Miners Target Sevastopol's Gasfort Mountain

by Yuri Gorbenko & photo courtesy of Natalya Kumysh

At the end of the 1980s, at a time when public input into environmental decision making was completely disregarded, the Balaklavskii Mine Management Company (BRU) began building a mine at Gasfort Mountain in Sevastopol without having conducted an environmental impact study. The construction of the mine involved building a rail link to carry the extracted limestone and gravel from the mine's processing facility to the loading platform of the railroad station. The mine project also required a system of chutes for loading train wagons, a huge water storage area, a system of water conduits, various support buildings and more.

BRU came to Sevastopol after 60 devastating years of mining in the city of Balaklava. The mines there are now completely exhausted, but in the 60 years BRU was active in Balaklava their mines destroyed a significant portion of the unique surroundings. The area around the Balaklava mine has become a dead zone. Balaklava Bay, which once produced a great deal of fish, is lifeless, and the amazing flora and fauna of the surrounding Vasileva region have died out. In all, BRU miners destroyed 420 hectares of mountain forest lands, of which only 20 hectares were recultivated.

In the late 1980s, BRU began mining at Gasfort using controlled explosions that destroyed everything around the site. Upset residents of Sevastopol and Chornoreche, a nearby village, sharply protested the mine, writing letters to newspapers and to local, regional and national politicians citing the damage done to the environment and to historical monuments at Gasfort. In 1989 the Ukrainian State Nature Committee issued an order halting work at the mine.

In the short time they were operating at the Gasfort Mountain site, BRU miners wrought great harm. Approximately 80 hectares of juniper forest were destroyed. Half of a large mountain nearby Gasfort was processed, and this mountain, its side now stripped bare to the soil, spoils the once beautiful view of the mountains, forests, river and lake. Damage to vegetation was extensive.

When the issue of an environmental impact study of the Gasfort mountain mine first came up, the government ordered two studies, performed by highly qualified specialists. As a result of these studies, it was decided to stop the mine project. It seemed that everything was clear.

But BRU did not accept the ban on mining. They needed a place to work so they could pay their high salaries, about twice the city average, to their approximately 1,200 employees. Taking advantage of loopholes in Ukrainian law on environmental impact studies, BRU hired additional researchers using its own funds. This team reached its own conclusion and approved the mining of Gasfort. This was unexpected and inexplicable since the head of this group had been deputy head of the commission that approved a resolution against further mining at Gasfort.

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, relying only on the last analysis, issued a decision calling for the completion of construction at the Gasfort mine so that the first production line could be operational in 1997.

Citizen Action

We cannot accept this decision.

The Chyornaya River is the primary source of clean surface water for the city of Sevastopol. Beneath the mountain, close to the surface, a powerful underground stream flows, feeding most of the underground springs that supply water to the city. If work on the mine is not stopped, not only the Chyornaya River but also the underground springs will be polluted, and Sevastopol will be left without clean water. Currently the city receives only between 20 percent and 25 percent of its water from the Dnieper River and from the Kakhovskii Reservoir. The rest comes from local sources. When we lose this water, we will have only water from the Dnieper. A second water supply line from the Dnieper is already being prepared by the Vodyksmal Company. The Dnieper, however, is dangerously polluted by waste waters from many areas of Ukraine.

In addition to the mine's negative impact on the water supply, Gasfort mountain is one of the most beautiful places in the Sevastopol area, and mining threatens to drive away the thousands of tourists that come to Gasfort to vacation in the summer. The mountain is also the site of several historic landmarks, including a burial place dating back to the 5th or 6th century BC, and an Italian cemetery from the Crimean War.

Since the end of the 1980s, at least 50 different articles and appeals have been written about the Gasfort mine. We have shown that the construction of the mine and the mining process breaks seven different government regulations, but the ruling allowing BRU to proceed remains in force. We are continuing our struggle to preserve Gasfort Mountain, and hope to attract the attention of international environmental organizations that can help us lobby the government to protect the health of the people of Crimea and of our environment.

Yuri Gorbenko is co-chairman of the Sevastopol Environmental Council and head of the organization Ecology and Life. He holds a doctorate in biology. Translated by Andrew Reese.

Ecology and Life ul. Bolshaya Morskaya, d. 30, kv. 9, Sevastopol 335000, Ukraine; phone: (0692) 52-52-27.