{"id":21011,"date":"2019-02-19T19:46:10","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=21011"},"modified":"2023-07-10T09:54:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T07:54:31","slug":"a-journey-across-russias-desolate-oil-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/21011\/a-journey-across-russias-desolate-oil-region\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey across Russia\u2019s desolate oil region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Seismic surveys are ruining the fragile ecosystems and the lives of people in the vast European North of Russia. Polluted water, homes shaken by explosions, deforested expanses \u2013 these are just a few of the consequences of surveying in the Usinsk region of the Komi Republic in Russia.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Aerial
Aerial view of some the destruction caused by the heavy seismic vehicles in the forest
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Seismic testing is a geophysical study of the earth\u2019s crust to look for valuable minerals and oil. The tests are being conducted carelessly and hastily. In 2017, villagers from Ust-Usa and Novikbozh demanded an end to oil exploration works in the lower lands of the Pechora River. They were afraid of the river getting contaminated, fish dying, massive deforestation, and wild animals facing extinction, as well as the destruction of the forest where they pick berries and mushrooms. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Forests are cut down in search of new oil deposits. Streams and swamps get polluted. But despite the protests, seismic surveying is still happening. Here\u2019s what we found on an expedition to the region.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Map
\u00a9 Greenpeace <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Kushor <\/b><\/h4>\n\n

The muddy rivers of Mordor<\/b><\/p>\n\n

\"Kushor
The village of Kushor in the Komi Republic, north western Russia
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

 A jet flare is burning with orange light on the back of the grey sky. Gas (hydrogen sulphide) is burnt in this oil field, as it is in many other fields in the Usinsk region. <\/span>Kushor is located between two hills, separated by a brook that is mostly mud. Heavy vehicles belonging to Lukoil-Komi are moving upstream, pushing huge amounts of mud into the once clean river.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n

When we visit the workers at the Lukoil site, they\u2019re fetching water from the marsh brook in the forest. It\u2019s a little yellow and cloudy, but the only pure water here is in the well of a local man named Ivan, and there\u2019s not enough for everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

We\u2019re visiting a Seismic profile; a clear-cut used to place the facilities and equipment to conduct works on mineral exploration. We find paths that the locals use to pick berries and mushrooms and to hunt. Traditionally each Komi family has a right to own a path which provides them food all year.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Our guide, Valeriy Bratenkov from the <\/span>Save Pechora Committee<\/span><\/a>, tells us, \u201cTheir grandfathers and fathers used to hunt here, but what have they done?! How can we walk here? It’s a mess. A new path is needed but it takes so much work!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

When we speak to the head of the seismic crew, Alexey Filechkin, he tells us, \u201cOf course, we are trying to decrease the damage as nature here is so fragile. But the roads are poor so the tractors damage the ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

He\u2019s right. When we get to the road, the deep engulfing mud we find is definitely not for walking. They had warned us against hiking to the top of the muddy stream, but we persist. It\u2019s a five kilometre walk along a road with deep ruts full of mud. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n

After an hour and a half we finally get to the source of the brook, which flows down to the village before flowing into the backwater of the Pechora. We find what made the fish disappear from the river. A road has been laid through the brook. Before the road starts, this slightly yellow marsh brook is almost transparent. After the road, it\u2019s completely muddy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Heading back with my left boot soaked with water, I curse. I feel my back sweating and my wet foot starts freezing. In front of us we see a bend in the river Taiga and the flare from the jet fire on the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"
A sulphur fire burning in the distance
\u00a9 Igor Podgorny \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u201cI wonder why it reminds me Mordor so much,\u201d our videographer, Vitya, asks. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cBecause it looks like the Eye of Sauron,\u201d I reply.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Ust \u2013 Usa <\/b><\/h4>\n\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t even a mouse in these woods\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n

\"Damage
Walking through the ruined paths
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Humans have lived here since the Upper Palaeolithic age. Traces of stone tool tips and mammoth tusks are sometimes found by the current inhabitants. Oil was found near the Usa River for the first time in 1960. The landscape has changed irreversibly since. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

The forest near the village doesn\u2019t smell like a forest anymore. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

The largest oil spill on land happened here, in 1994, not far from the Kolva village – it was listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Between 100,000 to 300,000 tons of oil was spilt. It seriously damaged the environment in the whole area of the Pechora River. Livestock died. Disease rates amongst adults and children increased. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

