Authorities suggest alternative sites for Krasnoyarsk territory ferroalloy smelter
KRASNOYARSK. July 9 (Interfax) - A working group of Russian government officials and officials from the Krasnoyarsk territorial administration have suggested several alternative sites away from populated areas for a proposed Yenisei Ferroalloy Works, the territory's governor, Sergei Ponomarenko, told reporters.
"A lot will depend on the investors, how they draft the blueprints, conduct the environmental appraisal, involving independent experts, and then go to the residents and tell them about the project. The main position we held at the working group's meeting is that the plant's location has to take the opinion of local residents into account," Ponomarenko said.
The smelter is part of CJSC Chek-Su's project to develop Russia's largest manganese ore deposit, Usinskoye in Kemerovo region, but plans to build it have met with strong public protests. Chek-Su, set up in 2002, received a 20-year license to the Usinskoye deposit in 2005. The first stage of the smelter was due to go into operation in 2013 and full capacity reached in 2016.
Regarding Chek-Su, Ponomarenko said: "Preparations for public hearings and the company's other actions in the Krasnoyarsk territory show they are not capable of implementing this project."
The working group is due to report to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the results of the visit.
Chek-Su applied to the Yemelyanovsk district administration for permission to build the smelter in September 22, but it was refused on then grounds the application did not contain a full assessment of the environmental impact.
Protests against the plans prompted the territory to ask the Russian consumer rights watchdog (Rospotrebnadzor) to intervene. The territory at the beginning of this year severed the agreement with Chek-Su, signed in 2008, to build the smelter.
The Krasnoyarsk arbitration court on March 30, 2012 granted a suit brought by Chek-Su and ordered the Yemelyanovsk district to issue the permit to build the smelter, but the district authorities appealed and were joined by the territory's division of the Russian Federal Property Agency (Rosimuschestvo), its prosecutor's office and administration. The court will hold a preliminary hearing of a plea to invalidate the lease for the smelter's site in July 24.
