BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES AS CRITERIA FOR EXCLUDING RUSSIAN INDUSTRIAL INSTALLATION FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL HOT SPOT LIST OF THE BARENTS REGION.

The Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) is the forum for inter-governmental cooperation on issues concerning the Barents region. BEAC unites 13 regions of 4 member countries – Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. The Working Group on Environment (WGE) deals with major environmental challenges. Back in 2003, BEAC issued the Barents Environmental Hot Spots List, which included 42 major polluters located in the Russian part of the Barents region [1]. WGE worked out the “Criteria and Procedure” approach aimed at promoting joint efforts of Hot Spot owners, authorities and financers to design, fund and implement relevant environmental action projects. Owners of several Hot Spots developed and implemented such plans and improved environmental performance of their installations. In 2017, it was suggested considering opportunities of the new Russian legislation on Best Available Techniques (BAT) [2] to set criteria for excluding industrial installations from Hot Spot List. Full Track Procedure associated with the new legislation was approved. Two pilot installations – Mondi Syktyvkar Pulp & Paper Plant (Mondi PPP, located in the Republic of Komi) and Petrozavodsk Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (Petrozavodsk MWWTP), situated in the Republic of Karelia) – volunteered to be excluded by the Full-Track Procedure. Both installations had completed environmental reconstruction programmes in 2013-2019 and agreed to participate in the procedure, retrospectively describing all steps included in the Full Track Procedure. For Pulp & Paper sector, Reference Document on BAT (BREF) was issued in Russia in 2015 [3]. In 2019, BAT-associated Emission Limit Values (BAT-AELs) were officially approved by the Order of the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment. In Russia, it is decided to regulate Municipal Wastewater Treatment (MWWT) sector by BAT approaches; the first BREF was drawn up in 2015 [4] and reviewed in 2019. Still, BAT-AELs have not been approved yet, though they are clearly described in the BREF. In 2019, Russian and Nordic experts worked out BAT-associated specific exclusion criteria both for Mondi PPP and Petrozavodsk MWWTP. These criteria were discussed with and approved by the regional and international stakeholders. Action plans were prepared in accordance with BAT legislation as Environmental Performance Enhancement Programmes (EPEPs) aimed at meeting BAT-based exclusion criteria. EPEPs were submitted to the Inter-Departmental Commission co-ordinated by the Ministry for Industry and Trade, assessed by BAT experts and approved by the Commission. Thus, Mondi PPP and Petrozavodsk MWWTP obtained official documents stating that they had meet BAT-AELs and can be excluded from the Hot Spot List as installations compliant with the requirements of Best Available Techniques. In 2020, the decision to exclude both pilot installations from the Hot Spot List was officially approved by the Ministers of Environment of Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]