UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
EPA AFTER-ACTION REPORT
July 17, 1992
Printed on Recycled Paper
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE EPA AFTER-ACTION REPORT
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
EPA AFTER-ACTION REPORT
Table of Contents
1.0. SUMMARY • l
2.0. COORDINATING THE U.S. GOVERNMENTS RESPONSE 3
3 0 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM'S IN-COUNTRY ACTIVrnES
AND OBSERVATIONS • 4
3.1 Environmental Impact of the release 4
3.2 The Effects of the Release on Human Health 4
3.3 Contingency Planning Activities 5
4.0. CONCLUSIONS i '• 6
4.1 Overall Assessment of the Health and Environment Impact of the
Oil Well Release 6
4.2 Conclusions Based on Team's Debriefing 6
4.3 Future Relations with Uzbeki Environmental and Health Officials 11
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Chronology of Events A-l
Appendix B: Technical Assistance Team B-l
Appendix C: Project Plan C"l
Appendix D: Mission Plan D-l
Appendix E: Data Collected By Technical Assistance Team E-l
Appendix F: Daily Reports F-l
Appendix G: Contact List .. G-l
Appendix H: Observations on the Activation of EPA's Emergency
Operations Center H-l
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1: Uzbekistan Background Paper Al-1
Attachment 2: News Articles on Central Asia A2-1
Attachment 3: Information Packet Table of Contents A3-1
Attachment 4: Maps of Region A4-1
Attachment 5: EPA Administrator Reilley's Authorization to Provide Assistance
to Uzbekistan A5-1
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UZBEKISTAN O(L WELL RELEASE EPA AFTER-ACTION REPORT
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE .rA A&’ I LI I iL i(tr tii(t
SUMMARY
On March 2, 1992. a new oil well in Uzbekistan was damaged and began to release large
amounts of oil into the environment. Estimates varied, but between 30.000 and 60,000 barrels of
oil were being released daily from the well.
The oil well, situated in the Migbulak oil field, is located in the eastern part of
Uzbekistan; a newly formed country within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that
was once a Soviet republic. Migbulak is located in the Fergana Basin near the city of Namangan.
The area is approximately 300 kilometers east of Tashkent, the nation’s capital. The Syr Darya
River flows northerly through the region. The river is the only major source of water for the
area’s population. which is estimated at over one million.
Reacting to the initial event, local responders immediately built berms around the well,
containing the spewing oil. Although no serious environmental catastrophe resulted from the
release. Uzbeki officials concluded that a potential hazard existed in that the oil well was only 200
meters from the Syr Darya. If the containment was breached and the river became contaminated,
individuals in the intermediate vicinity could be affected.
The problem was magnified by the lack of well-capping and oil-removing technology in the
region. Oil in the containment area was removed by siphoning. The siphoned oil was diverted
into trucks and transported to secondary containment.areas. This slow process afforded the
Uzbeki’s the ability to maintain the existing level in the containment area, but not significantly
• 1 ower it. Combining this inability to reduce the size of the containment pool and the lack of
chnology and equipment, the Uzbekis could not cap the well.
On April 6, the well caught fire possibly as a consequence of activity by Uzbeki and
Russian fire-fighting crews working at the site. The resulting smoke plume raised additional
health and environmental concerns in the region.
Unable to effectively respond to the accident, the Uzbeki Government contacted both the
U.S. Government (through the Charge de Affairs in the newly opened U.S. Embassy in Tashkent)
and private U.S. oil-capping corporations. The Uzbeki government was interested in hiring a U.S.
contractor to cap the well in addition to obtaining technical assistance from the U.S. Government.
On March 13, U.S. Department of State informed EPA of the incident. On March 27, a
representative from the Office of International Assistance for the New Commonwealth within the
Department of State (headed by Ambassador Armitage) contacted officials in EPA’s Chemical
Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office (CEPPO) to determine the availability of a
technical assistance team to accompany a U:S. contractor to the region once one had been chosen
by the Uzbekis and a contractual agreement had been confirmed.
CEPPO officials brought the incident to the attention of the Administrator’s Office and
informed the representatives within EPA’s National Incident Coordination Team (NICT). The
NICT agreed that EPA could lead the effort to assemble a team to travel to Uzbekistan if a
formal request for assistance was made. The team would assess the health and environmental
iffects of the plume and spilled oil and report its findings through Ambassador Armitage’s Office.
onsideration for the team’s composition included EPA Environmental Response Team members,
EPA On-Scene Coordinators, and representatives from U.S. Coast Guard (USCO), Department
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UZBEIUSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE EPA AFrER-ACTION REPORT
of Energy (DOE), and Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control (HHS/CDC).
The Department of Energy later determined that it was not necessary to send a representative.
The team would sample and monitor the conditions around the site, assess health and
environmental threats, and provide technical expertise to the Uzbeki Government . The team
consisted of seven officials with expertise in a broad range of disciplines associated with oil
releases and was comprised of representatives from the EPA. USCG, and HHS/CDC. Extensive
logistical and other support was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and. the U.S.
• Department of State.
On March 30, an initial request for assistance was received from the Uzbekistan
Government. On April 2, Ambassador Armitage’s Office received a formal request for U.S.
technical assistance from the Uzbeki Government.
The team arrived in Namangan on April 15. and spent six days in Uzbekistan providing
support to Uzbeki officials and assessing the environmental consequences of the release. By the
time the team returned to the United States, a significant portion of oil had been removed from
the containment area and the team no longer considered the incident to be a threat to tl e
environment or to the health of the local population. The team spent a considerable amount of
time working with top-level Uzbeki environmental officials who were anxious to establish bilateral
relations with the United States over health and environmental issues. The team returned to the
United States having accomplished the goals stated in the mission plan.
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IJZBEKISTAN OLL WELL RELEASE A& L i - L&ith ’
2.0 COORDINATING U.S. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
On March 13, U.S. Department of State (DOS) notified EPA that an oil-well incident had
:urred in Uzbekistan. On March 27, DOS contacted officials in CEPPO to ascertain whether
health and environmental experts could provide technical support to the Uzbeki government.
After determining that support could be provided, officials from several government agencies.
including, EPA, Department of Energy. U.S. Coast Guard, Health and Human Services/Centers
for Disease Control, Department of Defense, and Department of State met to determine team
composition 1 develop a mission strategy, work out logistical considerations. and determine
equipment and other requirements for the team.
Between March 28 and April 9, officials from these Agencies met to coordinate the U.S.
Government’s response. Team composition was finalized on April 7. Team members began
arriving at the EPA Emergency Operations Center on Thursday, April 9, to develop the mission
plan. On the following Saturday, the plan was finalized and was based on three components:
• Provide technical support as requested by the Uzbeki government;
• Assess the health and environmental consequences resulting from.th release; and,
• Assist the Uzbeki Government develop a contingency plan for this’ and future
incidents.
The U.S. Department of State worked with the U.S. Department of Defense, the Uzbeki
-“rovernment, and prvate U.S. contractors, to arrange for U.S. military C-141 aircrafts to transfer
l capping equipment to Uzbekistan. The team also used the C-141 aircraft to travel to
- Uzbekistan. This eased logistical problems involving the U.S. Government’s equipment and
supplies. On April 6, Cudd Wild Well Control, Inc. a U.S. firm specializing in capping oil wells,
reached an agreement with the Uzbeki Government, and on Sunday, April 12, the team departed
for Uzbekistan with Cudd personnel and equipment.
