Russian oil spill disaster

River runs red in the Arctic - 15th June 2020

Diesel fuel from a huge oil spill in northern Russia has polluted the Arctic Circle, causing environmental disaster. The spill occurred on 29th May when a fuel reservoir at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed, pouring thousands of tonnes of oil into a nearby river. It’s the most catastrophic oil spillage Russia's Arctic north has ever seen.

Emergency teams have scrambled to contain the spill. Booms wielded by workers clad in waterproof clothing are collecting the reddish-brown fuel from the water's surface and pumping it into tanks lined up along the bank.

The storage tank is believed to have fractured due to melting permafrost, which weakened its supports. Permafrost, the term used for continuously frozen ground, makes up about half of Russia and most of Siberia, where the majority of the country's oil and gas fields can be found. The Arctic has experienced weeks of unusually warm weather, a possible symptom of global warming, causing the land to thaw.

The plant where the spillage took place is operated by a division of Nornickel, whose factories in the area are responsible for making Norilsk one of the most heavily polluted places on Earth. Environmental groups have levelled accusations against the Russian mining company of over-emphasising the role of climate change in the disaster in order to avoid liability and deflect attention away from its lax maintenance of ageing infrastructure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency in the region and the investigation into its causes is still ongoing.

Since the leak began, over 20,000 tonnes of oil have now flowed into the Ambarnaya river and onto the surrounding land, turning the water blood red. The diesel fuel has travelled over 10 miles downriver to a freshwater lake serving as a major source of water for the region.

Despite the clean-up operation having already cleared thousands of metres of contaminated soil, officials in Siberia say it will take the region years to recover from this disastrous spill.