Chechen oil industry takes its toll on environmentTimur Aliyev, North Caucasus – The oil industry of Chechnya is the primary cause of poor environmental conditions in the republic, says Sharpudi Astamirov, a leading expert in Grozny’s Department of Industry and Environment.
He states that the main factors degrading the environment are burning oil wells, which release carbon compounds into the atmosphere, condensing pits and homegrown oil-processing plants, along with ignoring rules for operating industrial equipment and transporting the extracted oil and its products.
According to Astamirov, in the Zavodskoi and Oktyabrsky districts of Grozny, where the main oil-processing facilities are concentrated, the soil is saturated 17 meters deep with oil products.
He complains that the managers of “Grozneft” and its mini plants do not understand the seriousness of the problem and its impact on the environment.
“Before war broke out in 1994, Grozny was among the top ten environmentally worse cities in the post-Soviet countries. Yet even now the situation has not improved, despite that large industrial complexes and factories have been destroyed and are now non-operational,” he added.
The Ministry of Health of the Chechen Republic agrees that all these factors have a negative impact on people’s health. According to Ministry records, more than half the population of the republic are considered to be unhealthy; and approximately 40 percent of the children already had health problems at birth. (D/E,T) |
