Chelyabinsk Region’s environmental prosecution authorities filed an administrative suit against Ufaleynickel and demanded that the company must stop operating. This demand stemmed from the inspection the authorities carried out on the premises of the enterprise in October 2007 to check the plant’s compliance with the environmental regulations. The inspection revealed that the enterprise dumped 3.4 times more than the maximum permissible discharge of copper oxide. Besides, Ufaleynickel is responsible for the fact that the atmospheric sulfur dioxide content in the town of Verkhniy Ufaley is beyond all the permissible limits.

As a result, the company was fined and had to set up a sanitary lab, design a special protective zone, and monitor the quality of air.

The second inspection, however, proved that the company actually kept on dumping 7.1 times more copper and 16.3 times more carbon monoxide than was allowed. The sulfur dioxide content in the air of Verkhniy Ufaley was greatly exceeded as well. This is why Chelyabinsk Region’s environmental prosecution authorities took legal action and insisted on closing the enterprise down.