Norilsk Nickel: Mining firm pays record $2bn fine over Arctic oil spill

A mining firm has paid a record $2bn (£1.4bn) fine over a huge oil spill that caused one of Russia's worst environmental disasters.

Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, said it had paid the fine on Wednesday.

The fuel spill last May saw 21,000 tonnes of diesel pour from one of the company's storage tanks into rivers and lakes in Russia's Arctic north.

It prompted President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency.

"I ask you to ensure that this [money] is used primarily to improve the environmental situation in [the city of] Norilsk itself and the surrounding region," President Putin told a government meeting.

The penalty is the biggest ever issued for environmental damage in Russia, officials say.

Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, was told to pay the fine by a Russian court in February and chose not to appeal.

Its net profits for 2020 fell by 39% as a result of the fine, Reuters news agency reported.

MORE-----> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56350953

Alberta energy companies fined $1.5 million for unlawful deposit of chlorinated water into North Saskatchewan River

MORE-----> https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-cl ... sable=true

Norilsk only had to give up 40% of one year's profits to cover that fine.
that company is making a killing.

Teck Industries, a big coal mining and smelting outfit in B.C., just got fined $60 million on Friday for pretty much the same thing. If they had been fined the full amount they owed, it would have been something like a billion dollars. As macro pointed out, the $60 million is more like a bit of loose change for them. I didn't check but their shares probably went up after the fine was announced.

It wasn't their first fine either. If you google them they've had a whole raft of encironmental fines over the years

https://www.burnabynow.com/bc-news/teck ... es-3580149

That's the problem. These fines are small enough to be considered another cost of doing business.

precisely. the exigent costs of managing their operations are probably higher.
this, in a sense, incentivizes them to destroy the environment.

a good case for nationalizing mining.

or simply expropriating assets as a consequence of violations.

Norilsk was formed out of former USSR assets.
all they really have to do is return it to a state run operation.

Rather than Putin owned.

it is, and at the same time, kind of bizarre, considering the slapper.

"Can corruption benefit the environment?" News at 11!

Toxic wastewater reservoir on verge of collapse in Florida

Tribute planned for Humboldt Broncos on third anniversary of bus tragedy
India health official says next four weeks 'very, very critical' in COVID-19 battle

Hundreds of residents in Manatee County, Florida, were ordered to evacuate their homes over Easter weekend as officials feared that a wastewater pond could collapse "at any time." On Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the area.

MORE-----> https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/toxic ... d=msedgdhp

Unfettered capitalism at its finest.

The bitter battle over tourism at Russia's 'Sacred Sea'

Lake Baikal, Russia (CNN)Lake Baikal, Russia's 'Sacred Sea,' has been a lifeline for inhabitants of southern Siberia for thousands of years, thanks to its pristine water and rich fauna.

The gigantic ancient lake, bigger than all of the Great Lakes of North America combined, encompasses about 23% of the planet's freshwater reserves and is home to over 2,000 species.
It is also the site of a bitter battle between the state, residents, and environmentalists trying to strike a balance between a population dependent on tourism and mass development infringing on a fragile ecosystem.

MORE----> https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/europe/l ... Stories%29

How a shocking environmental disaster was uncovered after 70 years

Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine.

Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island.

MORE-----> https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/how-a ... d=msedgntp

because....Russia.

....and now for the rest of the story. It isn't just DDT and not just in barrels.

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-coa ... ng-ground/

The shocking numbers behind the Lake Mead drought crisis

(CNN)The United States' largest reservoir is draining rapidly. Plagued by extreme, climate change-fueled drought and increasing demand for water, Lake Mead on Wednesday registered its lowest level on record since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s.

Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona border, is poised to become the focal point of one of the country's most significant climate crises: water shortages in the West. Millions of people will be affected in the coming years and decades by the Colorado River shortage alone, researchers say, with some being forced to make painful water cuts.
It's not a threat on the horizon; new projections show the first-ever water shortage along the Colorado River is all but certain to be declared later this year.
"Even without climate change, we would have a problem because we're taking more water out than the river could provide," John Fleck, director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, told CNN. "But climate change has made the problem much worse by substantially reducing the flow in the river."

MORE-----> https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/us/lake- ... Stories%29

GOD we are a stupid race.
has anyone been to Arizona or Las Vegas?
there are fucking green lawns and golf courses everywhere.

thing one should be to let all of that shit dry up and turn brown.
until that is done, those places deserve their crisis.

The power generating station is now shut down.

macroscopic wrote:

GOD we are a stupid race.
has anyone been to Arizona or Las Vegas?
there are fucking green lawns and golf courses everywhere.

thing one should be to let all of that shit dry up and turn brown.
until that is done, those places deserve their crisis.

I remember reading an article once where it was mentioned that the growth of water usage in Las Vegas has actually changed the climate in the area.

What the hell is wrong with people who think the desert is a good place to build a golf course? Or a city for millions of tourists? And the farmers in New Mexico have no water for their livestock because a million gamblers are taking showers in Las Vegas there are acres and acres of green grass golf courses in Arizona. It's the DESERT, people. By definition a very dry place.

the place is basically uninhabitable.
so, instead, we basically build a multi-million person space station.
it is the stupidest urban planning ever done in the history of mankind.

Now you know

Pastor Shane Vaughn: “It’s ‘A Sin’ to Believe in Climate Change”

From the “He said what” category where the claim results in jaws dropping in utter disbelief, the following gem has popped up this past week from Pastor Shane Vaughn. To be honest, this did not shock me, nor did it anger or upset me. My actual response was laughter. The claim is so utterly bizarre that you do have to seriously wonder if this is just a satire piece from Saturday Night Live.

https://medium.com/science-and-critical ... 20c4fc65f0

But yes he really did say that