Greenpeace urges Greece to scrap offshore gas drilling project because of impact on whales, dolphins

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greenpeace is stepping up its appeal for Greece to abandon a deep-sea gas exploration project in the Mediterranean. It cites newly published research to argue that the project’s impact on endangered whales and dolphins would be greater than previously believed. The environmental group said Thursday a survey off southwestern Greece in waters earmarked for exploratory drilling found sea mammals lived there in the winter, as well as the summer, as had been already established. The area largely overlaps the Hellenic Trench, which includes the Mediterranean’s deepest waters, at 5,267 meters (17,300 feet). It’s a vital habitat for the sea’s few hundred sperm whales, and for other threatened marine mammals.