The team returned to the United States on Apnl 19 and 22, achieving the goals stated in
the mission plan. Three members of the team returned on a U.S. military C-141 on April 19 with
the majority of the equipment the team brought to the region. Three days later, the remaining
four members returned via commercial carrier after completing additional sampling and holding
discussions on bilateral agreements with Uzbeki officials.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE . -
3.0 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM IN-COUNTRY ACTIVITY
Arriving in Namangan on April 15. the team immediately began discussions with Uzbeki
:alth and environmental officials. On April 16, the Charge de Affairs from the US. Embassy in
Tashkent arrived at the site to provide additional assistance that the team might require.
For the next four days, the different specialists conducted tasks based on the mission plan.
The following sections summarize the team’s in-country activity.
3.1 Environmental Impact of the Release
From April 15 to 19, the team assessed the impact of the oil well blowout and fire at
Migbulak. The blowout caused the oil to be sprayed by wind on an area of about four by eight
kilometers.. An undetermined quantity of oil reached the Syr Darya River, which is approximately
tOO meters from the pooled oil and approximately 200 meters from the well. Oily debris (e.g.,
twigs and branches) was retrieved as far as fifteen kilometers downstream of the well site, at the
Axikent bridge.
The oil well was ignited on or about April 9. Emissions resulting from the plume hav&
consisted of soot particles lofted to approximately 1700 meters and dissipated into the
atmosphere. The team determined that the plume presents no immediate danger given the
prevailing atmospheric conditions in the valley; however, atmospheric inversion could occur and
concentrate the level of pollutants in a particular area with the possibility of causing problems to
sensitive populations (e.g., children, the elderly, and individuals with respiratdry problems).
The environmental- impact of the blowout on the ecology of the Fergana Valley was likely
kept to a minimum due to:
• The measures taken by the Uzbekis to contain and collect the pools of oil, and
• The timing of the blowout, which just preceded the onset of Spring.
The team was able to monitor the site and take samples of the oil at the well and water at
several locations in the immediate vicinity as well as at locations as far as 15 kilometers from the
well. These water samples taken upstream from the oil well and oil samples taken near the well
site are still undergoing analysis.
3.2 The Effects of the Release on Human Health
The health impact of the oil well fires appears to be the most significant on those
individuals working in and near the oil well site. Some 535 of the approximately 1500 workers
involved suffered some type of oil-related injuries. Workers on-site were not wearing protective
clothing.
Real-time aerosol monitoring for total particulate revealed the following data:
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL KLLk A t tc ic.g - ’ &i ii ci
Location Reading
Downwind of [ ire 0.008 mg/rn 3
Near heavy vehicle traffic 0.140 mg/rn 3
Strong wind and high dust level 1.400 mg/rn 3
- Average 0.250 mg/rn 3
Samples of volatile organic compounds were taken by Dr. Ruth Etzel (CDC/HHS). Dr. Etzel was
able to draw samples from Uzbekistan firefighters and the U.S. Government team. Appendix E
of this report provides graphical summaries of Dr. Etzel’s analysis.
3.3 Contingency Planning Activities
The team worked with Uzbeki officials to develop contingency plans for possible future
incidents. The following recommendations were made by the team:
• The Uzbeki’s should continue to place a high priority on extinguishing the [ ire and
capping the well.
• To facilitate safe development of the Migbulak field, the Uzbekis should adopt a
policy where environmental issues are explicitly considered in the decision-making
process of energy production. A principle component of this policy should be the
development of a national oil spill response and planning program that will
harmonize the actions of those Uzbeki Government organizations and institutes
with roles of environmental and health protection, energy development, and public
awareness.
• The objectives of the oil spill response program should be:
- Reducing to a minimum the probability of the incidents, particularly in
regard to siting of wells. If an incident should occur, minimizing the
outflow of oil by developing a spill prevention control and countermeasure
plan for all oil storage and production facilities;
- Ensuring proper readiness and quick response to oil spills with technical
means and personnel; development of a strong contingency plan that
identifies equipment available for response and ensuring that personnel are
trained to respond effectively;
• Ensuring effective oil spill response;
- Developing a worker safety program;and
- Instituting cooperation with neighboring countries.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE EPA AFrER-ACTION REPORT
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
This section summarize the team’s activities and observations of the affects of the oil well
)wout. This section also focuses on U.S. Government operations in responding to.the incident.
4.1 Overall Assessment of the Health and Environment Impact of the Oil Well Release
Initial reports from Uzbekistan indicated that a serious environmental incident had
occurred. The team concluded that because of the quick response efforts of Uzbeki officials and
response personnel, the threat to the health of the Uzbeki population and the environment
immediately surrounding the well never materialized. The Uzbeki Government lacks a
comprehensive plan to respond to similar incidents in the future; however, it appears that health
and environmental officials are aware of this and are trying to develop better management
programs to balance energy production and environmental protection.
Thousand of gallons of oil were released from the well. The Uzbekis were able to contain
this oil and were effective in recovering the oil for productive use. Only a small portion of the
released oil spilled into the Syr Darya River. This small amount does not appear to further
jeopardize the water quality beyond current pollution levels.
The plume which resulted from the well catching fire does not appear to impact the
health of the local population. Certain atmospheric conditions could create an atmospheric
inversion which could cause a concentration of pollutants over a populated area. The effects of
such an occurrence will likely affect only those individuals susceptible to minor changes in
mospheric conditions (e.g., individuals with respiratory problems).
4.2 Conclusions Based on Team’s Debriefing
A debriefing for the team was heLd in the EPA Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on
Wednesday, May 13, 1992. All team members participated either in person or through
teleconference. Several individuals from EPA’s Chemical Emergency Preparedness and
Prevention Office (CEPPO) and USCG were also in attendance. The debriefing was held to
achieve the following objectives:
• Coordinate information in support of writing a consolidated report on the event
and operations;
• Highlight success/obstacles resulting from initial mobilization;
• - Highlight success/obstacles for in-country activities; and
• Enumerate and describe outcomes and next steps.
Tony Jover (CEPPO) opened the meeting by reviewing the debriefing agenda and summarizing
the objectives of the meeting.
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ,.
Harry Allen (EPA, Environmental Response Team), the team’s Technical Leader, noted
that the mission objectives existed at two levels. At one level, the team performed the as essment
of the incident as described above. The participants agreed that, at this level, the mission was a
success. Although the team was required to modify the mission plan because of unforeseen
events while in Uzbekistan, all members agreed that the team’s goals were achieved.
A broader, political objective -- to initiate and perform diplomatic activities with Uzbeki
officials -- was also to be performed by the team. Uzbekistan is a newly formed state which was
once a Soviet Republic. The team thought that top U.S. Government officials desired to provide
support in an effort to demonstrate U.S. commitment to the emerging countries of the former
Soviet Union. Mr. Allen noted that at this level, the mission goals were not clearly defined. He
suggested that in future internatiOnal incidents, this type of activity should be better coordinated
so team members would have a better understanding of U.S. Government objectives in addition to
health and environmental ones.
