Villagers in West Kazakhstan oppose construction of oil wastes storage

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Residents of Gorbunovo village in West-Kazakhstan oblast have stood against construction of a dumping site for storage and processing of drill cuttings near their village, Uralsk Week reports. “It is built only one kilometer away from the village, we will all get poisoned by these wastes,” one of the villagers Zoya Ussikova said. According to her, the villagers have filed a request to the Ecology Department that tried to calm them down and replied that this dumping site only had the second class of hazardousness. According to another activist Karlygash Karenova, last year the villagers rose a fuss and the construction was suspended but the works were resumed in February. “This site is located on a hill and all the meltwater flows into out Krutenkaya river and then to the Chagan river. Our cattle drinks this water and children swim in the river,” Karenova said. Meanwhile, Director of Batys Tabigat Nassipkali Mashanov said that the company was not constructing a dumping site but a drill cuttings processing plant. “This is not hazardous at all. Especially that when we get the plant connected to gas, we will bring the case to your village as well. We will build you a new Culture Center; we already have it in our cost estimates,” Mashanov said. The villages replied that there were ready to forgo gasification and the new culture center just to not live next to the hazardous facility.

Residents of Gorbunovo village in West-Kazakhstan oblast have stood against construction of a dumping site for storage and processing of drill cuttings near their village, Uralsk Week reports. “It is built only one kilometer away from the village, we will all get poisoned by these wastes,” one of the villagers Zoya Ussikova said. According to her, the villagers have filed a request to the Ecology Department that tried to calm them down and replied that this dumping site only had the second class of hazardousness. According to another activist Karlygash Karenova, last year the villagers rose a fuss and the construction was suspended but the works were resumed in February. “This site is located on a hill and all the meltwater flows into out Krutenkaya river and then to the Chagan river. Our cattle drinks this water and children swim in the river,” Karenova said. Meanwhile, Director of Batys Tabigat Nassipkali Mashanov said that the company was not constructing a dumping site but a drill cuttings processing plant. “This is not hazardous at all. Especially that when we get the plant connected to gas, we will bring the case to your village as well. We will build you a new Culture Center; we already have it in our cost estimates,” Mashanov said. The villages replied that there were ready to forgo gasification and the new culture center just to not live next to the hazardous facility.

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