The head of the Komi Republic at the time claimed that not a single drop of oil got into the Pechora river. But ships going up along the river told a different story. \u201cEven when the wind was strong, there were no waves because of the thick oil layer on the water,\u201d says Nikolay Fyodorov, another member of the Save Pechora Committee who takes us to view the devastation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Nikolay
Nikolay Feodorov, another activist from the Save Pechora Committee
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

On top of oil spills, the forest here has been damaged immensely. \u201cPeople say that they would give up engines and petrol, if it meant there were no more seismic surveys. They\u2019ve cut down so much of the forest that I don\u2019t recognised it anymore. I start to lose my way,\u201d says Nikolay. He grew up here, worked on a collective farm, and is now retired. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Valeriy Popov, a former worker of the Usinsk district forestry administration spoke at a meeting of the SPC: \u201cIt used to be forbidden to conduct seismic exploration in the water protection area. But now, they\u2019ve sprung into the floodplain. I contacted the company. I asked, why were they cutting the trees so rapaciously? There are people living here. These are northern forests, not gardens – we\u2019re glad if we can pick some berries and mushrooms in the forests, hunt and fish. But they say they have a plan. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

“They\u2019re cutting forest every 300 meters. I decided to go and have a look. They\u2019ve turned our paths into a mess, we even can\u2019t walk there because of the mud. I went picking berries and mushrooms, and didn\u2019t see a single mouse, no animals, hazel grouses, partridges, wood grouses, hares. The wood is completely abandoned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Valeriy \u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div> \u00a9 Igor Podgorny \/ Greenpeace” class=”wp-image-21032″\/>
Valeriy Popov
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

You can hardly find a person in Ust-Usa – as in any other village along the river Taiga – who wouldn\u2019t pick berries and mushrooms. It\u2019s why these forests are so important to them. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Novikbozh <\/b><\/h4>\n\n

Where the houses bounce <\/b><\/p>\n\n

\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div>” alt=”Novikbozh village
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div> \u00a9 Igor Podgorny \/ Greenpeace” class=”wp-image-21024″\/>
Novikbozh village
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The seismic survey has shaken Novikbozh in the literal sense of the word. They were conducting explosions in April, a local, Galina Chuprova recalls. \u201cHouses were trembling; people called me in the morning to tell me, \u201cGalya, you know, our houses are bouncing.” Someone had their fridge open; their food fell out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The tundra is now as full of lights as if it were a city. A well at the Alabushin oilfield, just 26 km away from the village, was burning for a month in spring 2017 and nobody could do anything. \u201cAccording to the media, local people were not exposed to any threat, but black smoke was deposited throughout our fields, on our gardens, in our lungs.<\/span> <\/b>Where is the guarantee that it won\u2019t happen again?\u201d Galina tells us. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"A
A path cut through the trees near Novikbozh village
\u00a9 Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Lukoil is still expanding its oil exploration efforts to the detriment of the local environment. \u201cSince last year, they\u2019ve been cutting profiles barely a metre from the lake. When we went ice fishing in the spring, there were lots of perches and pikes. Now there are no fish at all,\u201d one of the local hunters tells us. \u201cAll the winter there was a roar from explosions, from operating diesel engines and pumps in the drilling derricks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe high government starts making a mess \u2013 to get oil at any price. Well, let them get the oil, but nothing will be left for people,\u201d a pensioner, Nikolay Kanev sums up the feelings of all the people we\u2019ve spoken to in villages along the river. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Behind every oil exploration site is a village with a seesaw near the houses, with flowers that have still not frozen, with people who have dreams. And they are more important than the oil that lies beneath their feet.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Original text in Russian<\/a> by Elena Solovieva. Translation by Elena Panina and Nicholas Hyder, #StopOilSpills volunteers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

#\u041d\u0435\u0417\u0430\u043b\u0438\u0432\u0430\u0439\u041c\u043d\u0435\u0422\u0443\u0442 #SavePechora #lukoilkomi #PeoplevsOil<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI wonder why it reminds me Mordor so much,\u201d our videographer, Vitya, asks. \u201cBecause it looks like the Eye of Sauron,\u201d I reply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":21036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69,70],"tags":[84,87],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-21011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-nature","tag-forests","tag-oil","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21011"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59828,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21011\/revisions\/59828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21011"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=21011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}