I saw this article a few weeks ago and I was astonished.
We all saw the reaction of the United States, environmental groups and the international community during the BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago; uproar, demands for justice, long-term devastation in the Gulf region and continuing developments on the environmental impact. It was horrible to see the waves wash ashore, black from the oil, dead animals and marine life covering our beaches and the impact on the local and national economy. Most of the region has still not fully recovered and will not for a long time.
Now, as bad as this was, Russia has its own problem that has somehow not made international headlines. The Russian oil industry is one of the oldest in the world and its infrastructure shows its age. In the AP Enterprise article 'Russia Oil Spills Wreak Devestation', writer Nataliya Vasilyeva portrays the environmental and ecological destruction that for decades has gone un-fixed. In the town of Usinsk in the province of Komi (about 900 miles NE of Moscow) the magnitude of this problem can be seen. As the worlds leading oil producer, responsible for 13% of the global output, Russia has done a good job of covering up or keeping the media quiet, when it comes to their oil spills. Environmentalists estimate that close to 35 million barrels of oil are spilled each year; to give you a scale, that is one BP oil spill event EVERY TWO MONTHS. Engineers have determined that the oil is seeping through the Russian oil pipes due to the rusty and worn out screws that hold it together. While it may not be a sudden release of oil all at once like we saw in the Gulf, it is more of a slow, oozing leak from the pipes.
Nonetheless, whether on land or in the sea, the environment is everywhere and this needs to be fixed. Actually, you can include water contamination into this mess because the Natural Resources Ministry in Russia estimates that 500,000 tons (considered a conservative estimate) of oil find their way into Russian Rivers each year that flow into the Arctic. I believe that the reason these leaks go unnoticed is one, because of the duration of the leaks, meaning they are slow and dont release a lot of oil at once, and two because of a Russian law on oil leaks. In Russia, leaks less that 8 tons are classified as "incidents" that carry no fines or penalties. Also, it is safe to say that because of the isolated location of these leaks that people don't think it matters since there is barely any human population in the vicinity. Most of Russia's oil production is done in the cold, barren Tundra region.
This is the part that gets to me, if there are no people around then who cares, right? Wrong. As stated earlier, 500,000 tons are leaked into rivers that makes its way to the Arctic waters. This is arguably the worst area for an oil spill due to the oceans "conveyor belt" (see picture on right) which is a natural process of currents due to thermohaline circulation. In layman's terms, the old saying Warm air rises, Cold air sinks, has the same effect in the ocean. In the end, we get a conveyor belt of different temperature water that flows around the entire earth. The Arctic ties into this because all of the water in this conveyor belt eventually makes its way to the Arctic. SO, after all of this scientific talk, oil that is spilled into the Arctic could eventually makes its way to Australia or Antarctica. As the worlds leading oil producer and the worlds worst oil polluter, Russia needs to do something to stop these mass amounts of leaking. The same international community that came to criticize the US and BP needs to go to Russia and force them to start a cleanup process before not only the Tundra and Arctic environments and eventually the international environments are destroyed. You can get involved as well, go to Surfrider, Greenpeace or simply call your local Russian embassy and speak your mind. It may not be solved right away, but I assume it eventually will be a well known topic.
