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| credit: Siberian Times |
An Arctic river runs red in Russia--not with blood, but because a power plant spilled 20,000 metric tons of oil and diesel fuel. The fuel burst from a reserve fuel tank at an industrial site near Norlisk on May 29th. A statement form Norlisk Nickel company which owns the site suggest it could have been cause by ground subsidence related to melting permafrost. Rising global temperatures are thawing Arctic permafrost at an alarming rate. Experts say these types of climate related disasters will become more common as climate change accelerates.
A new study finds that the Arctic's built environment will be damaged by the thaw, even if nations meet their Paris Agreement climate targets, a goal becoming increasingly problematic. Roughly half of Russia's oil and gas infrastructure above the Arctic circle are in regions of ground instability due to thawing.
The spill is smaller than the Exxon Valdez crude oil spill which polluted Alaska's Prince William Sound for three decades. Diesel fuel is a more a more potent form of pollution than crude oil. Although the spill occurred in a remote region, it will likely cause long term environmental harm and risks to public health. Clean up will be a prolonged process and costs billions. President Vladimir Putin declared a national emergency to secure funds and resources to begin clean up. The Russian federal government has also launched a criminal investigation into the causes of the disaster Norlisk Nickle, a mining company, was previously fined for a smaller spill into the region's rivers in 2016.
