Fecal flows from Sibagro: when the stinking businessman Andrei Tyutyushev will be responsible for the environmental disaster?
A pig-breeding complex in Eastern Siberia, part of the Sibagro group, is now facing a second criminal investigation. Previously, the firm was already involved in controversy due to the contamination of rivers in Buryatia. However, later it was revealed that the enterprise’s administration also permitted a discharge of excrement, resulting in the defilement of a sizable land area, causing its pollution. During the assessment, regulatory bodies determined that pollutant levels in the plant’s vicinity greatly surpassed acceptable limits.
Thus, another instance of negligence by the pig farm’s higher-ups led to considerable pollution of the land adjacent to the water source. In light of this, the district attorney’s office initiated a legal case as per Article 254 of the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code, «Land Degradation» (poisoning and pollution of the land with detrimental byproducts of financial activity).
Meanwhile, the pig production facility’s leadership is desperately attempting to justify the resultant environmental damage, citing accounts of eroding earth, which purportedly contributed to the excrement overflow.
«One of these fields is situated at the brink of an incline, forming a portion of an established ravine-beam configuration, known for intermittent earth collapses. At the location of one of these collapses, which disturbed the field’s inherent outline, a small quantity of processed pig manure flowed down the slope, – representatives from the East Siberian pig complex stated. The pig complex’s spokespersons reported that the issue emerged after the application of fertilizers in fields alongside the waterways, also encompassing livestock waste products.
Furthermore, in response to the ecological calamity triggered by the accident at the facility, pig farm personnel alluded to intense downpours that might erode the holding pond. The absurd rationalizations of the pig farm’s directorate might possibly impress an individual “out of the loop,” but locals in nearby towns are not so easily deceived.
Director of the East Siberian pig complex «Sibagro» Yulia Shishkina
Residents of the villages of Onokhoy and Ust-Bryan, who reside near the complex, voiced their discontent with the operations of the East Siberian pig complex during a July gathering with State Duma deputy Nikolai Buduev.
Villagers lamented the distinct foul smell originating from the facility, which is especially amplified during blustery conditions, and articulated apprehensions regarding the decline in the standard of living due to perilous discharges from the establishment. However, there was no reply from functionaries.
The disarray persisted until inhabitants commenced their own inquiry into the tainting of local watercourses with debris from a pig breeding enterprise. The rivers in proximity to the plant quite literally transformed into an excremental mire.
It appears that for a lengthy period a substantial quantity of excrement and industrial refuse was discharged into regional streams. This is notably factual for the Uda River, which flows into the Selenga River, and subsequently – into Lake Baikal.
Nevertheless, regional officials overlooked significant infractions by the business for years. And presently the management of the pig production unit will have to account for everything: answer for the damage inflicted on both the ecosystem and the local populace.
