The Office of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region together with the divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region conducts an unscheduled inspection at the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine. Assistance in the raid is provided by the local Ministry of Ecology, providing mobile laboratories for monitoring atmospheric air. The inspection at MMK was the continuation of a series of similar events that took place in May-June at Mechel-Coke, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, and eight other manufacturing plants in Chelyabinsk. Recall, in May, President Vladimir Putin called Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk among cities where environmental problems require special solutions.
In Magnitogorsk, employees of the regional department of Rosprirodnadzor, together with security agencies and experts of the Ministry of Environment of the Chelyabinsk region, began an unscheduled inspection on June 18 at the PJSC MMK. The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chelyabinsk region confirmed this fact, saying that the verification will last one day. According to the Ministry of Ecology, two mobile laboratories participate in the event - they will measure air samples at the border with the residential area of the enterprise. In Rosprirodnadzor refused to comment on the fact of verification, until its results are received. It is expected that they will be informed about them on Tuesday at a press conference with the head of the department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region Vitaly Kuryatnikov.
The reason for the string of inspections of industrial enterprises in the region is the "May" decree of President Vladimir Putin, in which Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk are named among the cities that require a special approach to solving environmental issues. Besides, 2020 is scheduled to be held in the regional center of the SCO and BRICS summits - by this time local authorities plan to reduce the level of environmental pollution by more than 20%. Over the past month in Chelyabinsk, the supervisory authorities have identified numerous violations of environmental legislation in eight industrial enterprises. Raids involving siloviki took place at two plants of the Mechel Group (Mechel-Coke and Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Combine) and the Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Combine, where the inspection lasted 20 days and ended only last week. "By ChEMK the inspection is over, the act was given to the enterprise," confirmed Vladislav Korobkin, deputy head of the Rosprirodnadzor department for the Chelyabinsk region. From the comments on the results of the inspection, Mr. Korobkin abstained. Earlier, a source close to Rosprirodnadzor reported that a number of serious violations had been identified at Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant. According to him, we can talk about the suspension of the activities of certain facilities at the plant.
According to Elena Azovtseva, Acting Head of the Information, Public Relations and Advertising Department of PJSC MMK, during the inspection, Rosprirodnadzor specialists conducted a survey of the technical condition of the technological units of the two production divisions of MMK for compliance with environmental legislation. Measurements of the efficiency of the dust collection facilities were also made. "MMK specialists, as always, are in constructive interaction with the inspection services, providing them with all necessary information in a timely manner," Ms. Azovtseva noted.
As the Minister of the Environment of the Chelyabinsk region Sergey Likhachev informed earlier, actions that are now taking place with the participation of law enforcement agencies are "very correct": "Business should be forced, if it does not want, to participate in environmental issues". According to Mr. Likhachev, by 2024 it is realistic to cut emissions by 30% "and even more".
According to Vitaly Bezrukov, a member of the environmental council under the governor of the Chelyabinsk region, earlier, even if an unscheduled inspection took place, enterprises could detain supervisory bodies at the entrance under various pretexts. "Now, when power bodies come, no one asks. We arrived, broke the fence, immediately all cordoned off, sampled samples from ovens and other sources. And it is already possible to qualitatively evaluate the violation, which is committed. Hiding something is harder for the enterprise, "says Mr. Bezrukov. The expert also noted that air pollution has decreased, and the number of complaints from the population has decreased.
The main owner of PJSC "Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works", according to SPARK-Interfax, is Minta Holding Limited (Cyprus). The main beneficiary of the company is the chairman of the board of directors Viktor Rashnikov. The general director of the group is Pavel Shilyaev, who replaced the current governor Boris Dubrovsky. According to MMK, in 2017 the group invested more than 4 billion rubles in the ecology. In 2018, investments in the construction of environmental facilities will amount to 5.5 billion rubles. Until 2025, the company plans to invest more than 38 billion rubles in environmental protection.