LETTER FROM CRUDE ACCOUNTABILITY TO MR. PAUL WOLFOWITZ
Mr. Paul Wolfowitz
President
World Bank
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
9 December 2005
No. 5
CC:
A.A. Belonog, Minister of Health, Republic of Kazakhstan
R.S. Akhmetov, Deputy to the Senate of the Parliament, Republic of Kazakhstan
A. Samakova, Minster for Environmental Protection, Republic of Kazakhstan
R.Kh. Suerbaev, Oblast Ecology, Western Kazakhstan Oblast
Head of Oblast Department of Health, Western Kazakhstan Oblast
E.K. Imashev, Akim, Burlinsky Raion
V.I. Chigvintsev, Deputy of Burlinsky Raion
R.K. Narmukhamedov, Akim Berezovka Okrug
P. Campelli, General Director, KPO. B.V.
Dear Mr. Wolfowitz!
During the past three years, the residents of the village of Berezovka and the international organization Crude Accountability conducted independent monitoring in order to study the environmental problems around the Karachaganak field. Our monitoring revealed the following problems:
1. High levels of pollution of the atmospheric air and complex negative impacts of toxic elements on human health.
2. The quality of water in the water supply system of Berezovka does not meet the standard of “drinking water.”
3. Analysis of blood of a control group of residents of Berezovka revealed elevated levels of leukocytes among the majority of those who were studied.
4. The Berezovka Initiative Group conducted a sociological survey of the residents on the issue of relocation. The results of the sociological research showed that ninety percent of the villagers are in favor of relocation.
We request that you pay particular attention to the following issues:
1. KPO conducts air monitoring of only four toxic elements. Our research identified as many as twenty-five toxic substances, a number of which registered higher than the maximum permissible concentrations of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Our air monitoring results point to the necessity for further serious research into the problem of environmental pollution from the effluent and emissions from the Karachaganak field and an improvement of the monitoring system.
2. The desire of ninety percent of the population of the village of Berezovka to relocate to an environmentally clean location is connected with the dangerous environmental situation and with the poor health of the majority of residents. This conclusion was drawn by scholars from the Russian Academy of Sciences who analyzed the results of the survey.
We believe that these serious socio-environmental problems demand rapid resolution by the appropriate state organs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. We ask you to respond to our letter as quickly as possible, as the fate of 1500 residents of the village of Berezovka depends upon it.
Attachments: The results of environmental monitoring, medical research and sociological research (33 pages).
With respect,
Representing the Initiative Group of the Residents of Berezovka:
Svetlana Anosova (Signature)
Rosa Khusainova (Signature)
Representing Crude Accountability:
Kate Watters, Executive Director (Signature)
Aleksey Knizhnikov, North Caspian Program Coordinator (Signature)
Copies also sent to:
Bureau for Human Rights, Uralsk
CAO, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group
Uralskaya Nedelia (Uralsk Weekly)
Burlinskie Vesti (Burlin Record)
“Kazakhstanskaya Pravda” (Kazakhstan Truth)
“Kachestvo I Biznes” (Quality and Business)
Translation by Crude Accountability