Why Pollution Endures: Geographic Foundations of Environmental Crisis in Russia’s Industrial Heartlands

Abstract

For nearly three decades, Russia’s industrial regions, especially the far-flung and remote Arctic areas surrounding Norilsk and the vast industrialized Ural region, have been subject to significant and continuing environmental damage; this is true even though there have been periodic national and regional efforts to clean-up pollution and enforce pollution controls. These are areas of significant resource extraction and heavy industry, where the level of airborne toxic chemicals such as sulfur dioxide, the presence of heavy metals in soils and waterways, the effect of acid rain causing forest kill off, and the general destruction of the landscape due to mining and smelting activity all exist in varying degrees. This paper will provide a synthesis of some of the major geographical, historical and technological reasons why pollution continues to persist in these areas. In particular, it will examine how the enduring location-based advantage of having large mineral resource deposits (including large amounts of nickel, copper, palladium and iron ore) in combination with aging Soviet-era infrastructure, long-established patterns of industrial production and harsh climatic conditions have resulted in an almost insurmountable level of environmental harm. For example, the Arctic's low temperature and stable air layers trap pollutants close to their point of origin resulting in limited opportunity for natural dispersal; geographic remoteness also complicates the transportation of remedial materials and the removal of hazardous waste. In addition, the extreme winter weather in the Arctic makes the process of recovering contaminated soils and promoting plant growth and development difficult if not impossible, thus creating continuous cycles of contamination. The study highlights the combined effects of these elements, which explains why previous attempts at mitigating the environmental impacts of these areas through modernization and enforcement mechanisms have generally failed. Finally, the study identifies several important implications for environmental policy, including the need for multi-faceted approaches to addressing the economic reliance on these types of industries and developing adaptive strategies suitable to remote environments. Additionally, the study identifies potential avenues of research into sustainable industrial transition processes and climate-resilient remediation technologies.