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 Citizen
Outcries Drowned by the Yumaguzinsky Reservoir in
BashkiriaOil
Production on Sakhalin: How long Before We See Another
Valdez? |
Oil
Production on Sakhalin: How long Before We See Another
Valdez?
Citizen
Outcries Drowned by the Yumaguzinsky Reservoir in
Bashkiria
Citizen Outcries Drowned by the Yumaguzinsky Reservoir in Bashkiria Valery Sharov and Elena Kirichok A recently resurrected
plan to harbor hydro-power in Russia may help the region of
Bashkiria earn infamy for undertaking one of the largest
"Projects of the Century" in Russia. The proposed
Yumaguzinsky Reservoir on the Belaya River, an approximately
550 km-long river spells disaster for both nature and the
rule of law in Russia. The Yumaguzinsky Reservoir is merely a resurrection of the proposal to construct Ishtuganovsky Reservoir that was rescinded in 1989. Today, only the location and the reservoir volume of the first project have changed: the Belaya River will be the recipient of a 60 m high dam at the point where it empties into the lowlands after running its mountain course. The resulting reservoir will extend for nearly 70 km and hold one billion m3 of water (three times less than what was projected for the first reservoir). Despite the absence of a federal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and even the project blueprints themselves, preliminary construction on the dam was already begun in December, 1998.
Similar to the Ishtuganovsky project, the official reasoning behind Yumaguzinsky is basically the same, namely to satisfy the water needs of the chemical and oil industries in such cities as Kumertau, Meleuz, Salavat, Ishimbai, and Sterlitamak. This new project has also been deemed necessary to prevent spring flooding. Both grounds, however, are untenable, buckling at even the slightest criticism. First, spring floods occur mainly in the areas located upstream from the suggested reservoir. Secondly, Baskiria's industries, in a considerable economic depression, are unlikely to encounter a shortage in the water supply. Already in the first project, the EIA divulged that a water deficiency was overstated, even taking into account future economic development. Bashkiria's vulnerability to both natural and industrial disasters is due in large part to its karst landscape. This limestone substrate is subject to erosion and other external pressures. In fact, the unstable nature of the landscape was cited as one of the main reasons for halting the first project. Reservoir use on this territory could disrupt karst processes, causing these formations to shift as the water level rises or falls. The potentially disastrous consequences of the dam were previewed in August 7, 1994, when 8.6 million m3 of water escaped through a dam wall that burst on one of the Belaya River tributaries. This rush of water inundated 4 towns, killed 29 people, and displaced 786 people, incurring damages estimated at over $17.5 million. Unfortunately, this is not the only example: in 1997, two other incidences of karst shifts underground inflicted $ 140,000 worth of damage. Another glimpse of the
project's imminent damage was revealed this past spring when
a temporary dam built on the Belaya River prevented fish
from swimming to their spawning grounds in the upper reaches
of the Belaya. Deprived of the passage, mass numbers of fish
accumulated in Realizing the extent of destruction, not to mention the illegality of this project, many people have protested the construction of the Yumaguzinsky Reservoir. The president of the Tartarstan Republic, which neighbors Bashkiria, has sounded alarm within the Russian Federation's Committee on Environmental Protection, emphasizing that a project that concerns two or more governmental districts (the Belaya River also runs through Tartarstan) must be subject to a federal EIA. Moreover, NGOs, such as Greenpeace Russia and Dront (in Nizhny-Novgorod) have harshly opposed the project, joining efforts to ban it. These organizations have swamped Bashkiria's authorities with appeals, stressing the many violations of environmental law already incurred by the project. Local communities have
also taken a strong stance against this project. "The
reservoir will kill our beautiful river!" cried Muslima
Kil'diyarova who lives in the town of Irgizly. "Practically
everyone in our village-Bashkirs, Russians, Tatars, and
Jews-objects to this project." Inhabitants of Irgyzly and
two other towns located within the area to be flooded
appealed to the President of Bashkiria with an open letter
of protest. Meanwhile, forests are being cut and the vegetative cover is being stripped off at a rapid pace near the site of the dam. An army of heavy machinery digs, tears, grinds, and removes earth. Deep wells have already been drilled for the cement that will form the dam's foundation and drainage canal. As construction moves forward, the Committee on Environmental Protection is attempting to bring this project in compliance with existing environmental legislation. One of the Committee's investigations into this project resulted in a strict order directed at the project's general contractor to discontinue construction or risk the inactivation of their financial accounts. In November, 1998 the Committee also mandated the Kugarchinsk Bank in Bashkiria to stop its financing of the project. Realizing that domestic funding may soon be coming to an end, Bashkiria authorities have begun to look to foreign creditors for help in financing this project. Currently, the involvement of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), offering a sum of up to six million dollars for this project, is being carefully considered. This project is entangled in a complicated web of clashing interests and rights. Resting on claims of protecting regional sovereignty, the Bashkiria government is disregarding federal laws and is poised to use foreign investments to solve economic problems at the cost of nature. Ironically, a year ago the President of Bashkiria, Murtaza Rakhimov, was honored as a Defender of the Earth by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). As the regional government grapples to increase its own authority, the Belaya River has become a pawn in Bashkiria's fight with federal officials. The Yumaguzinsky reservoir project signifies sets a dangerous precedent in the intolerable use of sovereign rights, and forebodes a possible catastrophe both for humans and nature. Nikolai
Maleshin is the managing editor of RCN. Valery Sharov is a
freelance journalist. Elena Kirichok is an assistant forest
campaigner at Greenpeace Russia.
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Bashkiria National Park to Suffer in the Shadow of Yumaguzinsky The Yumaguzinsky dam would cause irreversible damage to Bashkiria National Park, where construction is already underway. This activity blatantly violates strict protected area legislation enacted at regional and federal levels. One part of the park's territory that will be flooded was designated as a Globally Important Bird Area by Bird Life International. This area provides habitat for such endangered bird species as: osprey (Pandion haliaetus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla), short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), and black stork (Ciconia nigra). |
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Rare plant species are also preserved here: (Minuartia helmii) and (Schivereckia podolica) (listed in the Russian Red Data Book) as well as (Astragalus clerceanus), alpine woodsia (Woodsia alpina), (Tulipa biebersteiniana), and martagon lily (Lilium martagon) (listed in the Red Data Book of Bashkiria). Flooding will also ruin historical-cultural monuments in the park that have been nominated for inclusion in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. |
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They
received no reply. Other letters to the Republic's president
and government deputies sent from local groups (Union of
Ecologists and the Council of the All-Russian Society for
Nature Protection) have also gone unanswered. 
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