Mr. Jover emphasized that EMI Chuck Guthrie (USCG) provided an outstanding
contribution to the team’s success. EMI Guthne was the team’s logistical and communications
officer. Mr. Jover noted that in the, early stages of developing a team, a logistical person was not
considered. Mr. Jover stressed that, because of the benefits derived from having Guthrie on the
team, such a position should always be considered for similar future activity.
4.2.1 Team In-Country Activities: Three issues were discussed involving federal activity
prior to sending the team to Uzbekistan:
• Obtaining and verifying information:
• Defining the roles and responsibilities of the team; arid
• Logistics.
There was general consensus that for future incidents, if at all possible, involved Agencies’ should
send an individual prior to sending a team. This individual would verify conditions and provide an
initial assessment. The participants agreed that inaccurate information was used in deciding to
send the team. It was stressed that those providing information had vested interçsts, outside of
health and environmental concerns, in getting’ a U.S. team to Uzbekistan. For example, on-site
contractors ‘desired U.S. Government aircraft to transport equipment and the Uzbeki,Government
desired financial assistance. The majority of the information used in deciding to send the team
came from these sources. When the team arrived at the well-site, they discovered that the health
and environmental threat was not as serious as information from these sources indicated.
A second concern focused on the team’s role. Team members agreed that, at the health
and environmental level, the mission plan was properly defined and well executed; however, they
expressed concern was expressed that in the Federal Government’s broader objective,
strengthening diplomatic ties, there was confusion. The team agreed that it is important to clearly
define why U.S. Government involvement is requested or necessary in responding to ,an incident
of this nature. The team emphasized that:
• High-level officials should clarify the role of Government personnel prior to
• sending a team;
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• All individuals involved should understand what that role is; and
• Efforts should be made at all levels to ensure that the team is able to achieve•
established objectives.
The Charge de Affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan and many key Uzbekistan
officials were unaware that the team had arrived in Uzbekistan. This was significant in that the
State Department was extensively involved in coordinating arrangements for the team’s trip and it
was in the State Department’s interest to have these individuals informed. It was suggested that
at an early stage of development, high-level government officials meet with representatives ol the
foreign country to establish the roles and expectations of the team. The roles and expectations
should be reviewed by Embassy personnel prior to the team’s departure to ensure support is
available. Embassy personnel should discuss the potential mission with host officials. Once an
agreement can be reached, the roles and expectations should then be incorporated into the
mission plan. The team agreed that input from the foreign country is very important.
The third in-country issue concerned logistics. There was unanimous agreement that
logistical issues were handled vejy well, despite the uncertainty in determining when the team
would leave. It was stressed that coordinating the team’s departure was difficult due to conflicting
information from Uzbekistan and contractors. In particular, three obstacles added to the
difficulty in coordinating logistical issues:
• In working with the State Department and the Uzbeki government, it was
determined that the team should use U.S. military air transport to fly to
Uzbekistan. This transport had to be coordinated with the contractor schedules
and requirements. It was not clear until just prior to the team’s departure which
contractor was hired and when they would leave.
• The second obstacle concerned coordinating equipment requirements. Very little
information on in-country equipment capabilities was available prior to the team’s
departure. Due to this lack of information, contingency plans for meals, lodging,
transportation, interpreters, and communications needed to be made in the event
that items were unavailable.
• The third obstacle involved the team’s return to the U.S. Three team members
left early. Concern surfaced as to whether Uzbeki Customs would allow the
equipment to Ieavç. There was some confusion as to whether the U.S. military
aircraft would transport the equipment back to the U.S.
The team recognized that EPA support staff were able to overcome these obstacles and
were effective, in organizing and sending the team to Uzbekistan. Additional logistical
observations included:
• A checklist should be developed for many standard items, such as medical packs
• for over the counter items such as aspirin, decongestants and toilet paper.
• Mr. Jover thought everyone should have hand-held recorders for capturing
thoughts/observations while in the field.
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
• Communications equipment worked well; however, the team agreed that more
time should be spent testing and verifying the condition of communications
equipment prior to departure. Some minor concerns were raised over structuring
send/receive times with Headquarters. Commander Softye (USCG) stated that in
long term incidents, it is possible to establish set transmitting times; however in
short missions, transmitting will be accomplished when time and space is available.
Commander Softye also suggested that the team should maintain contact with a
single source in the United States. The source would then forward information to
relevant, points-of-contact (POCs) within the United ‘States.
• Ken Stroech (CEPPO/SPP) raised the issue of secured phone lines, asking whether
equipment taken could handle a secured communication device. EMI Guthrie
(USCG) said that it would not be a problem since secured phone systems use the
same connections as standard communications systems.
• The team should verify phone’ calling card requirements prior to leaving the U.S.
(in this case, AT&T and MCI cards worked ine, SPRINT cards did not).
• The team’s equipment functioned adequately. Procuring gas for the generators
was the only minor problem encountered.
• In future incidents, more effort should be made in coordinating the team’s return
to the U.S. For example, because the team’s departure was staggered, the
debriefing was held later than expected. Coordinating departure logistics also
eases concerns in trying to get expensive equipment through foreign customs.
The participants at the meeting agreed that although the mission plan was well developed.
some aspects did not meet the requirements at the site. For example. by the time the team•
arrived in Uzbekistan, the vast majority of the oil pool surrounding the well had been removed.
eliminating the threat to the water supply in the area. This and other inconsistencies highlighted
the need to confirm information and expectations prior to the team’s departure. It was stressed
that in future incidents, the team Leader should establish contact with foreign host prior to
leaving the U.S. The team Leader should be the POC between the team and host officials once
the team arrives. This individual would be responsible for determining the affected country’s
needs and expectations. It saves time, costs, and space. For example, in defining
equipment/supplies needed by team, it is likely that less equipment will be sent.
• It is important in future incidents that the team’s activities are coordinated with the U.S.
Embassy in the impacted country. Although the State Department was extensively involved in
planning the trip, the Charge de Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan was not prepared for
the team’s visit. Such break-downs in communications could severely hamper the team’s ability to
perform their duties, In this instance, the team had some difficulty obtaining transportation while
in-country. There was also some problem obtaining translators/interpreters.
The team members were guests of the Uzbeki government. The Uzbekis provided food
and lodging to the team. The unused MREs were given to orphanages as a gift when the team
‘departed. With the exception of performing health assessments, the team was able to perform
environmental monitoring of the release and fire. The Uzbeki government would only allow Dr.
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Ruth Etzel (HHS/CDC), the team’s human health expert. to monitor the health effects on the
team and U.S. contractor employees.
Mr. Jover, Mr. Allen, and Dr. Etzel held several meetings with Uzbeki officials.
Discussions during these meetings ranged from assisting in the development of contingency plans
to establishing bi-lateral relations with Uzbçki environmental officials and organizations. The
team considered these talks to be productive; however, in future incidents, it would be more
efficient to schedule meetings soon after arrival to ensure that the objectives in the mission plan
could be carried out and any problems or obstacles could be rectified at an early stage.
Team members stressed that in future incidents, the team should meet with affected
country officials immediately upon arrival. It was suggested that the team Leader should initially
work with foreign representatives while the team’s technical experts continue to the site. In this
incident, this process was reversed.
