International Programs

With its vast oil and gas reserves, Russia is becoming a major economic power. USEPA works with Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Rostechandzor to address its major environmental challenges. For instance, Russia has inherited environmental legacy “hot spots” left by the Soviet Union. These pollution hot spots are also a major source of transboundary transport of contaminants from Russia to the United States. EPA is working to address key sources of contamination in Russia by partnering with U.S. agencies and international organizations.

Two objectives of EPA’s work in Russia include 1) addressing key sources of contamination and legacy wastes, by 2) developing capacity for proper management, including safe storage, transportation and destruction of toxic and hazardous waste .

Mercury Global Partnerships in the Russian Federation

In response to the issues identified in the Russian mercury releases inventory, and the UNEP Governing Council challenge to establish Mercury Partnerships to address these issues, OIA established a Mercury Partnership with the Russian chlor-alkali industry. Since 2005, this Partnership has achieved an annual reduction of over 4 metric tons of mercury use and discharges that previously were released into the environment. Partnership is based on implementation of cleaner production principles, best available technologies and best environmental practices.

For instance, Volgograd “Caustic” successfully completed the assembly of their waste-water treatment system. This system includes a state-of-the-art ion-exchange resin “Amberlit-GT73” which was provided to the facility by EPA/OIA under the Global Mercury Partnership”. The treatment system is expected to return up to 900 kg of mercury per year back into the production cycle, rather than being released into the environment.

Under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation Program (AMEC), EPA is coordinating a project to recycle mercury-containing fluorescent lamps accumulated in the military bases of North Navy. The current stock exceeds 150,000 lamps). EPA, in partnership with the U.S.DoD and Russian Ministry of Defense, has established a model mercury lamp recycling facility at Navy Yard 10, above the Arctic Circle. Each fluorescent lamp, which is used by the Russian Navy in the Arctic, contains up to 1g of vaporized mercury. If broken, the mercury vapors are being released into the environment and contribute to the “Arctic Sunrise.” [Learn more about EPA work to reduce sources of mercury in the Arctic.]

Proper Storage of Contaminants

Since 2004, EPA has represented the U.S. in the Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), which includes the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Under U.S. leadership, Arctic countries worked together to reduce environmental contamination in the Arctic. ACAP initiated work to inventory, analyze and provide temporary safe storage for over 4,000 metric tons of obsolete and prohibited pesticides in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Russia. Prior to this project, the contaminants were released directly into those northward-flowing Russian rivers and transported to the Arctic. Now ACAP is developing a model demonstration program (the first in Russia) to destroy 100 tons of obsolete pesticides . [Learn more about EPA work to reduce contaminants in the Arctic.]

Environmental Justice Empowerment

The Arctic Contaminants Action Program has also created a model environmental justice empowerment program in Russia called the Indigenous Peoples Community Action Initiative. This sustainable and replicable project has already resulted in the removal and safe storage of over a metric ton of PCBs and persistent organic pollutant pesticides from remote indigenous villages in Alaska and northern Russia. In the summer of 2008, through the ACAP Program, over 2000 drums were removed from two Arctic indigenous villages in Chukotka on the Bering Sea across from Alaska. These drums are “legacy wastes,” which have been in the Region for over 40 years. [Learn more about EPA work to remove toxic waste from indigenous lands in the Arctic .]

Learn More about the History of EPA work in Russia:

• Resolution of the 2nd All-Russian Congress on Environmental Protection
• January, 1999 Record of Discussions of the Environment Committee of the Joint Commission