Greenpeace protests LNG terminal near whale sanctuary

3/16/2010 11:50:00 AM

ROME – Three Greenpeace activists Tuesday staged a protest against the building of a gas treatment terminal off the coast of Liguria in northern Italy they say endangers a nearby whale sanctuary.

The activists daubed "Balene Finite" on the side of a vessel operated by an energy consortium before boarding the boat and unfurling a banner reading "Fine del Santuario" .

The sanctuary is the main summer feeding area for Mediterranean blue whales, which would be endangered by the pollution and ship traffic that the terminal would cause, Greenpeace says.

The liquefied natural gas terminal is being built 12 nautical miles off the coast the Tuscan city of Livorno in Italian waters.

The Cetaceans Sanctuary of the Mediterranean stretches between Italy and France in waters north of Sardinia that encompass Corsica.

In a letter, Greenpeace asked the Italian government to stop the construction of the LNG terminal and to restart negotiations with France on protection measures for the whales.

"The Cetaceans Sanctuary has never lived up to its name, and nothing has been done to actually safeguard this sea," Greenpeace said in a statement. "With the building of the first off-shore regasifier, the sanctuary will simply cease to exist."

The sanctuary was established in 1999 under an accord between France, Italy and Monaco.