It was suggested that in future international incidents Government representatives should
place more interest/focus on protocol. identifying the right people inthe foreign country to
ensure that mission objectives can be accomplished and are consistent with the needs of the
foreign host.
The Charge de Affairs at the U.S. Embassy should have been more aware of the team’s
mission, schedule, and requirements. The team was aware that this was a new country and that
the Embassy staff was still forming; however, it is still important to have the Charge de Affairs
responding to the needs of the team, both for political reasons and to ensure that the objectives
of the mission plan are achieved.
4.2.2 Next Steps: The oil well is under control. Problems remain in terms of how the
contractor will be paid and how the contractor’s equipment will be returned to the U.S. The
team will review the draft summary of the team’s activities written by Tony Jover and will return it
with written comments and their own observations.
The Uzbekistan response and two other recent international incidents -- an oil spill off the
coast of Mozambique and a sewer explosion in Guadalajara, Mexico -- demonstrated that teams
travelling to international locations lacked sufficient information on the conditions at the site to
design and implement effective mission plans. The team also agreed that political motivations for
sending a team to international locations often increases the burdens of performing health and
environmental response efforts.
EPA should explore obtaining an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to
ensure that transportation is available for future incidents. Mission succe s was largely based on
the ability to obtain U.S. military airlift for transporting equipment to the site. Without the
military airlift, the team would not have been able to bring equipment to the site. Kim Fletcher
(EPAJCEPPO) will study options for entering into an agreement with the military for air carrier
support required for future incidents.
After the main discussion, team members presented findings based on observations made
during the trip. Dr. Ruth Etzel (HHS/CDC) monitored over 30 impurities that could have
affected individuals near the site. She presented one sample of her analysis by providing graphical
esults of benzene levels found within team members and U.S. clean-up contractors while working
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE . .. .- • ,
around the site. These levels were significantly higher than cases involving individuals working
near the Kuwaiti oil wells. Harry Allen displayed slides and a video taken during the trip. The
team agreed to consolidate the member& slides into a single presentation.
4.3 Future Relations with Uzbeki Environmental and Health Officials
The team concluded that the U.S. would be hard pressed to determine the effectiveness of
additional aid provided to Uzbekistan. should any be requested. In Uzbekistan, it appears that
there is no single point-of-contact for addressing or understanding the scope and range of
environmental problems facing the country. For example, the team observed that the Uzbeki
Committee for Nature Protection understood some of the ecological problems, but had little if
any information regarding environmental health issues and water quality, and does not appear to
be involved in agricultural uses of pesticides. The problems with the pollution and increasingly
reduced water levels in the Aral Sea seemed not to be any one group’s responsibility.’
A first step. in future U.S. aid to Uzbekistan directed towards environmental problems
should be to document the range and extent of environmental and health problems facing the
countiy. This could be accomplished by convening a conference of experts to raise and discuss
issues, present papers, and initiate an on-going dialogue. Out of the conference, proceedings
would be developed and published that would document the problems and provide one document
to be used to prioritize and better organize future environmental assistance. The conference
would provide a baseline of information and decision-making for future actions.
This conference would be regional in nature, with the post-Soviet East Asian countries
invited to attend. Uzbekistan would have the opportunity to host the conference.
The United States would be able to provide logistical support for this meeting, facilitators,
and translators, and the final publication. To be successful, the meeting would have to be under
Uzbeki leadership, with the U.S. providing the necessary underpinnings.
The Aral Sea is the largest body of water in the south-central region of the former Soviet
Union. Years of neglect combined with agricultural and industrial policies which placed heavy
emphasis on irrigation over other possible agricultural options has resulted in extensive
poLlution of the Aral Sea and has resulted in a reduction of the lake’s size by approximately
40 percent since the early 1960s.
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APPENDICES
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UZBEIUSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ti-A Ar ac.a-ALtaITh ttxii)Kt
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
u3/02/ 92 - Monday
• A newly installed oil well in the Namangan territory near the city of Namangan
blows, spewing oil in the Fergana Basin in the newly formed state of Uzbekistan.
03/13/92 - Friday
• Liz Cheney from Department of State, Ambassador Armitage’s Office informs
EPA that an oil well in the newly formed country of Uzbekistan has blown and is
spewing oil and could possibly be on [ ire.
03/27/92 - Friday
• Liz Cheney from Department of State, Ambassador Armitage’s Office contacts Jim
Makris, Director, Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Planning Office
(CEPPO), requesting information on the availability of a technical assistance team
which could be sent to Uzbekistan to determine if U.S. assistance would be
required. and if so, to what degree. Jim Makris states that support would be
available.
• Jim Makris contacts Gordon Binder (EPA Chief of Staff) and Don Clay of the
Administrator’s Office and provides a briefing of the situation. Gordon Binder
• briefs EPA Administrator Reilly on the situation. All three confirm support to
provide EPA technical assistance as requested by the Department of State. It is
decided that Makris would lead the effort for this response.
• • Jim Makris contacts Liz Cheney at Ambassador Armitage’s office to formally offer
support as needed. Concern is presented over the funding mechanism for this
support.
• Jim Makris appoints Tony Jover as the lead point of contact within CEPPO to
coordinate response activity.
03/28/92- Saturday
• EPA learns that a possible contractor has been on-site in Uzbekistan to determine
the conditions and possible response actions stop the flow of oil from the well.
Joe Bowden of Wild Well Control (Houston) has travelled to the Fergana Basin
and has offered his services to cap the well.
• Mr. Bowden estimates that costs to cap the well would run between $6 and $10
million dollars, excluding transportation.
A-I
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
03/29/92 - Sunday
• CEPPO staff contacts Department of State for update on conditions surrounding
the oil well spill in Tizbekistan.
• The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Agency for International
Development and U.S. Department of State attempt to secure funding through
OFDA programs.
• The Uzbek government has yet to formally requested assistance from the U.S..
State Department is working determine if a request is in the works.
03/30/92 - Monday
• Don Clay receives briefing information from CEPPO staff and briefs senior EPA
personnel on the current conditions in Uzbekistan.
• Preparations are made in the EPA Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to
provide necessary support if conditions warrant. EPA contractor personnel are
contacted to provide background material on Uzbekistan and provide
administrative support, as necessary.
• Tony lover and Ken Stroech (OSWERJCEPPO) hold a conference call with
members of the Emergency Response Division (ERD), and Emergency Response
Team (ERT), the Department of Energy (DOE),. Health and Human Services
(HHS), and CEPPO staff to provide updates and discuss possible options.
• The following information is received from potential contractor, Joe Bowden, on
the conditions surrounding the oil well:
- The Syr Darya river is approximately two hundred meters from the well
site. The Syr Darya is the only source of water in the area;
- The oil is coating houses within a 2-3 km range of the well;
- The area is chronically dry and the oil is having a serious impact on the
irrigation system in the area; and
- The terrain in the area is difficult and getting there will be particularly
difficult
• The United States Coast Guard (USCG) contacts EPA and offers the services of
the Coast Guard Strike Team to support U.S. efforts in this matter.
