Tidbit: Baikal watershed & mining

Check out: the Tahoe-Baikal Institute: http://www.tahoebaikal.org

A friend of mine facilitates  their Summer Environmental Exchange Program, and they do a lot of great work!

I'm reading their policy briefs on the Baikal area, and have been struck by some of the similarities between the Bristol Bay/Pebble Mine natural resource wars and the somewhat less-than-glossy far east version.

Baikal is well known as a unique and incredible area, more than 20 million years old and the earth's largest freshwater source (as much water as the Great Lakes combined) - Baikal was added to the World Heritage Site list in 1996 as "the most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem" and has an enormous amount of diversity, especially considering that over 1500 species are endemic: "the Galapagos of Russia."  The watershed area for Lake Baikal is just slightly smaller than the area of France, and crosses the international border between Russian and Mongolia ("Lake Baikal Watershed" TBI policy brief).

The watershed also has some pretty incredible mineral and energy resources, with a minimum of oversight and regulation (and some messy international politics), resulting in relatively unchecked development. Until recently, the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM) was the best known point source for pollution actually on Lake Baikal, but lately more attention is focusing on mineral extraction in the watershed, both in Russia and Mongolia.

Many mines are operated illegally and still use inefficient and antiquated methods involving cyanide and mercury.  Gold and copper deposits in Mongolia have spurred a "gold rush" in the sub-watershed of the Selenga R., which supplies 50% of the water to Lake Baikal.  Described in this article: http://www.pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=3003
The same website has another article about a local environmental group, the Buryat Regional Organization, that has successfully stalled the development of a lead and zinc mine outside of Ulan Ude: http://pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=2895
And, bad news about the BPPM re-opening after refusing to convert to a closed system.  If you are the petition-signing type, here is an action item:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/608/t/425/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27804

I'll save my rant about developing the giant open pit Pebble Mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay for another day...