Russia declares state of emergency after massive oil spill in Arctic Circle

Russia has declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tons of oil seeped into the Ambarnaya river. The spill was caused by a collapsed storage tank. A subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, one of the world's largest producers of palladium, nickel and copper, operates the plant. Russia's Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the incident and detained a manager at the site.

President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency in a region within the Arctic Circle in far northern Russia after 20,000 tons of oil leaked into a river from a power plant.

The spillage occurred on May 29 when the “oil products” leaked from a tank in an industrial plant operated by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and one of the largest producers of nickel, platinum and copper.

“The accident took place at the industrial site of the Nadezhdinski Metallurgical Plant, and part of the spilled petrochemicals, a considerable amount actually, seeped into the Ambarnaya River,” Putin said as he discussed the incident with officials on Wednesday, according to the Kremlin. He questioned the measures being taken to clean up the fuel leak that took place near the city of Norilsk in the Krasnoyarsk region, within the Arctic Circle.

Discussing how news of the spill emerged in the televised meeting, Putin was reportedly shocked to discover that local authorities had only learned of the incident from social media two days after it happened, and he admonished the region’s governor Alexander Uss, Reuters reported.

“What are we to learn about emergency situations from social networks? Are you alright health wise over there?” Putin said, the news agency reported Wednesday. He then reportedly supported a proposal to declare a national state of emergency in the area as it would assist the clean-up effort.

Norilsk Nickel said on its website that “the accident was caused by a sudden sinking of supporting posts in the basement of the storage tank” and that emergency teams “immediately arrived to the site to start clean up works.” It said the spill happened in a remote area and that no local community had been impacted.

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[AniketSen]

2020 couldn't be any worse!

2020: Hold My beer!

[TheRafark]

As if polar bears needed more problems.

[energyparticle]

that sucks, hate seeing things like this.

[ou]

The world’s most depressing city just got more depressing

[Dubspez]

How the heck can one year be filled with so much calamity when we’re STILL less than 50% done with the year...

[stevenschocket]

Enough with this old technology!!!
THe damage is done, again Enough of this 150 year old crap.We can do much better.We owe it to the next generation!!!

[mrchrysler]

Which oil spill will be the George Floyd of oil spills, the one where the world says enough is enough?

[amir]

Get ready for the “We’re sorry...” ad campaign. But in Russian though. South park fans will get it

[dcdreamwake]

This will effect the whole earth not just Russia. How does a storage tank just collapse if checked regularly. ?

[jamesstmanhattan]

yo Russia's so behind on everything they can neither sell oil nor store it properly, they probably still have the same equipment the soviet union used to store its oil lmfao

[MIGULK]

Apocalypse 2020, everyone. Prepare for December. Every damn month has been an awful thing after another, 2020 will end with a bang. Literally.

[russia]

Cleaning efforts already started with the power of technology and maintenance of the properties...

[aadarsh]

2020:Any last wish?
me:i just want to garb that McDonald spicy chicken burger...

[TheJourneyingEngineer]

And this wasn't the first time the company caused a river to turn red...

[tobyalva]

Food for thought . Did you know that 1 gallon of oil can ruin a million gallons of water . (Drinking water )

[suphahameh]

I would like to volunteer to clean this up :(

[jenniferkorpal]

I agree about the spill being worse than global warming and: Water pollution (look at what is being dumped into our oceans from 9/10 world’s biggest rivers.). Soil erosion and need for more perennials in farming. Anyone paying attention to what’s happening in areas where they harvest the products to make batteries? I personally won’t blame a political team that is in power 4-7 years and then someone else comes into seat of government in any of these countries. We have folks in business making wrong decisions and they get away with it. Germans complain about US backing out of an environmental agreement that they were violating and got caught with fraudulent emissions test....

[vanity_.]

It’s not even surprising anymore in 2020

[ixoioxi]

help the Norilsk citizens...we are being poisoned

[shann]

Convenient after the President opened up the coast line o bummer shut down