The Russkiy Mir II Project is classified by the IFC as a Category B project, which suggests limited adverse social and/or environmental impacts. Civil society groups have questioned this categorization, believing the project constitutes a more serious Category A rating. Though not necessary for IFC Category B projects, the Russian authorities did require a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be conducted.
However, access to this documentation remains elusive to the public, and public hearings have been less than even-handed: Both excluding criticism and misrepresenting local opinions. An example of this was the omission of the hearing’s majority vote against the oil and gas terminal construction from the official minutes. In addition to limited disclosure of information, the IFC documents are exclusively in English, thereby significantly limiting local community participation. A lack of contract and revenue transparency has also been a major issue for the public and for civil society groups, who have been excluded from revenue monitoring. The IFC has only committed to revenue transparency for projects approved after January 2007, and that commitment does not cover transport infrastructure. Nevertheless, BIC and other CSOs advocate for full transparency, including contract disclosure for all EI projects.
Requests for compensation for the negative impacts of the project, including a decrease in the fish stock, migration of workers from other regions, a decrease in the tourism industry, and damage to roads, have been ignored. Emergency response planning, transport of oil and hazardous materials, poverty impacts, and labor standards are also pressing concerns. Furthermore, Tamanneftegaz began work on the project before a successful conclusion to the environmental examination by Russian law. With the adverse effects on the local economy already taking hold, locals fear a deepening of these problems with the completion of the construction.
These fears are substantiated by problems at the other end of the Taman Peninsula, where the village of Chushka has been devastated by another oil and gas terminal, the Port of Kavkaz. On November 11, 2007, a large oil spill occurred in the Strait of Kerch, and a survey of the Taman Peninsula and Southern Chushka by two civil society organizations, Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus (EWNC) and Saving Taman!, on March 15-16, 2008, uncovered visible fuel oil and a slow cleanup process. Most alarmingly, the situation in the vulnerable southern shore of Chushka Spit was reported as “catastrophic” with up to a 50m wide oil spill still floating.
In October 2007, Saving Taman! and EWNC filed a formal complaint with the IFC’s Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO), questioning the IFC’s categorization of the Russkiy Mir II project and environmental review process. CAO officials met with IFC, Russkiy Mir, and civil society representatives on March 10-14, 2008. On June 30, the CAO notified the complainants that the case had been transferred to CAO Compliance for an appraisal. The appraisal stage will determine whether the complaint will be investigated for IFC policy violations or closed.