Arctic spill fuels calls for shakeup at Russia mining giant
Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel faced pressure from a
key shareholder on Tuesday to overhaul its management after disasters including
a massive Arctic fuel spill that sparked a state of emergency.
Aluminium producer Rusal, which owns 28 percent of Norilsk
Nickel, said it was "seriously concerned" over recent accidents that
damaged the environment in the Russian Arctic.
"What is currently happening at Nornickel invites to
seriously question the competence of the company's management as well as their
suitability to be in charge of running the business," Rusal said in a
statement in English.
It also criticised the management's "collective
inertia" that it said was likely to lead to "damaging criticism from
the environmental and investment communities".
President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after
21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked from a fuel storage tank at one of Norilsk
Nickel's plants in the Arctic in May.
A massive clean-up effort involved trapping floating diesel
with booms on crucial waterways to prevent it flowing into freshwater lakes.
The metals giant said the accident could have been caused by
global warming thawing the permafrost under the fuel reservoir leading it to
collapse.
Environmentalists described the leak as the first
large-scale spill in the region above the Arctic Circle and Putin has said he
expected Norilsk Nickel to fully restore the environment.
Russia's environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor has said
that a Norilsk Nickel subsidiary should pay an unprecedented $2 billion in
punitive damages, but the company is contesting the sum.
- 'Flagrant violation' -
Greenpeace Russia on Tuesday accused the company and the
Russian authorities of limiting access to information about the spill.
"The biggest problem is that there is no
information," said Ivan Blokov, campaign director at Greenpeace Russia,
adding that he would not believe official updates "until there is complete
and comprehensive information".
On Sunday, Norilsk Nickel reported a new leak, saying that
nearly 45 tonnes of aviation fuel spilt from a pipeline belonging to one of its
subsidiaries near the Arctic port of Dudinka.
It said the leak, which lasted around 15 minutes during an
oil transfer, posed no threat to people living in the area.
Last month, the company announced it was suspending
employees at an enrichment plant near Norilsk after they pumped wastewater from
a dangerously full reservoir into nearby tundra in a "flagrant
violation" of protocol.
Rusal called on Norilsk Nickel to move its headquarters from
Moscow to Norilsk and said the company controlled by billionaire Vladimir
Potanin should overhaul "corporate policies towards environmental and
safety issues".
In response to the spate of high-profile environmental
accidents, Putin this week signed legislation aimed at preventing future
spills.
The law obliges energy companies to set aside funds to pay
for possible spills and to develop response plans in the case of an accident.
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