Russian U-turn angers environmentalists
Share
Two thousand demonstrators took to the streets to protest the Russian government’s U-turn decision to re-open a paper mill. The controversial plant was closed in 2008 after the government ordered that it install a drainage system to divert pollution from the world's largest freshwater lake.
The protesters gathered in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Saturday to protest the decision to re-open the plant at Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“We are convinced that this decision has been taken to satisfy the short-term interests of the owners of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill”, Greenpeace Russia said in a statement.
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska owns a 51 percent stake in the plant, while 49 percent belongs to the state.
Lawsuit
In October 2008, the mill suspended cellulose production in order to switch to a closed loop system. The move came hot on the heels of a lawsuit filed against it by the Russian Environmental Protection Agency for illegally dumping industrial waste. But the plant’s profitability declined rapidly and it was forced to close.
But the Russian government decision had supporters as well as detractors. Before suspending production, the plant employed 2,000 of the 17,000 local inhabitants. Re-opening the plant provides is set to provide the local population with much needed incomes.
Greenpeace Russia and other NGOs maintain that the best solution to the unemployment problem is to create alternative employment for the people and to promote tourism in the region, and not to damage the environment.
The lake, which holds the world’s fifth biggest fresh water resources, is also the world’s oldest and deepest and boasts unique plant and animal life.
Other
As for the colors, navy blue, matte white and grays are the ones to go for.
