Context: Recently, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency in its Krasnoyarsk Region after 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil leaked into the Ambarnaya River within the Arctic Circle.
Geographical Location

• Krasnoyarsk Region is located in the vast and sparsely populated Siberian peninsula and the Ambarnaya river is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean.
• Ambarnaya River is a river in Siberia which flows in a northerly direction into Lake Pyasino. It is heavily polluted by the mining industry of Norilsk.

Reasons behind the Spill

• The spill happened when a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed.
• The thermoelectric power plant at Norilsk is built on permafrost, which has weakened over the years owing to climate change.
• This caused the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank to sink, leading to a loss of containment.

Oil Spill: The contamination of seawater due to an oil pour, as a result of an accident, human error, or natural calamity, is termed as an oil spill.
Impact of Spill

• The spill has contaminated a 350 sq km (135 sq mile) area.
• Environmentalists have said the river would be difficult to clean, given its shallow waters and remote location, as well as the magnitude of the spill.
• An environmental oversight agency of the Russian government pegged the overall damage at “several dozen, perhaps hundreds of billions of rubles”.
• Aquatic species affected with this spill usually migrate.

Concerns

• The leak may have a serious impact on the local ecology as the Ambarnaya river flows to the Pyasino lake and river Pyasina, which connects it to the Kara Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean. The region is rich in salmon, seals, sea otters and sea birds and fishing is impossible now in the region.
• According to Environmentalists, the river would be difficult to clean, given its shallow waters and remote location, as well as the magnitude of the spill and the clean-up effort, could take between 5-10 years.
• The Russian chapter of activist group Greenpeace said damages to the Arctic waterways could be at least 6 billion rubles (over $76 million). 
• WWF described this as the second-largest known oil leak in modern Russia’s history in terms of volume without estimation of atmospheric damage due to greenhouse gases and soil pollution.

Measures taken

• Boom obstacles were placed in the river, but they were unable to contain the oil because of shallow waters.
• Booms are temporary floating barriers used to contain marine spills, protect the environment, and assist in recovery.
• A boom includes a containment partition that floats on and extends above the water’s surface, and a “skirt” or “curtain” that sinks into the water.Boom obstacles
• The state of emergency declared would bring in extra forces and federal resources for the clean-up efforts.

Ways to control Oil Spill

• Skimmers: Once the oil is bounded by oil booms, it can be extracted or skimmed easily with the help of skimmers or oil scoops. These skimmers are fitted onto boats to remove the floating oil or greasy contaminants.
• Sorbents: Materials that can absorb liquids are termed as sorbents. The use of sorbents is a natural process of oil clean-up. The most common types of sorbents are peat moss, vermiculite (straw), and hay.
• In situ burning is the process of burning spilled oil where it is on the ocean. Any burn operation includes careful air monitoring to ensure smoke or residue resulting from the burn do not adversely impact people or wildlife.
• Dispersion: Chemical dispersion is achieved by applying chemicals designed to remove oil from the water surface by breaking the oil into small droplets.

Challenges in Artic Region

• Oil spill becomes challenging when it comes to extreme climate zones such as the Arctic. It becomes difficult to remove the oil from ice and collect it.

Cold temperatures, poor visibility, remoteness, and lack of required infrastructure and challenges in communication are a few issues involved for spill response in the Arctic region.

What is Permafrost region?

• Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, and occurs mostly in high latitudes. Permafrost comprises 24% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere and also to a lesser extent in the Southern Hemisphere, and stores massive amounts of carbon.

Composition of permafrost-

• Permafrost is made of a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice. The soil and ice in permafrost stay frozen all year long. 
• Near the surface, permafrost soils also contain large quantities of organic carbon,a material leftover from dead plants that couldn’t decompose due to the cold. Lower permafrost layers contain soils made mostly of minerals. 
• Top layer  of permafrost does not stay frozen all year. This layer, called the active layer, thaws during the warm summer months and freezes again in the fall.