• EPA staff contacts Department of State contact for update. It is determined that
Uzbek government has formally requested U.S. technical assistance in capping the
well and preventing/mitigating environmental consequences of the oil release.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE. APPENDIX A
Clarifications are still required to determine the extend of the assistance which is
being requested.
03/31192 Tuesday
• Tony Jover and Ken Stroech hold a conference call with representatives from•
DOE, HHS, and CEPPO staff to discuss conditions and develop possible strategies
for response activity.
• Ken Stroech (CEPPO/SPP) contacts Joe Bowden of Wild Well Control (Houston).
to gather information on the conditions in Uzbekistan. It is revealed that the well
is not burning (which was previously assumed from initial reports). Bowden is
willing to provide services to cap well but requires a guaranteed contract upfront
before any services are rendered. Bowden reveals that the area is heavily
populated. The oil is currently being contained in a triangular berm 1/2 mile in
each direction which surrounds the well. The technological capability in the region
is very low. Oil is being transferred by truck or cart from the berm to other
containment areas. There are no immediate threats to groundwater contamination
or other health threats as long as the oil does not overflow the berm. The well is
spewing out oil at a rate of approximately 60,000 barrels a day.
• A NICT memo is developed which provides updates to NICT representatives. A
NICT teleconference meeting is scheduled for 4/1/92 at 9:00 a.m..
•.. A representative from EPA’s Office of International Activities (OLA) is sent to
discuss issues with Bill Freeman, U.S. State Department Soviet Desk Staffer to
discuss the conditions surrounding well release. OLA representative receives copy
• of confidential cable concerning situation and returns to EPA to brief Don Clay
and Gordon Binder.
04/01192 - Wednesday
• Tony Jover chairs a conference call with representatives of the USCG Strike
Team, ERD, HHS-Center for Disease Control, DOE, and CEPPO staff. Ken
Stroech provides an update based on the information received from Joe Bowden.
• A NIC1’ teleconference call is held in the EPA EOC at 9:00 a.m. to update NICT
representatives on oil well conditions. Minutes of the meeting along with a
background piece on Uzbekistan are provided to NIC1’ members later on in the
day.
• Ken Stroech holds a conference call with DOE, USCG Strike Force, HHS,
CEPPO staff, and Joe Bowden of Wild Well Control (Houston). The call is
intended to obtain specific information on the current conditions surrounding the
oil well and to gain a better technical understanding on the kind of assistance will
be required.
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
• CEPPO staff members hold several conversations with Department of State
officials throughout the day. From these conversations it is learned that
Uzbekistan would not be able to pay for assistance. Funding options are being
reviewed by EPA and DOS. Secretary of State James Baker will render a decision
when all available information and options are presented.
• Department of State, Ambassador Armitage’s Office confirm that DOS would
secure military transport to lift necessary equipment from Houston to Tashkent if
it was determined that U.S. would support contractor in capping well.
• Tony Jover (CEPPO) meets with Gordon Binder. Binder had held discussions
with Department of State and the National Security Council. Binder briefs lover
on these discussions, stating that EPA had offered to provide technical assistance if
requested. Binder also states that he had identified funds from the Kuwait Activity
Fund (Operation Dessert Storm/Shield) which could be made available to fund
assistance.
• Mary CuUer is appointed OSWER point-of-contact for incident.
• Gordon Binder is officially designated Administrator Reilly’s point-of-contact on
matters concerning the oil well incident. -
04/02192 - Thursday
• Kim Fletcher works on the technical assistant team’s itinerary for a possible trip to
Uzbekistan.
04/03/92 - Friday
• A teleconference with representatives of project agencies, including: DOE, HHS,
USCG, CEPPO (EPA), and ERD (EPA) is held in the EOC. Meeting was called
to provide update, discuss members of technical assistance team, define strategies
for the team, and begin work on travel and itinerary logistics.
• EOC staff contacts travel agencies on identifying possible routes, times, and other
logistical considerations for team’s travel.
• Work begins on .identifying team members and began preparing travel documents
for members.
04/06/92- Monday
• A teleconference is held with the technical assistance team members to receive
updates on current conditions at the site and to discuss logistics of the trip
(equipment needs, passport information, medical requirements), and a tentative
itinerary.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
• Information from the State Department indicates that the Uzbek government has
agreed to fund contractor costs.
• The oil in at least one pit around the well caught fire. It appears that workers at
the site accidentally set the oil on fire.
04/07/92 - Tuesday
• A NICT update is delivered to NICT and ERT members and other addressees.
• The update summarizes events at the site and EPA logistic efforts to coordinate
the technical assistance team. -
04/08/92 - Wednesday
• A teleconference is held to update technical assistance team members and CEPPO
• staff as to the latest conditions at the site and logistics concerning the trip.
• Information packets containing a summary of events to date, background
information on Uzbekistan, maps, travel tips for the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan,
and a chronology of events to date are developed for the technical assistance team.
04/09/92 Thursday
• Members of the Technical Assistance Team begin to develop Draft mission plans.
• A draft project plan which provides a summary and an overall objective for EPA’s
role in assisting the Uzbeki government is completed.
04/10/92 - Friday
• CEPPO staff members hold conversations with State Department officials
throughout the day to receive updates on the incident.
• The draft mission plan for the Team is completed and reviewed by Team members
• and CEPPO staff.
• Technical Assistance Team members begin to arrive in Washington D.C. Current
plans indicate that the Team will be leaving on Saturday, April 11.
• Fmal logistical issues are completed, including travel plans, advances for Team
members, contact lists, etc.
• CEPPO staff and members of the Technical Assistance Team meet in the EOC to
discuss the mission plan and logistical issues.
04/11192 -Saturday
• A-5
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
• The Team meets throughout the morning to prepare mission plans, develop in-
country strategies. verify that all equipment works, and that all paperwork and
other logistical issues are finalized.
• Team members meet in the EOC for briefings and strategy development.
• Team members finalize their individual mission objectives and finalized the team’s
mission plan.
04/12/92 - Sunday
• The Team organizes and checks all equipment and supplies to ensure readiness for
departure. Team members are assisted by CEPPO staff.
• The Team departs from Andrews Air Force Base via U.S. military a C-14 1 at 4:20
p.m.
04/13/92- Monday
• The Team continues on the flight to Uzbekistan.
• Work begins on developing EPA Uzbeki Oil Well Release After Action Report.
04/15/92 - Wednesday
• The Team arrives in Namangan via Frankfurt Germany and Incirlik Turkey. Flight
plans were restructured in Incirlik due to Turkey Government policy which
prohibited Russian pilots to fly in Turkish air space. Due to this, the Team flew to
Tashkent, obtained a Russian navigator; and departed for Namangan. While in
flight, the Team observed clean burning oil well with plume height at about 4,000
feet. The Team takes video and still photos while in flight.
• The Team arrives in Namangan at 10:05 Wednesday, April 15. Team members
contact Uzbeki officials and are making arrangements to meet with Isamet Dinov,
Namangan Airport Director. Mr. Dinov arranges for the Team’s transportation
• and as ur lw storage for equipment at the airport. The Team confirms that they
are guests of the Uzbeki Government.
• The Team meets with Bob Cudd, President of U.S. contractor hired to cap the
well.
• The Team arrives at Namangan hotel at 12:30 and later meets with local officials
to discuss itinerary.
