[spectre] Viridian Note 00435: Ukrainian Coal Mayhem

[Geert Lovink]

> From: Bruce Sterling <bruces at well.com>
> Date: 28 February 2005 2:02:26 AM
> Subject: Viridian Note 00435:  Ukrainian Coal Mayhem
>
> Key Concepts: Orange Revolution, coal, organized crime,
> fossil fuel racketeering, stolen coal mines,
> coal swindling, coal mining fatalities, beheaded
> journalists, dioxin poisoning, child labor,
> steel dumping, trade infringement
>
> Attention Conservation Notice:  Involves a whole lot
> of Ukrainians.
>
> Links:
> http://friendsofscience.reveal.ca/
> Canadian astroturf group, for the many Viridian
> Canadians convinced that American rightwingers
> spontaneously went nuts instead of being
> engineered into that condition by the people
> now working on Canadians.
>
> http://www.kyotoandbeyond.org/
> Grass rootsy people accumulating popular
> signatures in support of Kyoto.
>
> American Society of Interior Designers:
> http://www.asid.org/green.asp
> Yes, even interior designers (formerly known
> as "interior decorators") can become high value
> added Green design wonks, when they have
> the proper documentation.
>
> "Turning Green" PDF download:
> http://www.asid.org/sustainable_design/Turning_Green.pdf
>
> Longtime Viridian darling Michael McDonough
> is laboring away on that e-House of his.
> http://michaelmcdonough.com/e-House/ehouse.htm
> http://www.sustainablehomemag.com/CDA/Article_Information/ 
> SH_Features_Item/0,9163,141578,00.html
>
> Just for the record, some handy ways to
> destroy the Earth  that don't involve climate change:
> http://ned.ucam.org/~sdh31/misc/destroy.html
>
> **************************************************
> February is a short month! The Viridian Visionary contest
> closes March 2, just a couple days!
>
> http://www.viridianrepository.com
> Entries from Adrian Cotter, Joel Westerberg, Duncan Stewart,
> Ted Newcomb, James Moore, Narena Olliver, Till Westermayer,
> John Kovach, Gord Sellar
> Look, last-minute entrants; here to whet
> your appetite is a reminder of the
> tantalizing contest prize.
>
> Link: http://www.bathsheba.com/crystalsci/largescale/¬Ý
>
> Your Visionary Contest prize is a vast, 100-megaparsec,
> ultragalactic Sloan Survey chunk of the Known Universe,
> laser-etched into a small, handy paperweight block that
> you can show off to your friends! Plus, YOUR OWN NAME
> will be computer- blasted into its very fabric!
> **************************************************
>
> (((I know that the terms "Ukrainian Coal Industry"
> have got to sound like the dullest topic in the world,
> but how about "Organized Crime and Terrorism"?  Those
> terms have a little more brio, eh?)))
>
> Source: RFE/RL, Roman Kupchinsky
>
> RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
> _____________________________________________________
> RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch
> Vol. 4, No. 23, 10 February 2005
>
> Reporting on Crime, Corruption, and Terrorism in
> the former USSR, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East
>
> ****************************************************
> HEADLINES:
> DID KYIV SELL CRUISE MISSILES TO IRAN?  (((in a word, yes)))
> CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE'S COAL INDUSTRY RUNS DEEP
> (((so deep that it's corruption all the way down)))
> *****************************************************
>
> "CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE'S COAL INDUSTRY RUNS DEEP
>
> By Roman Kupchinsky
>
> "Reforming Ukraine's coal industry is one of the major
> problems facing President Viktor Yushchenko and the
> government of newly appointed Prime Minister
> Yuliya Tymoshenko.
>
> Link:
> http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua/eng/news/first/show/1569/
> "The Orange Princess" is quite a looker, but then,
> so was Viktor Yushchenko before they poisoned
> him with dioxin.
>
> "Tymoshenko knows the power of coal from personal
> experience. She tried to reform the industry while
> she was deputy prime minister from 1999 to 2001. She
> was abruptly removed from office in January 2001 by
> former President Leonid Kuchma, charged with fraud
> and money laundering, and jailed for several weeks.
> The charges against her were eventually dismissed.
> (((On the other hand, if you're merely a journalist
> instead of deputy prime minister, the natural gas
> industry might have your head removed.)
