The DruzbAdria project, an investment of Croatia's Janaf pipeline, envisages the transport of petrol from Russia to the Omisalj terminal in the northern Adriatic, its transhipping on tankers, and its export around the world.
"Although the study has been rejected for the second time because it is not good, the Janaf company was given several more months to improve it," the Committee said in a statement.
"Even after it was amended for the first time in August 2004, the study did not provide answers to questions such as estimated damage to tourism, solutions to possible tanker accidents in the Adriatic, comparative analyses of advantages and disadvantages of the project, measures aimed to remove the consequences of possible pollution of mainland drinking water sources or damage compensation. The study refers only to the first phase of the project, which envisages the transport of five million tonnes of oil annually and disregards the second phase, when the transport of oil is expected to increase to 10-15 million tonnes," the Committee said.
It stated that expert debates so far had shown that the project posed too big a risk for the Adriatic Sea as well as for the water resources of the mainland and Karst regions and called on the government to abandon the project.
The Committee for the Protection of the Adriatic Sea is a civic coordinating body gathering associations and institutions, scientists and other citizens promoting sustainable development and initiatives and projects aimed at preserving the natural balance of the Croatian Adriatic Sea and its coast.