САХАЛИНСКИЕ ПИСЬМА N24(2) от 22 мая 1999 г.Дорогие друзья! Здесь перевод на английский язык информации о трагедии на Курильских островах, на острове Кунашир, которую Вы получили в прошлом Сахалинском письме. Перевод сделал Олег Свистунов из Друзья Земли — Япония (Чикью-но-томо). Спасибо, Олег! Мы надеемся, что это поможет шире распространить для прессы информацию об этом инциденте. Удачи!************Дима Лисицын, Экологическая вахта Сахалина. 21 May 1999 Dear all, Here is a translation by Oleg Svistunov of a report on a recent fire and associated oil spill on Kunashir Island. The slow response of the Sakhalin military and government reveals the sad state of emergency response capabilities in Russia and leads one to wonder how Russian authorities will be able to respond to other such disasters, such as a future oil tanker spill! We plan to whisk this report to some media and Hokkaido folks soon. DG thanks for the tip and SEW thanks for compiling the report. — JN P.S. Sakhalin Environment Watch, which compiled the report, adds the following comment: According to Yevgeniy Grigoryev (Director of Kuril'skiy zapovednik), the amount of the diesel dumped was approximately 160,000 tons. According to the data we collected over the phone, the oblast-level authorities are seriously concerned about this event. However, they did their best to keep the tragedy secret from the population of Sakhalin Oblast and the Kuril Islands. "We tried to keep this info from going to the press" — said one of our information sources. A group of specialists trained to collect spilled oil, have been waiting in the airport in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to fly to Kunashir with several tons of absorbents. The absorbents could partly clean the soil and the surface of the lake. Bad weather conditions have been keeping the specialists from flying to the island. In the regional office of Ministry of Emergencies one of the officials told us "There's nothing extraordinary happening there. I am here, aren't I? If there were danger, I would have been gone a long time ago". Sakhalin Letters 24 May 21, 1999 Statement for the press by the South-Kuril Committee on Environmental Protection
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLEEcological Bomb on Kunashir On May 2, 1999 near Lagunnoye village on the northwest coast of Kunashir island (along the coast of Sea of Okhotsk), a forest fire occurred. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The fire was so big that the smoke was clearly seen both in the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk and near dachas (country homes). The forest service fire trucks didn't make it to the fire site due to unavailability of fuel and a breakdown in machinery. Information about the fire was not given to the Sakhalin Committee on Environmental Protection. During the unplanned inspection of military unit #71435 on May 11, representatives of the Committee observed the site of the forest fire. What they saw surpassed the imagination of the state inspectors that had seen more than one act of environmental barbarity. In the drainage area of Maloye (Gniloye) lake, there was a HUMAN-MADE DIESEL LAKE of an area of 1.5 to 2 hectares. Due to the extremely high concentration of oil related products in the place, the evaporation on hot days is so strong that there is a constant danger of a massive explosion. On May 7 and 12 the fire resumed in the shallow gully from which the oil polluted waters had already found their way to Maloye lake. A sample taken from the lake revealed that oil products were abundant. Furthermore, Lagunnoye lake is now being polluted as well and that lake is connected to the Sea of Okhotsk. When observing the site of the forest fire, representatives of Rayon Committee on Environmental Protection, Fishing Resources Protection Service, and Land Use Committee found the location where oil products were discharged in the forest in the drainage area of Maloye lake. It was from electric power generating facilities and cleansing facilities that belong to the military garrison (military unit #71435) located in Lagunnoye village. The facilities are run by Kunashirskaya KECh (control and exploitation unit) of the above-mentioned military unit. Having not paid the fine for the act of pollution committed earlier in January 1999 in the amount of 47,000 Russian rubles, the garrison in Lagunnoye village has now committed another infringement of environmental laws of the Russian Federation. This time the damage is done to the water, land, and air environments. On facilities of Kunashirskaya KECh, there have been a number of leakages of oil products occurring over the last several years. As a result of accumulation, the oil products have reached the ground water layer and are now found in the drainage area of the lake. We believe that employees of Kunashirskaya KECh have been irresponsible on their job and this has led to significant negative environmental consequences that threaten people's lives. The amount of the damage is now being clarified by all nature protection agencies of the rayon. Despite the fact that KECh has been continuously and repeatedly contacted and warned by the Committee on Environment with regards to eliminating the infringements of the Russian environmental laws, none of the requirements was ever fulfilled. Unfortunately, the situation with Kunashirskaya KECh is not unique but quite common wherever military units are dislocated on Kuril Islands. Remote location from the mainland and fairy-tales about typhoons being able to clean the area, are setting military chiefs free and give them the feeling of high-handedness. The same can be observed on Khlebnikova island (Dubovoye garrison), garbage and sewage waters are dumped on Goryachiy Plyazh in the Yuzhno-Kurilskaya Bay, Izmeny Bay from a military point in Golonino, etc. Therefore, it is unclear where the next ecological "bomb" will explode. In the whole civilized world the military does not only compensate for the damages incurred by its existence but also by the military exercise. But we, as usual, are hopelessly lagging behind the civilization and are living in accordance with the laws that are out of this world. On May 14 Kunashir KECh had a meeting on liquidation of the consequences of oil pollution and the threats it poses to the population of Kunashir Island. Legal responsibility can be applied to the acts of pollution in this case according to several articles of the Legal Code of the Russian Federation. To eliminate the consequences of the pollution, oil absorbing substances and bacteria that can break the oil, would be needed. In order to purchase those, money is needed that neither the military nor the rayon level authorities nor the EcoFund has (due to the absence of the institution that was mentioned last). Boom cannot be used to check the spreading of oil products as these products are mixed with oil. The Sakhalin Oblast Governor Decree #158 of April 4, 1998 orders all land-users dealing with oil and oil products, to purchase and have available a sufficient amount of oil absorbents. The Committee on Environmental Protection issued additional requirements to 13 land users of the rayon, but by all of them without any exception, the requirements were ignored. Not complying with laws and regulations has become a norm for land-users of the rayon. Since 1998 the staff of the Committee includes one chairperson, one inspector, and one driver. Appeals by the Committee to the Mayor's office and Rayon level public meeting, asking for establishment of Municipal Environmental Service, have been of no avail. There are no funds (or desire) available for that or maybe it is profitable for someone to have such ecological "bombs" on the Kuril islands. It looks like we cannot save Lagunnoye lake from dying despite the fact that it is the favorite recreation place for people living on the island and it is also a salmon spawning area. In the soil, there is a significant (but not yet fully determined) amount of oil products as well as (possibly) other poisonous substances. The procedures for identifying the nature of pollution are rather complicated. The exact names of chemicals that found their way into the environment, will be know only after the laboratory analysis. It could be lead, poisonous substances contained in the diesel fuel, and other dangerous chemicals that reached the underground waters not only as a result of electric power generating industry, but also from garbage dumps that surround the Lagunnoye garrison. Therefore, from our point of view, until the analisis has been completed, one should refrain from swimming, fishing, and using water from Lagunnoye and Maloye (Gniloye) lakes. Yuzho-Kuril Rayon-level Committee on Environmental Protection END
Contact: Sakhalin Environment Watch watch@sakhalin.ru
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