> Link:
> http://media.gn.apc.org/gongadze/pirani.html
> The Gongadze case
>
> (’Ķ)
>
> "A Long-Neglected Industry
>
> "Ukraine has huge coal reserves, estimated at some
> 37 billion tons. The industry employs 450,000 people
> and produced 90 million tons of coal in 2004.
> (’Ķ)
>
> "According to the World Bank, approximately two-thirds
> of Ukraine's 193 existing mines are unprofitable and
> should be closed. Ukraine's coal industry has been
> in a critical state of health for decades and
> survives mainly due to subsidies from Kyiv,
> which amounted to some $2 billion in 2003 and 2004.
> (((Maybe the Ukrainians should turn to nuclear ==
> oh wait, sorry, Chernobylians.)))
>
> "Such subsidies are not nearly enough, however,
> to maintain proper safety standards. In its August
> 2000 country brief on Ukraine, the U.S. Energy
> Information Administration found that 'outdated
> equipment, a lack of spare parts, and poor safety
> procedures have resulted in safety problems and
> lost production, exacerbating the industry's
> inefficiency." (((Imagine the mayhem they'd
> wreak if they were efficient.  And imagine how
> lame you have to be to depend on the "American
> Energy Information Administration.")))
>
> "The industry's lack of productivity has also been
> calculated by the World Bank: 'While a coal miner
> in Ukraine produced on average about 100 tons of
> (washed) coal in 1995, the comparable figures were
> 200 tons in Russia, 400 tons in Poland, 2,000 tons
> in the United Kingdom, and 4,000 tons in North
> America.'  ((("Ukrainian coal miners: only one
> fortieth as harmful as American ones.")))
>
> "Most mines belong to state-owned coal enterprises
> run by managers appointed by the Ministry of Fuel
> and Energy, into which the Coal Ministry was
> incorporated in 2000. During the two Kuchma
> administrations, these two ministries were headed
> by people close to the so-called Donetsk clan, an
> informal grouping of business and political leaders
> in that region.
>
> "The Ukrainian Coal Ministry was described in a
> December 1998 World Bank report, 'Restructuring
> the Coal Industry in Ukraine,' as follows: 'Arranging
> barter trades and bombarding the Finance Ministry
> and cabinet with requests for additional investment
> funds and production subsidies became the main
> occupation of the Coal Ministry." (((At least they
> don't whine about drilling in the Arctic.)))
>
> "The Human Cost Of Coal Mining
>
> "The high rate of fatal accidents in the Ukrainian coal
> industry is mainly due to criminal negligence,
> industry officials in Kyiv say. Four miners in
> Ukraine are killed for every 1 million tons
> of coal extracted. Ukraine's coal industry is
> considered the world's second deadliest, after China.
> ((("After China, We're Number Two!")))
>
> "More than 4,000 coal miners have died in accidents
> in Ukraine since 1991.
>
>    "Timber, needed to construct mine shafts, is in
> short supply in Ukraine and is often reused until
> it rots, creating dangerous conditions."
>
> Link:
> http://wood.appua.com/sawn_timber/index.shtml
> That's funny, it took me all of 30 seconds to find
> all the Ukrainian timber one could need.
>
> "Most mine fatalities in Ukraine are related to
> methane gas explosions, (((a Greenhouse
> two-for-one))) and most of these accidents take
> place in mines that produce coking coal used in
> the steel industry. These are also some of the
> most profitable mines in the industry.
>
> "A former deputy director of a coal enterprise
> in the city of Krasny Luch in Luhansk Oblast told
> RFE/RL that some fatal mine accidents in
> coking-coal pits are connected to management
> directives to extract up to three times the
> daily norm of coal, for which miners
> would receive double their monthly wages.
> The average monthly wage of a Ukrainian coal miner
> in January 2005 was 1,400 hryvnyas ($255).
> (((Luxury!)))
>
> "However, existing ventilator systems that pump
> out the deadly methane gas that is a byproduct
> of mining are capable of removing only the amount
> of methane released during normal levels of coal
> extraction. The increased production results in
> an excess of methane gas that, when mixed with
> extra coal dust, often leads to fatal explosions.
> To date, no mine director or enterprise manager
> in Ukraine has been punished for allowing workers
> to mine coal in unsafe conditions. Only lower-level
> managers have so far been disciplined. (((Given
> that coal magnates behave this way to their own
> employees, imagine how they feel about you.)))
