MOSCOW, February 5 (RAPSI) – The Commercial Court of the Krasnoyarsk region has decided to award damages caused to the environment in amount of 146 billion rubles (about $2 billion) claimed by the Yenisei Interregional Office of the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) against JSC Norilsk-Taymyr Energy Company (NTEC), a Nornickel subsidiary, the court informs RAPSI on Friday.

Earlier, Rosprirodnadzor officials carried out an urgent onsite inspection of NTEC facilities potentially dangerous for the environment because of possible spills of oil, oil products, and other contaminants. The inspection was carried out under instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramenko.

According to the findings, NTEC supplies water, thermal and electrical energy to residents of five towns and two villages, as well as all enterprises of the Norilsk Industrial District; at the same time, most of NTEC facilities were built and launched in the 1940s through 1960s; a number of them have never been subjected to reconstruction or even capital repairs. Therefore, the core equipment of NTEC is worn out and outdated, lacks automated controls and spillage monitoring systems, the respective report reads.

NTEC failed to comply with the Russian legislation introduced to protect the environment; the inspection detected 139 respective violations, according to Rosprirodnadzor.

As reported earlier by RAPSI, on May 29, 2020, over 20 tons of petrochemicals spread over the thermal power station and flew into the subsoil and waters near the Nadezhinsky iron and steel plant that resulted in the environment pollution and harm.