In Irkutsk Region, major environmental work continues, waste neutralization, site reclamation, landfill cleanup, and preparations to fully eliminate arsenic pollution in Svirsk. The article also mentions granting protected status to the Okunaysky reserve and tasks related to Baikal, including the future of the BPPM and changes to the federal law on lake protection.
Nikolai Drozdov noted that international environmentalists supporting the environmental movement “Terra Viva” consider one of their most important tasks to be the protection of environmental sites and support for landmark environmental initiatives on both the Russian and international levels. Nikolai Drozdov also included among these the participation of the Irkutsk Region in the federal target program “National System of Chemical and Biological Safety of the Russian Federation (2009-2013).”In 2012, in the Angara region, waste from the Angarsk Metallurgical Plant (AMP) was neutralized, and the industrial site of the AMP was technically reclaimed. Project and cost documentation for the program “Elimination (demercurization) of the decommissioned mercury electrolysis shop in the city of Usolye-Sibirskoye” was submitted to the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage for state environmental review.
Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the region Oleg Kravchuk emphasized that significant federal budget funds were also allocated for the elimination of unauthorized dumps in the Olkhon and Irkutsk district municipal formations. A positive conclusion of the state environmental review was obtained to give legal status to the specially protected natural territories of regional significance, the state nature reserve “Okunaysky” (Swan Lakes).
– The year that has begun in Russia has been declared by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin as the Year of Environmental Protection. We have received a positive conclusion of the state expert review for the capital construction project “Elimination of arsenic contamination of the territory of the industrial site of the Angarsk Metallurgical Plant in the area of the city of Svirsk, Irkutsk Region.” The waste has already been removed, and the contamination source will be finally eliminated, – said Oleg Kravchuk.
Among the tasks requiring priority resolution, the minister named the issue of the civilized cessation of operations of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, control over the state of navigation on Lake Baikal, and the introduction of long-overdue amendments to the federal law on the protection of Lake Baikal.
Based on materials from the press service of the Government of the Irkutsk Region