Russia declares a state of emergency after huge fuel spill inside Arctic Circle

Russian President Vladimir Putin

has declared a state of emergency in a region of Siberia after an estimated 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from a power plant storage facility and fouled waterways.

The spill took place Friday at a power plant in an outlying section of the city of Norilsk , 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) northeast of Moscow .

Booms

were laid in the Ambarnaya River to block the fuel ; the river feeds a lake from which springs another river that leads to the environmentally delicate Arctic Ocean .

Putin on Wednesday ordered officials to minimize the consequences of the spill . But Alexei Knizhnikov of the World Wildlife Fund’s Russia operation said the damage to fish and other resources could exceed RUB ₽1 billion ( USD $13 million ).

The plant is operated by a division of Norilsk Nickel , whose factories in the area have made Norilsk one of the most heavily polluted places on Earth .

No cause for the accident has been determined, but a company statement said it was concerned about facilities constructed on sinking soil above permafrost .

sg