It is estimated that there are only about 130 western Pacific gray whales remaining in the world and Sakhalin Island, off the eastern coast of Russia, is their only known feeding ground.

Currently, the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), a consortium led by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and including Mitsubishi and Mitsui, is engaged in commercial oil production in the whales' habitat. Now SEIC has approached the U.S.-based Export-Import Bank to dramatically expand its project there. The 11 environmental groups have sent a letter to Philip Merrill, president and chairman of Export-Import Bank, urging the bank to conduct a rigorous review of the project's potential environmental impacts prior to considering any financing for an expansion of the SEIC project.

If the consortium has its way, four pipelines would be routed through the whales' feeding grounds and one of the world's largest production plants for liquid natural gas would be constructed, resulting in a yearly discharge of over 500,000 tons of contaminated run-off. These activities "pose an unacceptable risk to the region's environment and economy," the groups say.

Under U.S. law, specifically the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), U.S. institutions such as the Export-Import Bank must consider the environmental impacts even for "federal actions that take place outside U.S. territory provided that the action in question, such as a financing decision, takes place within the United States." The Export-Import Bank also has obligations under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect the endangered whales.

The letter was sent on November 25 by certified mail and signed by representatives of all 11 groups.

For a copy of the letter, go to http://www.ifaw.org.