On December 20, representatives of non-parliamentary parties
spoke to the deputies of the Krasnoyarsk Region Legislative
Assembly. Oksana Demchenko, Chair of the Krasnoyarsk regional
branch of YABLOKO, urged the lawmakers to oblige the owners
of the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectric Power Station to evaluate
and compensate for the damage caused to the environment and
local people, as well as conduct an environmental assessment
of their further development of the Lower Angara River area.
According to Demchenko, the creation of powerful new industries
in the area (an aluminum plant, a timber complex and wood-chemical
and pulp and paper mills) is impossible without a strategic
environmental assessment, otherwise the present practices
of development of the territories will inevitably lead to
an imbalance between the industrial development and the environment.
"The lack of a strategic environmental assessment of
the investment projects does not allow to create a model of
a rational use of natural resources in the region," she
said in her speech. Oksana Demchenko also recalled that six
weeks ago, the federal Political Council of the YABLOKO party
sent a special message to the Legislative Assembly of the
Krasnoyarsk region, noting disturbing examples of negligence
of the standards of social and environmental responsibility
in the Lower Angara area.
On behalf of the YABLOKO party she also called for a radical
change of the situation with the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectrical
Power State on the Angara River, We appeal to the government
of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the federal state and private
owners of the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectric Power Station: complex
measures should be immediately applied while it is not too
late. The damage to the environment should be minimized and
local residents should be compensated for damage. The owners
should also abandon their plans of filling the reservoir to
the maximum mark of 208 m, otherwise the Angara will practically
disappear as a river turning into a chain of artificial water
reservoirs. In addition, academic description and rescue of
the flooded Paleolithic monuments."
Demchenko also called for the development of a network of
protected historical and cultural areas in the Krasnoyarsk
region, as well as enforcement of the regional environmental
legislation and paying more attention to environmental expert
assessments so that to really ensure the constitutional right
of citizens to a healthy life in a healthy environment.
See also:
Protection
of Environment
Human
Rights
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