02/12/2005
- Russian-Chinese Border, Russian Federation — Eighteen
days after an explosion at a chemical factory in Jilin Provence
launched a huge 80 kilometer (50 mile) slick of cancer-causing
benzene down the Songhua River, and nine days after the
Chinese government admitted to suppressing the news, activists
from Greenpeace Russia are in place and awaiting the slick
to slide across the border.
Millions of Chinese people who rely on the Songhua for their
drinking water have had to rely on bottled water and emergency
supplies instead. Our activists are keeping a close eye
on Russia’s Emergency Ministry, Emercom, to make sure that
sampling and public information are accurate and that no
expense is spared in protecting human health and the environment.
Neither Russia nor China enjoy
much of a reputation for openness when it comes to industrial
disasters. The recent description of the initial cover-up
by Zhang Zuoji, Governor of Heilonggjiang Provence as
a "benevolent lie" has done little to help.
But will it be any different in the
Russian Federation? Greenpeace’s man on the ground, Alexi,
says: "On paper and in their reports they are pretty
much set up to meet the slick. However, we in the area
say that they are under-staffed. The amount of activated
carbon -- which can be used to filter benzene from the
water -- is insufficient. Not to mention that the way
they take samples -- using a helicopter and a bucket on
a rope -- raises a lot of questions."
"There are still many unknown
facts, like exactly how much benzene and other toxic substances
really spilled into the Songhau; or how the freezing temperatures
and ice-cover on the rivers will effect the slick; or
whether or not it will still be a slick or a more dispersed
plume. But Emercom and local scientists, probably also
to avoid panic, are saying that the slick will not reach
Russia at all."
Both Emercom and some local scientists
believe, or hope, that the larger part of the slick will
turn into the Chinese side of the river, but not all of
it, so they are preparing some safety measures.
The city of Khabarovsk on the Amur
has a population of some 800,000 people. Other large river
cities include Amursk (about 70,000 people) and Komsomolsk-on-Amur
(up to 300,000 people). There are also many villages and
small towns along the river. To a various extent and depending
on the response of the Russian authorities and influence
of icing the slick may affect some 1,200,000 or so people.
But the myths and rumours are already
starting to build around the nearly invisible benzene’s
ghostly trip down river. At the moment it is believed
to be passing the Chinese city of Jiamusi, a city about
two thirds of the way to the Russian border from Harbin,
the first Chinese city to have its water supply cut.
According to Alexi, there is a dam
near Khabarovsk which dampens water flow. So in order
to channel the polluted water away from the Khabarovsk
water supply inlets, the authorities are considering blowing
up the 400-million rouble (12-million euro) dam.
Already, on November 25th the Khabarovsk
authorities turned off the tap water because it was rumoured
a day earlier they found benzene in Amur. Later the authorities
tried to calm the population down explaining the turn-off
was for technical reasons only.
Rumours also abound that another pollutant
heptyl had been found in the water. "This news was
made hotter by the Emercom spokesman who said that this
information was closed" says Alexi. "Oleg Mitvol,
from the Government, who was there at the time demonstratively
drank some tap water to show that it is safe. But, even
that backfired, people started saying that he had eaten
lots of adsorbents beforehand and that he did this because
he had gotten a phone call from Moscow telling him to
stop any panic even at the price of his own health."
So added to certain danger of benzene
we can add the legacy of years of misinformation and no
information, a heady cocktail of Government incompetence
and intransigence.
We'll do our best to bear witness
and continue to apply pressure for full monitoring over
the next few months and well into the spring thaw, but
also to promote honesty and independence in the battle
to provide a wary public with information that they can
have confidence in. |