|
|
Environmentalists Halt US Rocket Processing Plant in Udmurtia
|
|
|
|
|
Текст: Gazeta.Ru - Combined Report Photo by www.atlenv.ns.ca
After several years of staunch protests from the local population and environmental activists, the authorities of the Russian republic of Udmurtia have finally withdrawn from the joint Russo-American project to construct a processing facility for old rocket fuel in the vicinity of Votkinsk. The U.S. Congress and the Russian Aerospace pledged $52 million for the financing of the project back in 1996. However, construction of the facility has still not begun.
In 1996 the US authorities approved the bid of Lockheed Martin to build the processing plant. Lockheed Martin is the biggest military-industrial trans-national corporation in the world and the key contractor for the US Army and NASA. Lockheed Martin won the tender after elaborating unique technology for processing old rocket fuel.
Washington then approached Moscow with the project and offered $52 million for its implementation. In December 1997 Moscow and Washington reached a principle agreement on the project.
Initially the processing facility was to be built in Perm, the first Russian region to launch production of intercontinental ballistic missiles PT-2 (SS-13) but the plans were disrupted after violent protests from local residents and the region’s government. It was then decided to build the plant in the neighbouring Republic of Udmurtia, near the of Votkinsk, which has a population of approximately 100 000.
The rocket fuel processing facility was to be built close to the famous Votkinsk plant, the constructor of the Topol ICBM and in the first three years the new facility was to process 916 solid-fuel rocket engines.
From the very start local environmentalists launched an active campaign to prevent the construction of the processing facility.
Environmental activists drew the public’s attention to the fact that a similar project in the United States failed after the US Department of Environment ordered the closure of the plant in the Nevada desert. The closest human settlement to the site was a small community of 300 Indians, whereas the Topol plant is only 4 km away from the town of Votkinsk.
The plant in Nevada processed only 18 missiles and was closed after 3 years of operation under pressure from environmentalists who complained that the plant harmed a rare species of tortoises, inhabiting the area.
The US decided to move the facility abroad and chose Russia.
In January 1999 residents of Votkinsk, supported by local environmental groups, persuaded the local authorities to hold a referendum. Over 90% of Votkinsk’s residents voted against the construction of the plant. However, the result of the referendum was subsequently annulled by the regional electoral authorities then the republic’s Supreme Court, which ruled that the referendum must be held not only in the town of Votkinsk, but also in the whole of the Votkinsk district.
The fate of the project remained vague until the end of the year 2001 when the deputies of the Udmurita legislature declared they would not pass the republic’s budget until the issue was again raised in the legislature.
The authorities of the Perm Region added fuel to the fire with protests against the construction of the plant: Votkinsk is situated close to the border between Udmurtia and the Perm region. At the end of January the mayor of Chaikovsky Alexander Proidakov under orders from the Perm governor Yuri Troutnev, attended the Udmurtia legislature when the issue was discussed.
Alexander Proidakov said that in the opinion of the residents of Perm, installations such as the planned processing plant should be erected far from human settlements and only after thorough independent ecological examinations.
Udmurtia’s deputies took the advice into consideration and ruled on the establishment of an interim commission to investigate the environmental safety and economic efficiency of the project.
And finally, on March 1 the president of Udmurtia Alexander Volkov announced that the republic’s government would not start the construction before receiving the results of the ecological examination. Moreover, he said he was prepared to give the go-ahead for new referendum on the issue.
The chairman of the republic’s government Yuri Pitkevich was more direct. He said: “At the governmental level it has been decided to give up the further implementation of the project for the construction of a complex for the utilisation of solid-fuel rocket engines in Votkinsk”.
04 МАРТА 19:27
|
|
|
|
|
РЕКЛАМА
|
|
|
© «Газета.Ru» «Gazeta.Ru» (1999-2006).
Адрес редакции: 117152, Москва, Загородное шоссе, д. 5, стр. 2а.
Редакция не несет ответственности за достоверность информации, опубликованной в рекламных объявлениях. Редакция не предоставляет справочной информации.
Страницы «Техзона», «Жилплощадь», «Отдых», «Матпомощь», «Образование», «Стиль», «Экстрим» являются рекламно-коммерческими приложениями к «Газете.Ru»
Обратная связь Реклама в «Газете.Ru»
|
|
|
СПЕЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ПРИЛОЖЕНИЯ
|
РЕКЛАМА
|
|
|
|
