PJSC "Mechel" has submitted a plan for environmental audit of Chelyabinsk enterprises of the holding. The work will be carried out by JSC "Research Institute" Atmosphere "" from St. Petersburg. The audit, including an analysis of the current state of the plants, full-scale surveys of emission sources and development of recommendations to reduce the negative impact on the environment, will be conducted within six months - in January 2019, the final conclusion will be ready. According to the management of the regional department of Rosprirodnadzor, the following enterprises, where the environmental audit will pass, are likely to be the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant and Fortum. The public, meanwhile, is concerned about the independence of experts and the openness of audit data.

PJSC "Mechel" presented a plan of measures for conducting environmental audit. The contract for the execution of works based on the results of the competition was concluded with the JSC "Research Institute" Atmosphere "» (St. Petersburg). Deputy Director General of the Research Institute Alexander Romanov, who presented the project at a roundtable on July 26, said that the audit will be held at all Chelyabinsk factories of the group: CMP, Mechel-coke, Mechel-materials, Mechel-Energo and Chelyabinsk branch of the Urals forges. " According to him, the task of experts is to evaluate the complex impact of enterprises on the environment, including air, water, waste management, and to find out whether equipment and technology meet the requirements of the legislation on the transition to the best available technologies (BAT).

"In general, one of the tasks is to identify problem areas and assess the risks of enterprises in the field of environmental protection", - said Alexander Romanov. According to him, the works will be held in four stages, from August 2018 to January 2019. At the first stage, experts based on the documents provided by PJSC "Mechel" will analyze the current situation at the factories (until mid-September 2018). Next, field surveys of technological areas will be carried out, including instrumental measurements on organized and unorganized sources of air emissions, treatment facilities, and waste disposal sites (October 2018). In the process of analyzing the research results of one of the tasks, in the words of Mr. Romanov, in addition to assessing the direct impact of the objects within Mechel's structures, it is the identification of third-party organizations that may contribute to the pollution mistaken for the holding's contribution (late October). The final stage will be the development of a list of measures to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Expert opinion will be ready by the end of January 2019.

Representatives of Chelyabinsk environmental NGOs had questions about the independence and openness of the examination. "Your institution is a joint-stock company whose purpose is to make profit. In this case, the customer is a commercial enterprise. A simple resident of Chelyabinsk thinks: how is it that the company pays for an independent audit? In addition, the data you receive from the customer. How much will the audit be objective? "- asked the representative of the movement" Antismog "Evgeny Malenkin at the round table.

According to the Deputy Director General of the Research Institute "Atmosphere", the institute is not going to "risk the reputation earned over the years." "PJSC" Mechel "is not the first customer. We are paid for our services, of course. But we have no sense in obtaining objective results "to twist" to please a particular customer. We can not risk authority, so that tomorrow someone reminded us that during the implementation of this project we behaved "flexibly", "stressed Alexander Romanov.

Representatives of the public also worried about whether they will be able to participate in the audit activities, and the Chelyabinsk citizens - to learn about the intermediate results. Mr. Romanov announced the creation of a special e-mail address of the research institute for questions and proposals on the project. Director of Production Planning and Technical Development of PJSC "Mechel" Anton Levada noted that the company is ready to inform the population about the interim results, and he does not see the problems of interaction between the enterprise and the public through the relevant department.

"Mechel" became the first company that conducts an environmental audit within the framework of a trilateral agreement with the leadership of the Chelyabinsk region and Rosprirodnadzor region. The document, signed by the holding in March of this year, also provides for the obligation of enterprises to implement a list of measures to reduce the negative impact on the environment as a result of the audit.

"Important: since we do this for the first time, in order for us to be sure of the effectiveness of this mechanism, everything must be open. If this happens, even in good faith, but only between the auditor and the customer, Chelyabinsk will not believe it, "- said the head of the department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region Vitaly Kuryatnikov. He noted that the following enterprises, where, perhaps, will be eco-audit, will be the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant and PJSC Fortum that have concluded similar trilateral agreements.

Research Institute "Atmosphere" was established in 1992 as a unit in the main geophysical observatory named after Voeikov. Subsequently, it was reorganized into a joint stock company. Advises large nature users, participates in the preparation of federal regulations in the field of environmental legislation, the development of standards for maximum permissible emissions, sanitary protection zones, etc. According to SPARK-Interfax, Viktor Zharkov owns 100% of the authorized capital of the company, the general director is Oleg Martsynkovsky. According to the financial statement for 2016, sales revenue amounted to 46.5 million rubles, net assets - 4.4 million, net profit - 294 thousand rubles.