NEWSROOM

BERLIN (DE) - The Krasnoyarsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on a lawsuit filed by Russia's Federal Service for Environmental Supervision ("Rosprirodnadzor") against a subsidiary of the company, JSC Norilsk-Taymyr Energy Company (NTEC).

The court upheld the regulator's lawsuit and ordered Nornickel's subsidiary to compensate RUB146.2 billion (approximately $1.9 billion) in environmental damages resulting from a May 29, 2020 diesel fuel spill accident at Thermal Power Plant No. 3 in the Kajerkan district of the city of Norilsk.

Vladimir Potanin, the president of Nornickel, commented in a television interview after the court decision was announced:

"Above all, this decision testifies to the seriousness with which the government treats environmental issues. It's a lesson for our company, but I think it's also a signal to the entire business community. From now on, we will take environmental and occupational safety issues even more seriously. Our company has learned its lesson. We are following the president's instructions to eliminate the consequences of the accident and restore the ecosystem," Potanin said in an interview broadcast on Rossiya 24 state television.

Nornickel plans to invest about 350 billion rubles in environmental programs in the next few years, Potanin said.

"In the near future, we plan to sign an agreement with the federal and regional governments. Among other things, this will provide for additional investments by Nornickel of over 80 billion rubles in the social sphere," Potanin added.

Friday's court ruling appears to largely ignore the company's efforts, namely to immediately and fully minimize the consequences of the accident and prevent the spread of pollution.

From May to October 2020, Nornickel completed three main phases of the cleanup program, installing 95km of barriers, 20 motor pumps, 245 bladder tanks, laying 41km of flexible pipelines through which more than 25,000 square meters of oil products were pumped from a temporary tank to a storage facility (for later separation).

In the summer of 2020, Norilsk Nickel launched a site reclamation program. To ensure the fastest and most effective response, Norilsk Nickel involved domestic and foreign experts and companies, actively cooperated with environmentalists, and kept them informed about the progress of the reclamation work.

Together with scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Norilsk Nickel organized the Great Norilsk Expedition to study the state of the environment in Taimyr and analyze the condition of the permafrost in order to avoid similar accidents in the future.

From the beginning, Nornickel promised to pay for the damages and has kept its promise: The company has already spent a significant amount of money to clean up the environment and prevent major damage.

Norilsk Nickel said Friday that it will carefully study the ruling of the Krasnoyarsk Region Arbitration Court once the full text is available to the company.