>
> "Inefficiency And Corruption"
>
> "Moreover, specialists in the Ukrainian coal
> industry told RFE/RL that some profitable mines
> are declared bankrupt and closed, then flooded
> to prevent their collapse. The closures are used as
> proof that the Fuel and Energy Ministry is
> attempting to reform the industry. After some time,
> however, these mines are bought by private
> companies at far below their real value; the
> new owners drain the water and resume profitable
> mining. (((Imagine if this kind of ingenuity
> were devoted to reforming our planet's industrial
> base.)))
>
> "On 7 February, Mykhaylo Volynets, the head of
> the Ukrainian Confederation of Trade Unions and
> a member of the parliamentary Energy Committee,
> told Ukrainian television that there are presently
> 6,000 illegal coal mines operating in Ukraine
> that produce some 5 million tons of coal annually.
> He said these unregistered mines employ women
> and children, who work in unsafe conditions and
> receive no social benefits. Volynets added that
> local authorities and law enforcement agencies
> in the Donbas Basin are aware of the existence
> of these mines but are bribed to remain silent.
> ((("Ukrainian Children: World's Least Efficient
> Coal Miners.")))
>
> "Coking Coal And Accusations Of Steel Dumping
>
> "For the past decade, successive Ukrainian
> governments have provided massive subsidies
> to the coking-coal industry. This policy
> has been, in fact, a subsidy to the metallurgical
> industry by providing it with low-cost coke.
> These subsidies, in turn, led to accusations
> of Ukrainian manufacturers dumping steel onto world
> markets.
>
> "On her website, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow says
> that 'from 1997 through 2000, carbon steel slab
> imports [into the United States] from key producers
> have risen dramatically: Brazil up 25 percent;
> Mexico up 13 percent; Russia up 106 percent,
> and Ukraine up 542 percent.'  (((Lends a whole
> new meaning to the term "high-carbon steel.")))
>
>    "The corruption-prone cycle (’Ķ) is
> illustrated by the 2004 tender terms for
> the privatization of the giant Kryvorizhstal
> mining and smelting enterprise, which the
> Yushchenko government is reviewing, saying that
> it serves as an example of corruption under
> Kuchma's regime.
>
>    "The terms announced for the tender(’Ķ)
> limited the sale to only two bidders: the
> Investment-Metallurgical Union (IMU) consortium
> and the Industrial Union of the Donbas. The IMU
> is co-owned by Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of
> former President Kuchma, and Rinat Akhmetov, the
> widely acknowledged leader of the Donetsk clan
> and one of Ukraine's richest citizens. The IMU won
> the tender, paying almost $800 million
> for the enterprise, while others offering up
> to $3 billion were disqualified. (’Ķ)
>
> "The Politics Of Coal
>
> "The troubles in Ukraine's coal industry far
> surpass those of other energy sectors.  (((Why
> am I not surprised?)))
>  -- Restructuring the coal industry would mean
> the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in a
> politically sensitive region. ((("Ukrainian Coal
> Miners: We Can Out-Die Even the Chinese")))
> -- Retraining programs for coal miners are 
> not in place; the prospects for miners performing
> other jobs are bleak. (((Maybe they can be
> replaced with their own children.)))
> -- Entire municipalities in the Donbas Basin 
> rely on the coal industry to pay for medical
> care, schools, public transportation, and other
> vital infrastructure. (((Iron lungs, for instance.)))
>
>    "How the new Ukrainian government intends to
> handle this problem is hard to forecast. Any
> coal reforms are sure to provoke angry reactions
> from vested interests in the Donbas Basin and from
> members of parliament involved in the metallurgical
> and energy-generation sectors of the economy.
>
>     "The Donbas has shown itself willing to raise
> the specter of territorial separatism in order
> to maintain existing coal subsidy policies and
> schemes. ((("Welcome to the Ukrainian Coalistan.")))
> The country's eastern regions had also
> threatened to secede as a possible response to
> the Orange Revolution demonstrations in Kyiv.
>
> "How real the threat of separatism is remains
> questionable, but few have any doubts that the
> owners and managers of the coking coal-coke-
> metallurgical industries in Ukraine will lobby
> to prevent the implementation of far-reaching
> reforms and will continue to use coal as a
> political weapon."
>
> (Compiled by Roman Kupchinsky)
> ***************************************************
> Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
>
> O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
> FOR A FISTFULL
> OF HRYVNYAS
> O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
>
>