A study by Russia's environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor found that corporations wreaked 234.7 billion rubles (around $3 billion) in environmental damages in 2020, marking a ten-fold increase from the previous year
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2020) A study by Russia's environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor found that corporations wreaked 234.7 billion rubles (around $3 billion) in environmental damages in 2020, marking a ten-fold increase from the previous year.
In an interview with Sputnik ahead of a court hearing in the case against Russian metals giant Nornickel over the massive diesel spill earlier in the year, the agency's chief Vladimir Chernyshev said that a large part of the damage was done to water bodies.
"In 2020, 632 estimations of the amount of harm were made in the amount of 234.7 billion rubles, including 296 calculations in the amount of 227 billion rubles were made in case of damage to water bodies," Chernyshev said, adding that another seven billion rubles were estimated as damages to soil.
The environmental watchdog has levied a record fine of 148 billion rubles against Nornickel's subsidiary Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company over the spillage of 21,000 metric tons of diesel fuel into an Arctic river system in the Siberian north in May. Nornickel has disputed the fine, claiming that natural damages by its own calculations cannot exceed 21.4 billion rubles.
According to Chernyshev, the watchdog's calculations are forwarded to the entities behind the damage for reimbursement but a negligible proportion of environmental fines get paid without involving the courts.
The official said that the true scale of environmental damage always outpaces what the watchdog is able to litigate from the culprits.
Nornickel's oil spill became the worst in Russia's history, with some estimations suggesting the damage would take decades to reverse. The firm last month claimed that it has so far spent nearly $40 million on cleanup efforts.
