiled).
According to Estonian maritime experts, should such incidents occur in Estonia, the consequences would be even worse, due to the Gulf of Finland being closed. "Should an accident occur and a large amount of oil products end up in the sea, the entire coastal sea is gone! In our climate, natural self-cleaning takes a very long time”, says Kai Künnis-Beres, a marine biologist and head of the marine ecology laboratory at the Institute of Marine Systems at Tallinn University of Technology.
These operations don’t even present economic benefits to Estonia. The ships involved don’t stop at Estonian ports, they operate foreign flags and hire foreign crew — and the activity is not taxed. Estonia’s lack of regulations attracts oil ships transiting through Europe to come to Estonian waters to do their dirty business — moving the risk of environmental catastrophe to our coasts and their fragile ecosystems. Even the Russian Federation plans to ban STS operations of hazardous substances from May 1 2021, which will further increase the pressure to perform those operations in Estonian waters.
We demand that the law be changed and that STS operations — large transfers as well as bunkering operations — be banned to take place in Estonian open waters. These operations should only take place in ports (not in open seas), which are properly equipped to do them as safely as possible, and to contain pollution should incidents occur. Moreover, taxation similar to Finland’s should be introduced to cover the cost of anti-pollution readiness in Estonian ports.
More information on our website: stop-sts-eesti.eu
Mõningad täpsustused
Praeguses tekstis on:" Uue määruse kohaselt hakkab see ülisuure keskkonnariskiga tegevus toimuma Tallinnas, Naissaare looduspargi ja Kakumäe rannikuala vahetus läheduses. " Pakun selle asemele sõnastust ""Muudetud määruse kohaselt hakkab see potentsialselt suure keskkonnariskiga tegevus toimuma Tallinna külje all, Naissaare looduspargi, Rannamõisa maastikukaitseala ja Suurupi looduskaitseala vahetus läheduses". Põhjendus: muudetakse olemasolevat määrust, mitte ei võeta vastu uut. "Ülisuur" on emotsionaalne hinnang. Keskkonnamõjusid ja riske hindamata ei ole teada, kui suur see risk on. Tekstis tasub tähelepanu juhtida KMH ja KMH soovi puudumisele Keskkonnaministeeriumi poolt. tasub osundada, et määruse muutmise eelnõu on juba Vabariigi Valitsusele esitatud. Tasub osundada, et STS lubamine merel annab põhjendamatuid soodustusi kolmandate riikide laevadele, seades samas halvemase olukorda Eesti sadamad. tasub nõuda, et enne STS operatsioonide (taas)lubamist sadamas peab olema kehtestatud nende eest nõutav tasu. Olen valmis tekstiga tööd tegama. Minuga saab kõibe lihtsamalt ühendust FB Messengeri abil. Parimat, Allan Lahi
Täname toetuse eest
Täname kõiki petitsiooni toetamise ning jagamise eest! Kolmapäeva õhtul ületasime Riigikogu ette saamiseks vajaliku 1000 allkirja piiri ning petitsioon on nüüd neile saadetud. Seetõttu ei saa seda enam ka allkirjastada. Edasise toetuse väljendamiseks on võimalik jälgida ja like’da Facebooki lehekülge https://www.facebook.com/stopsts Loodame, et meie ettepanek võetakse päevakorda, ning et petitsioonis tõstatatud küsimused kaasatakse ka Keskkonnaministeeriumi pakutud määruse muudatuse arutellu. Me nõuame: 1. STS-operatsioonide keelustamist sadamast väljaspool. 2. Avalikustatud, sõltumatute osapoolte koostatud detailset keskonnamõjude hinnangut STS-operatsioonidele Tallinna ankrualadel ning ka teistel Eesti ankrualadel. 3. Sadamast väljaspool toimuvate punkerdamiste riskide ning kasu üleavaatamist. STS operatsioone ei tohi peita punkerdamise kattevarju. Petitsiooni autorid. English: Thank you everyone for gathering signatures for the petition. We’re pleased to report that we reached the threshold necessary to send the petition to Parliament (1000 signatures) on Wed 14/4 evening, and we’ve now done so. Because of this, the petition can no longer be signed, but you can still show your support by following our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/stopsts We will be put in touch with someone from Parliament to review the proposal. Most importantly, we would like our points to be brought into the public debate by constituents and members of Parliament in the upcoming law change proposed by the Ministry of the Environment. We demand: 1. A full ban of STS operations outside of ports. 2. That a detailed and independent environmental assessment of the risks of oil pumping operations in open seas -including but not limited to Tallinn anchorage areas- be made and released to the public 3. That regulators also review the risks and benefits of allowing bunkering activities outside ports. STS operations should not be masked as bunkering. The authors of the petition.