UrBC, Moscow, January 24, 2019. Following a meeting of Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry representatives with Director of Denezhkin Kamen National Park in Moscow, Head of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Area of Development of Protected Areas Alexei Titovsky contacted Rosprirodnadzor’s administration, asking to look closely into the situation in Sverdlovsk Region’s north, Zhivoy Shemur’s press service reports.

The meeting was dedicated to environmental problems in the north of Sverdlovsk Region and to Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company’s asset Svyatogor polluting the local rivers.

The company’s Production Director Grigory Rudoy spoke on behalf of UMMC. He admitted the company was complicit in polluting the Ural rivers, but said, however, that it all had to do with drastic climate change, excessive precipitation, and rock movement. According to Rudoy, it was these factors that resulted in the acid content in the water that exceeded the expected percentage by more than two hundred times. He said UMMC had adopted a reclamation program for 2019-2021 and was planning to work with the local research institutes (a four-year research program had been suggested) in order to learn more about the environmental issues in question.

Now Director of Denezhkin Kamen National Park Anna Kvashnina believes a comprehensive express evaluation needs to be done by a board of independent experts from outside Sverdlovsk Region before the end of 2019, with the purpose of identifying the most vulnerable spots and assessing the scale of the damage. The meeting attendees also suggested that UMMC reconsider its reclamation plans and come up with a feasible proposal to deal with the acid problem before the end of 2019.

It was also said the problem had apparently been neglected for too long and drew a lot of publicity at the point.