• One of the CU’DD employees has been hospitalized. Dr. Etzel (CDC) and Chuck
Guthrie (USCG) visits the employee at a local hospital. The employee is expected
to be released on the 16th.
A-6
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
• The Team plans to meet with Konukhov. First Deputy Chairman of Uzbekistan
State Committee for Environment to discuss plans on the 16th. After the meeting.
Dr. Etzel and Chuck Guthrie will meet with Chief Medical Officer and begin to
examine health records relating to the incident. The rest of the Team will visit the
well site with Konukhov and Charge from U.S. Embassy.
04/14/92 Tuesday
• Updates are provided to Senior EPA officials and the NICT on the current
conditions surrounding the incident.
04/16/92 - Thursday
• The Team begins work at the well and continues to meet with several Uzbeki
environmental officials, local health officiaLs, and contractors working on-site.
• The Team makes several attempts to contact EPA headquarters; had a difficult
time in establishing communications links with on-site equipment.
04/17/92- Friday
• Updates of current conditions surrounding the incident are provided to senior
EPA officials.
• Tony Jover informs EPA Headquarters that the U.S. military air carriers will be
leaving Namangan either Friday or Saturday. Tony states that it is likely that the
bulk of the equipment will depart on the planes.
04/18/92 - Saturday
• • Three members of the Team leave Uzbekistan via U.S. military transport. The
majority of the equipment brought with the Team to Uzbekistan is also loaded
onto the C-141’s and returned to the United States.
• The remaining four members of the Team plan to fly back on Monday, April 20.
These individuals stayed behind for meetings with Uzbeki environmental officials
and complete last-minute monitoring goals.
04/20/92 - Monday
• Tony Jover holds a telephone conversation with Ken Stroech (CEPPO/SPP) and
summarized the activities of the Team.
• The remaining four members of the Team complete the mission and Left
Uzbekistan via commercial air carrier.
• Tony Jover reports that the mission was a success. The oil well release is no
longer considered an environmental or human health threat. The majority of oil
A-7
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX A
has been removed from the containment area around the well. The remaining oil
is burning.
• Tony Jover reported that the burning oil was ‘clean” and contained no threatening
amounts of carcinogens. The Team’s presence was not required to cap the well, a
task still remaining for the U.S. on-site contractor (CUDD).
• An outline of the After-Action Report is completed. CEPPO staff and contractor
• employees begin to work on report.
• Tony Jover reports that the majority of goals established prior to the Team’s U.S.
• departure have been met. The only exception was that Dr. Ruth Etzel (CDC) was
unable to draw blood and urine samples from the local population. She was,
however, able to draw samples from the Team and CUDD contract employees
working on capping the well.
04/21/92 - Tuesday
• The remainder of the Team returns to the United States from Uzbekistan via
commercial transport.
A-8
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX B
‘PENDIX B: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
The Technical Assistant Team was a multi-agency body with the skills and understanding
to assess a wide-range of health and environmental issues and concerns in Uzbekistan. A brief
biographical summary of the Team members is provided below.
Tony Jover was the Team Leader. Mr. Jover is the Director of Information Management
within the Chemical Emergency Planning and Prevention Office (CEPPO) at EPA. Mr. Jover
served as the Manager of the EPA’s Emergency. Operation’s Center during Operation Desert
Shield,Desert Storm. Mr. Jover coordinated all of the Team’s activities and managed the mission
while in-country. Mr. Jover coordinated information collection and assisted the Uzbeki
government in developing contingency plans for the oil well as well as developing such plans for
possible future incidents. Mr. Jover also was the lead point of contact for all communications to
and from the team while in Uzbekistan.
Harry Mien, from EPA’s Environmental Response Team, served as the Team’s Technical
Leader. Mr. Allen developed the environmental mission plan and focused the Team’s efforts on
identifying possible environmental hazards to the land immediately surrounding the well, the
consequences to the Syr Darya River if the oil seeped or was released into it, and the hazards
resulting from the release of plume emitted from the well.
Fred Stroud is an On-Scene Coordinator from EPA, Region IV. Mr. Stroud served as the
“eam’s Senior On-Scene Coordinator. Mr. Stroud is an expert in assessing environmental effects
f oil spills and releases. He spent a considerable amount of time in Kuwait in the aftermath of
Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield to provide technical support to the Kuwaiti Government.
Along with the other Team members, Mr. Stroud assessed the environmental effects of the oil
release.
Phil Campagna is a member of EPA’s Environmental Response Team and served as the
Team’s sampling and monitoring expert: Mr. Campagna is also an oil hazard expert and has spent
time in Kuwait assisted EPA’s efforts in providing technical support to the Kuwaiti Government
in the aftermath of Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield. Mr. Campagna was responsible for
obtaining air, water, and land samples in the region to identify possible consequences resulting
from the oil well release.
Dr. Ruth Etzel is from Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control. Dr Etzel
is an M.D. and highly skilled epidemiologist. Dr. Etzel provided assistance to the Team of experts
assessing the environmental and health consequences resulting from the oil spill and oil well fires
in Kuwait. Dr. Etzel assessed the health effects on the immediate population resulting from the
oil release. Her studies focused primarily on short-term health effects. However, data was also
collected which may be used for identifying potential long-term consequences resulting from
human contact with released material.
Commander Rick Softye is the Executive Officer for the USCG’s National Strike Force
Coordination Center in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Commander Softye has extensive
experience in coordinating activities involving oil spill clean-up and will be the Team’s logistics
expert. .
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX B
EM1 Charles Guthrie is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard/Strike Force Atlantic Team
based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a highly skilled oil spill response specialist and is also a
communications expert and an emergency medical technician. Mr. Guthrie was responsible for
the Team’s communications and assisted in assessing human health issues.
Individuals Supporting the Operation
Ken Stroech is the Director of the Special Preparedness Programs (SPP) Office in
CEPPO. He is responsible for EPA’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and associated
response operations emanating out of the EOC.
Kim Fletcher is a member of the SPP Office staff. ‘s. Fletcher served as the Operations
Officer for the Uzbekistan mission. Ms. Fletcher assisted i. Team by coordinating all logistical
matters and provided day-to-day management of the operations from the EOC.
Barbara Ramsey is also a member of the SPP Office staff. During the response, Ms.
Ramsey coordinated communications between Federal Agencies, supporting the EOC n logistical
matters, and assisted Ms. Fletcher in supporting the Team.
George Patrick is a member of CEPPO staff. Mr. Patrick served as the liaison to the
Office of International Affairs within EPA.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX C
PENDIX C: PROJECT PLAN (Finalized April 7, 1992) -
PROJECT PLAN
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE MISSION
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL BLOW OUT RESPONSE
Background
On March 2. 1992, a blowout occurred at a new oil well located in the Fergana Basin of
Uzbekistan in the former USSR. The cause of the blowout is unknown, however, sabotage has
been ruled out. The oil well is spewing approximately 35,000 to 62,000 barrels of oil per day.
The released oil is currently being contained by a 1.5 mile triangular berm. The berm was
constructed by the locals and the oil is being manually removed from the bermed area via tanker
trucks. As of April 7, 1992, the oil well had caught tire as a result of unknown, albeit accidental,
causes.
