SOFIA (Reuters) - Dozens of people from a Bulgarian Black Sea town protested against the planned construction of a trans-Balkan oil pipeline on Wednesday, concerned about the environmental damage it may cause.
About 100 people from Pomorie rallied in front of the construction ministry in Sofia to press the government to abandon the project, due to carry Russian oil to Greece, because they expect it to harm sea water, tourism and the local economy.
Residents of the Black Sea port of Burgas have also staged a series of protests in the past year, fearing that the 1 billion euro ($1.29 billion) pipeline will put off holidaymakers, their main livelihood.
"The option selected to deliver crude oil ... is the cheapest but also the most dangerous one and is a potential ecological bomb," the protesters said in a declaration.
After years of delays Greece, Bulgaria and Russia signed an agreement in 2007 to build the pipeline from Burgas to the Aegean port of Alexandroupolis in Greece, in order to bypass the traffic-clogged Bosphorus Straits.
Tankers will take Russian crude oil to Burgas and the 300 km (185 mile) pipeline may eventually carry as much as 50 million tonnes of crude a year to Alexandroupolis.
The citizens of Pomorie, Burgas and other towns worry the oil will pollute the Black Sea waters as the tankers are due to unload it at sea. They say the authorities have failed to consult local communities about the pipeline.
The Socialist-led government says the project will meet environmental standards and is of strategic importance because it will bring the region closer to becoming a major energy hub.
The protests are unlikely to force the government to abandon the pipeline but may further delay work on the project.
The idea of a pipeline was raised in 1993 but delayed by politics, stifling bureaucracy and local protest groups, and construction is now expected to begin in 2010, a year later than planned, one of the Russian firms in the consortium has said.
Some rightist opposition parties have attacked the project, saying it would cement Bulgaria's almost complete dependence on Russian energy.
(Reporting by Anna Mudeva, editing by Tim Pearce)
