Kemerov Region division of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) laid a claim against Evraz Group’s Evrazruda in order to make the company pay 1.14 billion RUR for dumping its industrial waste from Abagurskaya sintering plant’s tailings pond into bodies of water, RIA Novosti refers to the environmental agency as saying.

The preliminary hearing of Kemerov Region Arbitration Court has been set for January 31. 2011.

Experts from Kemerov Region division of Rosprirodnadzor carried out an unscheduled inspection of the plant in September 2010 after an emergency release of manufacturing water from the tailings pond of Abagurskaya sintering plant into the River Kondoma.

According to the experts’ estimates, this industrial waste dumping resulted in water and land pollution in the area of 32,000 sq m.