The well site is at Miribulask, near the town of Namangan, located in the eastern portion
of Uzbekistan. The terrain is rough and the area is difficult to reach. The area is Uzbek’s most
economically productive region, is well populated and very dry. All of Uzbek’s cotton, the
country’s most important crop and commodity, is grown in the basin. Virtually the only source of
water in the area is the Syr Darya River which flows approximately 200 yards from the site. The
ative population are dependent on that water for drinking and irrigation purposes.
Accordingly, the largest environmental threat to the region is the possibility of the oil
escaping the berm and spilling into the Syr Darya River. The oil itself is high in asphaltenes; lue
to its high temperature, it currently has the consistency of road tar. At ambient temperatures. the
oil tends to be less fluid, impeding its. flow across land if a break in the berm was to occur. If the
oil does reach the river, it will cool quickly and become more viscous but still retain its buoyancy.
Under such circumstances, cleanup efforts historically have been hindered because highly asphaltic
oil easily adheres to objects with which it comes in contact. The oil, however, will not leach
excessive quantities of toxic compounds into the water column like many other oils.
Mission
Mr. Gary Tomlinson and CUDD Pressure Controls of Tulsa, Oklahoma have been
provided with a contractual agreement to cap the well by the Uzbekistan government. The U.S.
military will provide transportation to CUDD to move the necessary equipment to the site.
On March 27, 1992, EPA received a request from the Department of State to organize
and lead an interagency team of experts to provide technical assistance to the Uzbekistan
government. Since the request was made, the Department of State has sent a cable to the
Charge de Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan describing the EPA-lead technical team and
their mission and requesting direct Uzbeki involvement. Preliminary observation from the Charge•
is that the Uzbekis have received this information favorably.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX C
Immediately following the Department of State request. began to organize a team and
prepare for departure. The following are issues and objectives for the team and the team’s
organization.
Objectives
The overall objective Oi Lhe U.S. Team is to provide technical assistance, through the U.S.
Embassy. to the Uzbekistan Government regarding the health and environmental effecis of the oil
well release. The Team will evaluate the health and environmental situation at the site, develop a
remedial plan for the oil spill and fire, and provide guidance in preparing a contingency plan for
any new developments.
1. The first element of the mission involves the immediate assessment of the health
and environmental impacts of the incident. Tea members will sample the air for
vapors and particulates; evaluate the water supply and the threat of contact; and
assess the effects of any direct contact with the oil. The Team will analyze the
spill potential at the site by examining the integrity of the containment efforts,
evaluating provisions for spill control, and refining contingency plans. The Team
will consider environmental impacts on the river’s organisms and habitats, birds,
and terrestrial habitats. In addition, the Team will examine the long-term health
and environmental impacts of the release including air and water supply conditions,
chronic water and soil effects, and habitat destruction. -
2. The second element of the mission is to develop a remedial plan for the oil spill
and fire. The Team will identify the various methods available to extinguish the
fire. The infrastructure within the country as well as the current political situation
must be taken into account when determining the most appropriate type of
assistance. After the fire has been extinguished, the well must stabilized.
Recovering any pooled oil will require the Team to assess the potential for spills
during recovery. The Team will also assess various methods of dealing wixh
contaminated soil, including bioremediation.
3. The final element of the mission requires the Team to provide assistance to the
Uzbeki government in preparing a SpillPrevention and Counter-Control
contingency plan.
The U.S. Team was structured ‘to ensure the needed expertise to provide support in
completing the elements of the mission. Thus, the Team includes represen,tatives from EPA’s
CEPPO as well as the Emergency Response Team (ERT), the Coast Guard, Center for Disease
Control, and the Department of Commercç. The following personnel are currently slated to be
members of the U.S. Team:
Tony Jover
EPA .L. OSWERICEPPO
Team Leader ‘
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX C
rry Allen
EPA-- ERT
Technical Team Leader
Phil Campagna
EPA-- ERT
On-Scene Coordinator/Technical Advisor
CMDR Rich Softye
Coast Guard -- Coast Guard Strike Team
Technical Advisor
EMI Charles E. Guthrie
Coast Guard -- Coast Guard Strike Team
Communications Expert
Fred Stroud
EPA -- Region 4
On-Scene CoordinatoriTechnical Advisor
Dr. Ruth Etzel, M.D./PhJ .
CDC
Technical Advisor
)r. Ruth Etzel, Fred Stroud, and Phil Campagna were members of the team in Kuwait)
Logistical Issues
--Included in this section should be travel information, visa/passport/country clearance/shots, and
in-country logistics. etc.--
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX C
C-4
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX D
!PENDIX D: MISSION PLAN (Finalized April 8, 1992)
UZBEKISTAN OIL SPILL
MISSION: Assist Uzbeki Officials in Evaluating the Health and Environmental Situation, in
Planning remedies for Oil Spill and Fire, and in Planning for Responses to any
New Contingencies.
IMMEDIATE ASSESSMENT ELEMENTS:
Health Impacts
a. Exposure Assessment
1. Air (Vapors and particulates)
(i) VOC (TenaxJCMS), PAH, Acid Gases
(ii) Respirable Particles (RAM)
2. Water (Supply and contact threat)
(i) Visible Sheen -
(ii) TPH , VOC’s, Metals
3. Direct contact with oil
b. Human Health Effects Assessment
1. Emergency Room Record Surveillance
Spill Potential
a. - Assess Integrity of Containment Structures
b. Assess Provisions for Spill Control, Review Well Fire and Stabilization
Procedures, and Evaluate On-Scene Response Hardware
c. Assess Spill Emergency Response Plans
Environmental Impacts
a. Review Existing Background Environmental Information and Assess
Impacts Visually and by Mapping and Photography
1. Riverine (Organisms and Habitats)
2. Birds
3. Terrestrial Habitats
REMEDIAL ASSESSMENT ELEMENTS
Recovered Pool Oil
a. Assess Oil Spill Potential During Recovery, Including Adequacy of Surge
Protection Provisions
b. Assess Effectiveness of Existing Response Capability
Storage of Recovered Oil
a. Assess Practices for Temporary Handling and Storagc of Recovered Oil
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX D
LONG-TERM ASSESSMENT ELEMENTS
Health Impacts
a. Exposure Assessment
1. Air - VOC and Metals (Carbon Tubes)
2. Water Supply - THP Monitoring
b. Human Health Assessment
1. Blood (VOC and Benzene)
2. Urine (Mercury, Nickel, Vanadium)
Spill Prevention and Control Plan
a. Outline for Preparing Plan for Dealing with Future Spills or Spill Threats
From This or Other Sites
Environmental Impacts
a. Chronic Water and Soil Effects
b. Habitat Destruction
Treated Oil Soil
a. Assess Methods of Dealing with Contaminated Soil
D-2
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UZBE)USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX E
PENDIX E: DATA COLLECTED BY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM
E-I. INFORMATION SUMMARY ON UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL BLOW-OUT PRIOR TO
TEAM’S DEPARTURE
On March 2, 1992, a new oil well in the republic of Uzbekistan blew, spewing large
quantities of oil on the immediate countryside. Initial reports indicated that the well was on fire.
