Greenpeace activists have been trying to meet the Vice-governor
to pass the results of the recent Greenpeace research of the oil
contaminated coastal areas. After some 24-hour talks with officials
they were allowed into the Chushka Spit territory for a crisis
headquarters meeting scheduled for 22nd of November. At the session
though the crisis centre officials seemed reluctant to seek
environmentalists' assistance and refused any voluntary help in
clean-up works.
"We have military - organized, equipped, with commanders and
field kitchens. So why would we bother ourselves with unorganized
crowd, which will probably need support and attention from us?"
said Ivanov.
"The crisis center claims to have enough manpower to clean up
the spill. However our research shows the contrary - the oil is now
being collected only in several areas, whereas most parts of the
coastline are still polluted with oil products. There has been little
organized effort to save the poisoned birds and the
government provided no help to NGOs who arrived to carry out this
work," said Dmitry Artamonov, the head of Greenpeace response
team.
The Vice-governor finally stopped the discussion and asked not
to allow Greenpeace into the crisis headquarters. "Don't invite
Greenpeace here any more. They only cause troubles," said
Ivanov.
In the next several days Greenpeace activists will continue
clean-up works at the distant parts of Azov coastline. Activists
claimed to show the government it is possible to collect oil even
in those hard-to-reach areas and that volunteers can really
help.
Greenpeace response team arrived November 12th to the southern
Russia to estimate the scale of the environmental disaster in the
Kerch Strait after a fierce storm sank seven ships, including an
oil tanker. There are now 11 Greenpeace volunteers on the spot
helping to clean-up the coastline, monitoring the polluted areas,
reporting about new polluted spots. Within a week Greenpeace
activists have surveyed about 95 km of the shore line.