The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources Management estimated the damage caused by the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) to the city reservoir, the Ural River and Sukhoi Rechke as a result of pollutant discharges of 3.2 billion rubles. The regional department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region sent calculations for approval to the central office. MMK is informed that they have not yet received notifications from the supervisory authority, while this year the plant plans to complete the reconstruction of the circulating water supply system, which will exclude discharges of harmful substances into water bodies.

The Rosprirodnadzor department for the Chelyabinsk region sent materials to the central office of the federal service for calculating the amount of damage caused by the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works to water bodies - the Magnitogorsk Reservoir, the Ural River and Sukhoi Rechka. This is stated in the service note addressed to the acting head of the department Amirkhan Amirkhanov and signed by the deputy head Ramil Nizamov (the document is available to Kommersant).

The note states that damage to water bodies was estimated at 3.22 billion rubles on the basis of the calculations performed, "in accordance with the methodology for calculating the amount of damage caused to water bodies as a result of violation of water legislation approved by Order No. 13 of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia dated April 13, 2009 87 ". Taking into account the comments of the central apparatus, the calculation "was finalized and re-submitted for review and approval". In the second variant of inconsistencies, the position of the methodology was not revealed, Mr. Nizamov said in the document.

MMK's external communications service told Kommersant that they had not received any notifications from Rosprirodnadzor concerning the calculation of damage to water objects. At the same time, the group is implementing a project that aims to completely eliminate discharges into the river and reservoir. "Following the results of the inspection by MMK Rosprirodnadzor in 2016, the company developed measures to exclude the impact of the plant on the Ural River and the Magnitogorsk Reservoir. In 2018, the reconstruction of a circulating water supply system worth more than 660 million rubles will be scheduled, which will eliminate discharges of harmful substances, "the company said, adding that over the past ten years, MMK has invested in measures to reduce and prevent discharges into water bodies 8 billion rubles., Of which 3.8 billion - from 2015 to 2018. Until 2025 in this direction it is planned to invest an additional 5.5 billion rubles.
According to a source familiar with the situation, most likely, the damage analysis will become an occasion for the dialogue of the supervisory agency with the MMK group, which will also conduct its own research and submit its calculations.

"After that, probably, the" bidding "will begin: the parties will determine the objective size of the damage, and, possibly, the amount will change," the source said. "It is possible that the penalties will eventually be avoided if the environmental actions taken by the combine lead to the solution of the problem. "

In June, it became known that the department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region, together with the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region, with the assistance of the regional Ministry of Ecology initiated verification of compliance with environmental legislation at MMK. The events took place at a number of enterprises in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, after President Vladimir Putin described both cities among the most problematic in terms of ecology.