Socio-ecological conflict over gypsum plant in Adygea
An acute social conflict arose in the village of Kammennomostsky and the village of Abadzekhskaya in the Maykop district. The conflict was caused by the construction of a gypsum factory near populated areas. Construction is being carried out by Volma-Maikop LLC.
Activists of the organization "Ecological Watch for the North Caucasus" were the first to sound the alarm: in their opinion, the production of gypsum is very dangerous, and the plant's activities will inevitably lead to serious air pollution. During the proceedings, it turned out that the construction of the plant is illegal, as the project did not pass the necessary state expertise. In addition, the plant's sanitary protection zone was not defined, the consent of local residents was not obtained, and the project was not submitted for public discussion.
According to the current standards, the sanitary protection zone of a gypsum factory should be at least 500 meters of territory without residential buildings. In Kammenomostsky, this norm was grossly violated: not only residential buildings, but also the tourist complex "Belovodye", located just 30 meters from the plant, were found in the supposed sanitary protection zone. The village of Abadzekhskaya and the sanatorium "Pobeda" were also in the area of gypsum dust emissions.
Construction of the Kamennomostsky plant began after the project was approved by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volma Corporation Yuri Goncharov and the head of Adygea Aslan Tkhakushinov in December 2012 and was considered an "attractive investment project". The republic's leadership intended to " provide every possible support in promoting the investment project of VOLMA." Even then, the participants of the meeting raised the issue of ecology: Tkhakushinov stressed that" in the Maikop region, due to the development of the tourism industry, environmental issues and maintaining natural balance are becoming very important", to which Goncharov replied that"all the company's production meets high environmental standards." The company has repeatedly stated about the environmental safety of its production and after that.
Apparently, the authorities of the republic took the well-known corporation at its word. During the construction process, the investment project was fully supported. According to the Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus, the authorities of the republic and the Maikop district turned a blind eye to gross violations of the law during the construction of the plant. After checking by the district prosecutor's office at the request of one of the local residents, the fact of illegal construction was fully confirmed. However, the construction was not stopped, the prosecutor's office limited itself to fining the developer.
As a result, a number of well-known public figures of Adygea sent an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which they informed the head of state that the construction of a gypsum plant violates Article 13 of the Federal Law "On Environmental Protection", according to which the decision on the placement of environmentally hazardous facilities is made taking into account the opinion of the population or based on
It is worth noting that even without the new gypsum plant, the ecological situation in the village is close to critical. The collective appeal states that "the number of cancer patients in the village of Kamennomostsky is off the scale beyond all reasonable limits, for decades residents were forced to use radon water from artesian wells and breathe dust from quarries and the shipping site of Nerudstroykom LLC, located in the very center of the village."
At the moment, activists still have not received a response from the president, and the plant continues to be built despite all the protests and appeals.