Orange snow causes concern in Siberia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Orange snow causes concern in Siberia*
Luke Harding in Moscow
Saturday February 3, 2007
The Guardian
There is nothing unusual about snow in the towns and endless forests of
Siberia. But when locals in the small village of Pudinskoye woke up on
Wednesday they immediately noticed something rather strange: the snow
falling from the sky was orange.
In fact, three regions of southern Siberia - a vast area of industrial
towns, pine trees and the odd bear - yesterday reported the same
mysterious phenomenon. Not only was the snow not white, it also smelt
bad. Most of the snow was orange. But some of it was red and yellow as
well, officials confirmed, after scrambling to the affected areas to dig
up samples. And it was also oily, they discovered.
Russian officials in the Omsk region, 1,400 miles from Moscow, swiftly
warned local residents not to touch the snow or feed it to their animals.
"At the present moment we cannot give explanations for the snow, which
is oily to the touch and has a pronounced rotten smell. We are waiting
for the results of a thorough test on samples," Omsk's environmental
prosecutor, Anton German, said yesterday morning.
Russian scientists trying to solve the mystery faced a tricky problem.
The region is home to so many polluting industries it was hard to
identify which one might have been responsible. Could it have been the
nuclear plant in nearby Mayak? Or the metallurgy and chemicals factory
in Ust-Kamenogorsk? The region is next to north Kazakhstan, a vast area
of steppe used by the Soviet Union to conduct its nuclear tests. Or
might the rogue snow have been caused by fuel from the space rockets
launched in Kazakhstan?
Yesterday environmental campaigners said that Russia had suffered
decades of pollution - nuclear, industrial, and radioactive.
"I have to admit yellow snow is pretty unusual," said Vladimir Sliviak,
the chairman of the Russian environmental group Ecodefence. "I can think
of only two other cases in the last decade.
"This area of Siberia is beautiful. It's classic Russian forest. There
is a lot of snow. There are a few bears and plenty of wolves as well.
It's OK in terms of biodiversity."
Yesterday afternoon Russia's emergency situations ministry offered an
explanation. Officials said a storm in neighbouring Kazakhstan had swept
up clay and dust, dumping it on parts of the Tomsk and Omsk regions.
Not everyone was convinced. Russia's environmental watchdog said the
snow contained four times higher than normal quantities of iron as well
as acids and nitrates. "I don't believe this came from a storm. If we
discover that it is an industrial entity that produced this pollution
criminal charges will be opened," said Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of
Russia's environmental watchdog.