Russian mining firm Norilsk Nickel pays $2 billion in penalty over Arctic fuel spill

A Russian mining firm has paid a record sum of $2 billion as a fine, over an oil spill that caused the country’s worst environmental disasters. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer, was penalised last month by a Russian court and it chose not to appeal against it. Subsequently, the firm was asked to pay what officials termed as the country's ‘biggest penalty ever for an environmental disaster’. 

The oil-diesel spill that first occurred last May is an ongoing industrial disaster near Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The disaster led to nearly 21,000 tonnes of fuel pouring from one of the company’s storage tanks into rivers and lakes in Russia’s Arctic North. The spill was so gigantic that it prompted the country’s president Vladimir Putin to declare an emergency within less than a month. 

In a governmental meeting, Putin instructed officials to use the money” primarily” to improve the environmental crisis in Norilsk and nearby areas, BBC reported. Oleg Mitvol, former deputy head of a Russian environmental watchdog, revealed that the cleanup could take at least five to ten years and could cost a sum of 100 billion. Even before the disastrous spill,  Norilsk Nickel was known as a pollution hotspot and was struggling to battle the same. 

Another leak 

Apart from the  Norilsk spill, the mining giant, last year, reported another oil leak in the Arctic. According to reports, it is believed that roughly 45 tons of aviation fuel leaked into it Arctic from the pipeline. After the leak was brought under control, Norlisk authorities have claimed to be conducting an internal investigation into the accident and that it has suspended all activities in that region.

In October last year, Russian authorities declared a second emergency in the Kezhemsky District following another major oil spill. As per a statement by the department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, approximately 500 litres (over 132 gallons) of fuel leaked into the Angara River. The statement by the ministry added that the emergency was declared on Friday, October 9. Local authorities further added that “There are no oil patches, the consequences have been eliminated. A group of representatives of the Investigative Committee, the department of the Interior Ministry, the Department for Combating Economic Crimes, the administration and three more rescuers have arrived at the site”.

(Image Credit: The Associated Press)