The 10 biggest violations in the field of the environment for the past week

Every day, eco-inspectors and law enforcement officers record and investigate violations of the requirements of environmental protection legislation. Last week was no exception.

EcoPolitic collected the 10 most serious illegal actions based on the materials of the State Environmental Inspection and regional prosecutor's offices.

1. In the Transcarpathian region, on the territory of the Lazeshchyna Forestry of the "Yasinyansk LMG" branch of the "Forests of Ukraine" DSGP, eco-inspectors recorded illegal felling of trees by unidentified persons. The damage caused by the attackers' actions amounted to 31 million 295 thousand 726 UAH.
2. Inspectors of the South-Western District found violators who were fishing without permits in the Alibey estuary (lake) within the National Natural Park "Tuzlov Estuaries" in Odesa. The estimated amount of damages – 15 million 302 thousand 423 UAH. The case materials have already been sent to the court.
3. Prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office demand through the court to recover almost UAH 4.9 million damage due to illegal use of subsoil by a utility company in Prykarpattia. It carried out groundwater abstraction without a special permit for the use of subsoil and caused damage to the surrounding natural environment.
4. Inspectors in the Vinnytsia region caught a group of 12 people red-handed. Armed with chainsaws, a tractor, and other tools, they engaged in massive felling of trees within the forest strip between the villages of Stepanivka and Humenne. Environmentalists, together with the called police, counted 290 (!) tree stumps of various breeds and diameters. All tools were taken from the offenders. According to estimates, the amount of damage caused by the loggers amounted to a round sum -  3 million 82 thousand 739 UAH .
5. Prosecutors of the Sarnen District Prosecutor's Office reported the suspicion to the head of the Specialized Agricultural Service Cooperative. In 2020, he deliberately entered false information in the logging ticket. Having data on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of each forest plot, in the document, instead of the authorized sanitary felling of individual trees, the official illegally indicated "complete forest felling". Later, on the basis of this forged document, workers hired by the head of the cooperative cut down 487 trees of various species and diameters. With this illegal logging, the official caused losses to the state more than UAH 1.6 million .
6. On the territory of the landscape reserve of local importance "Balka Maryanivska", located in Zaporizhzhia, unidentified persons cut down 107 elm trees to the point of cessation of growth. The amount of damage caused -  1 million 380 thousand 846 UAH.
7. Prosecutors of the Kolomyia District Prosecutor's Office appealed to the court to collect from the private joint-stock company UAH 1 million in damages caused to the state by violation of forest legislation. The company used the land of the forest fund, but did not ensure the protection and preservation of the forest from illegal logging. As a result, we have 95 illegally cut down trees of various species.
8. In addition to felling trees, unidentified persons arbitrarily harvested hay on the territory of the Balka Maryanivska landscape reserve of local importance. Eco-inspectors calculated the damages from this offense in the amount 966 thousand 751 hryvnias.
9. Eco-inspectors calculated the damages in the amount 527 thousand 249 UAH for clogging a dirt road with metallurgical production waste (granulated slag) by unidentified persons. It is especially unfortunate that this road is located on the territory of the object of the nature reserve fund – the botanical monument of nature of local importance "Balka Krynychna" in the Zaporizhzhia region.
10. Prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported the suspicion to the 55-year-old head of one of the stations of the communal enterprise of the Yavoriv Oblast. He allowed the repeated accumulation of garbage outside the land plot allocated for the maintenance of the solid household waste landfill. The damage caused by land pollution is estimated at almost half a million hryvnias .

Earlier, EcoPolitic told about an organized criminal group that operated in Chernihiv Oblast, and chopped down trees for more than 11 million hryvnias.