Poisonous precedent

The general director of Port Kavkaz OJSC lost his job for environmental reasons

In Kuban, a precedent has been created for the removal from office of the head of one of the largest ports for violations of environmental safety. The Temryuk City Court considered the claim against Port Kavkaz OJSC, which committed violations of the environment and licensing rules when working with dangerous goods. By a court decision, the general director of the port, Viktor Zelensky, lost his job, whose activities will now, presumably, be studied by law enforcement agencies. In addition, the court banned the transshipment of sulfur in the port of Kavkaz until conditions for safe work with poisons are created here.

Port "Caucasus" is located in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar Territory near the village of Kosa Chushka, on the shore of the Azov Sea, which was once the most fishy in Russia. For many years, the products of chemical plants (ammonium sulfate, urea and sulfur) were delivered here by rail in wagons, more than 200 thousand tons annually. Dangerous goods arriving at the port were poured into piles on the piers and moved into the holds of ships using ordinary buckets. As a result of such antediluvian but cheap technology for transshipment of bulk “chemicals,” all houses in the village were covered with a layer of toxic dust, and the soil in the area and the water in the sea area adjacent to the port were poisoned.

Residents of the village of Kosa Chushka have long complained about the disastrous state of the environment. But various organizations designed to monitor compliance with environmental safety standards, in particular the Federal State Institution “Azcherrybvod”, for some reason did not detect any severe pollution. Although in 2004, the port was nevertheless fined by the department of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources in the Krasnodar Territory for 30 thousand rubles. for “storing mineral fertilizers and other chemicals in the coastal zone.” The situation in the sphere of control over the state of nature of the Azov and Black Seas changed only six months ago, when the Azov-Black Sea State Maritime Inspectorate of the North Caucasus Border Directorate of the FSB began operating in the region. An inspection carried out by border guards showed that the Kavkaz port pollutes the sea and land above all permissible standards. The Krasnodar Regional Transport Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit against Port Kavkaz OJSC. Claim in accordance with Art. 1065 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was filed in the interests of residents of a settlement located near the port.

As they believe in the region, now the same scheme can be used to deal with everyone who neglects environmental safety requirements. Port "Caucasus" is far from the only polluter of the Azov Sea. According to the independent “Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus”, the same alarming situation has developed in another port on the Azov Sea - Temryuk, where ships are loaded with dangerous liquid chemicals.

Igor GLANIN, Krasnodar region