Lake Baikal brims with superlatives. The world's deepest lake, a little drive east of the southern Siberian city of Irkutsk and on the Moscow to Vladivostok Trans-Siberian main line, is also the world's largest fresh water lake by volume, home to unique flora and fauna and, since 1996, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Now there's word that in part because of the world economic situation, the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, which has been contaminating the lake for over 40 years, has been closed by the owner. It had ceased production last October, and the AP reports that officials with Kontinental Management have now announced it "will not restart operations."
As the AP reports, "For decades, it spewed chemicals and foul effluent into the pristine waters of Lake Baikal in Siberia. For decades, environmentalists pushed for its closure..."
Though the AP's headline is "Baikal paper factory closes for good," ITAR-TASS isn't quite so final. It reports that "The Baikal pulp and paper mill needs 100 million roubles as a minimum to resume operation."
Read our story, Crossing Lake Baikal, in the previous post.
(Photo of Lake Baikal from the Russia Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.)
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