Andrey Tyutyushev's manure reservoirs: Sibagro is taking legal action over the handling of manure
The legal battle involving the controversial Tyumensky pig farm continues, now involving Rosprirodnadzor. The agency has prohibited the transportation of pig manure to the fields and lagoons, demanding that Sibagro implement alternative technologies for disposing of feces.
It seems that Tyutyushev was reluctant to spend money on modernizing production in case technology needs to be changed everywhere. However, he was willing to invest in lawyers to defend his right to manure reservoirs in court. Now, toxic manure can be discharged without guilt, and it is cost-effective.
What is being discussed?
In late May 2022, the Tyumensky pig farm (part of Sibagro) obtained a court license for the management of hazard classes I-IV waste, including collection, transportation, processing, neutralization, and disposal.
The company filed a lawsuit against Rosprirodnadzor in the regional arbitration court after the agency rejected a waste operating license for the pig farm in early October 2021, citing the absence of a positive state environmental review in the documentation package.
Sibagro deemed Rosprirodnadzor's actions illegal, stating that the environmentalists' refusal rendered the waste operations illegal and allowed the department to impose further sanctions. Previously, the Tyumensky pig farm had been fined for other violations.
contentious manure
(Lagoons of the Tyumensky pig farm.)
Nevertheless, Sibagro's legal team found an optimal solution in a federal law regulating the licensing of specific activities. This law requires the licensing of activities related to the handling of hazard classes I-IV waste. In essence, Tyutyushev indirectly acknowledges that pig manure is not merely fertilizer but is indeed toxic and falls under hazard class III, necessitating proper disposal.
In reality, the method of disposal became a point of contention. Rosprirodnadzor objected to the pig farm's proposed method of processing feces, and thus demanded a positive environmental expertise report from the company. However, the pig breeder refused, arguing that the method is not new (it dates back to the Soviet era) and does not necessitate expertise. In general, Sibagro employs this method for manure processing in all regions where production is established.
"Waste Processing Technology"
Within the farm premises where pigs are kept, manure receiving tanks are installed beneath the slatted floors. From there, the feces are directed through a pipeline to the wastewater pumping station. Subsequently, the manure is directed to a distribution chamber before being pumped into lagoons, where it is treated and left to sit, generously treated with microbiological preparations.
In fact, Sibagro dumps manure into tanks in the fields or in the forest. Where leaves to stand. True, after such “withstanding”, the land loses its fertile soil layer, as, for example, in the village of Voronino, Tomsk Region (for more details, see the BABR investigation: “How to soil the land and blame everything on the Soviet Union. Sibagro instructions”). But that’s not all. The lagoons can be overfilled, then the feces will go on an exciting journey through the fields and rivers, as happened in May in Novosibirsk, where a mass death of fish was recorded (details of the incident in: “Fecal hell: did Sibagro “dirt” the river near Novosibirsk?”).
It is not surprising that Rosprirodnadzor does not like this way of “utilizing” pig feces. Moreover, the department is aware of what is happening in other regions and does not want a repetition of “leaks” of manure for Tyumen. However, legally you can’t dig into Sibagro. An environmental review according to the regulation of the Ministry of Natural Resources (to which the department referred) can be requested only if new technologies are used. Sibagro, on the other hand, uses the method that was used back in the 80s of the last century. Essentially obsolete, but a license cannot be denied on that basis alone. Arbitration sided with the pig breeder. The department was required to issue a license.
However, Rosprirodnadzor does not intend to give up. The department has filed a complaint with the Court of Appeal. Hearings will be held on July 28, 2022.
What do we have in the dry residue? By his actions, Tyutyushev actually admitted that pig manure is toxic and it is impossible to use it as a valuable fertilizer (as Sibagro likes to call feces), III hazard class after all. The agricultural holding does not use any new recycling technologies. Disinfects faeces in an outdated way that is far from environmentally friendly. Of the ecology, Sibagro has only “weather stations for children” and relay races. I wonder what the Court of Appeal will decide.