It was later discovered that the well was not initially on fire, however, a fire has ignited within the
last few days. The well is releasing large . quantities of oil. A plume of undetermined gas is also
being released from the well.
Oil Well Location
The oil well is located in Minbulask field near the town of Namangan. Namangan is in
the Fergana Basin, which is situated in the eastern portion of Uzbekistan. Several maps provided
in this information packet (see table of contents) identify the location of the oil well.
The oil well is located in a portion of the Fergana Basin which is arid and ruggedly
mountainous (the Pamirs mountain range surrounds the basin). The Syr Darya River flows
northerly through the region and reportedly is the only significant source of water for the
population.
The area is densely populated. From current information available, the largest town in
the vicinity is Namangan with a population of over one million. Several small townships and
villages are located downstream from the well. The independent republic of Kirgiz is also
downstream of the well and a release into the Syr Darya River could have international
implications.
Initial Reports on the Conditions of the Well
The well was recently installed and had not been connected to any storage or processing
facilities. Reports from the U.S. contractor who visited the region provide the following
information:
• The well is approximately 100-200 meters from the Syr Darya River. Residential
units are relatively close to the well; however, exact locations of homes are not
known at this time.
• Initial reports indicated that the well bad been spewing oil at a rate estimated to
be between 31,000 to 62,000 barrels a day. Gas from the well has an H2S content
of 6.5 percent
• The well is a low gravity well and to-date is not cratering. The oil is heavy. The
oil is paraffinic and has a low suLfur content. Additional information on the oil
includes:
E-1
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UZBEIUSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX E
- API 32 degrees
- Sulfur .18 percent
- Volatile loss 23 percent
- Saturates 52 percent
- Aromatics 18 percent
- NSO 8 percent
- Asphaltene 13 percent
• The contractor stated that the oil is “very sticky.”
• The oil is blowing out the side of the well, directly into a surrounding containment
area. Local officials have built berms around the well and are shoring up
secondary containment in case the oil overflows the berms.
• The oil has formed a lake, approximately three to four feet deep, within the
containment area.
• Although it has not been determined what caused the blow-out, sabotage has been
ruled out as a possibility.
Initial On-SIte Response Efforts
Approximately 100 local response individuals are at the well location. These individuals
are re-enforcing the containment and assisting in filling the tankers.to maintain the oil lake’s
current level. The response effort is. veiy low tech. It appears that the oil is being siphoned into
the trucks. No pumping technology appears to be available at the well to quicken the removal
process.
The containment area is triangular in shape and approximately one half mile in length in
each direction. Local personnel and a few Russian firefighters are the only responders at this
time.
In addition to the United States, assistance has been offered by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait;
however, Uzbekistan has not replied to Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. The Uzbeki government has
contacted the U.S. Department of State requesting assistance. This request is the basis for
sending the EPA-led technical assistance team to the region.
E-2 . TEAM’S HEALTH FIT4DINGS
Graphical summaries measuring exposure to volatile organic compounds of workers and
Team members are provided on the following pages. The volatile compounds analyzed include
Benzene Ethylbenzene , M-/P-Xylene , O-Xylene, Styrene, Trichioroethene, Tetrachioroethane,
and Toluene.
E-2
-------
Toluehe
6-.
4
2
0
Kuwait
Firefighters
(N=40)
Kuwait City
Volunteers
(N=14)
tizbekistan
Firefighters
(N=10)
Reference
(N .1 14)
n
tI- Median
4 0/
I /0
ppm
8—
çn
t J
C
N
m
-4
0
2
C
>4
-------
Tetrachioroethene
ppm
70
Median
60 - 1%
50
40
rn
30
20
10
0 II I I I
Kuwait Kuwait City Uzbekistan Reference
Firefighters Volunteers Firefighters
(N=40) (N=14) (N=10) (N=114)
-------
Trichioroethene
ppm
8 99%
H.
-fl—Median
10/
iio
6
2-
o I 1
• Kuwait Kuwait City Uzbekistan Reference
Firefighters Volunteers Firefighters
(N=40) (N=14) (N=1O) (.N=114)
-------
Styrene
Kuwait
Firefighters
(N=40)
Kuwait City
Volunteers
(N=14)
Uzbekistan
Firefighters
(N=1O)
Reference
(N=1 14)
p 99 %
U Median
1 0/
I /0
rn
ppm
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
-------
O-Xyiene
Kuwait Kuwait City Uzbekistan Reference
Firefighters Volunteers Firefighters
(N=40) (N=14) (N=10)
(N=1 14)
n
U Median
10/
U /0
ppm
3.5 -
çn
N
0
r
3
2.5
2
1.5.
1
0.5
0
I I
x
C T ,
-------
M-/P-Xylene
p 99 %
U Median
-10,
5 /0
Kuwait
Firefighters
(N=40)
Kuwait City Uzbekistan Reference
Volunteers Firefighters
(N=14) (N=1O)
(N=1 14)
ppm
12
10
8
6
4
tn
do
2
0
I I
-------
Ethylbenzène
Kuwait
Firefighters
(N=40)
Kuwait City
Volunteers
(N=14)
Uzbekistan
Firefighters
(N=10)
n 99 %
U Median
10/
I /0
N
-4
0
p
tn
ppm
3.
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Reference
C
x
(N=1 14)
-------
Benzene
ppm_______________________________
1.2 99%
• • U Median
40 1
1 p/o
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 •
0
Kuwait Kuwait City Uzbekistan Reference
Firefighters Volunteers Firefighters
(N=40) (N=14) (N=10) (N= 14)
-------
UZB !USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
APPENDIX F: POLREPS
F - i
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP TWO UZBEKISTAN OIL.WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT
WEDNESDAY APRIL 15, 1992
A. SITUATION
OIL WELL CONTINUES TO BURN WITH CIJDD BEGINNING TO ASSEMBLE
TEAM AND EQUIPMENT NECESSARY TO MOVE ON THE JOB. TEAM
FOLLOWING MISSION PLAN.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN
00:17 14 APRIL 1992 ARRIVED FRANKFURT.
02:47 LEFT FOR INCIRLIX, TURKEY.
08:30 ARRIVED IN TURKEY.
HAD MUCH DLH-ICULTY OBATINING CLEARANCE FROM TURKISH
MILiTARY TO LEAVE BASE TO GO TO ADANA FOR HOTEL. FINALLY,
TEAM JOINED UP WITH THE C-14.1 CREW AND AFTER OBTAINING
TURKISH MILITARY PERMISSION, WENT O FBASE TO ADANA TO
HOTEL. RESTED UNTIL 22:30 AND LEFT FOR INCIRLIK TO RESUME TRIP
TO UZBEKISTAN. EXPECTED TO FIND USSR NAVIGATOR IN INCIRLIK TO
HELP STEER THE AIRCRAFT TO NAMANGAN BUT NAVIGATOR NOT
ALLOWED BY 1TIRKISH GOVERNMENT TO ENTER TURKISH TERRITORY.
MISSION CHANGED TO FLY TO TASHKENT TO FTh D NAVIGATOR AND
GO FROM TASHKENT TO NAMANGAN. DEPARTED INCIRLIK AFB AT•
01:30 ON APRIL 15 TO TASHKENT. ARRIVED TASHKENT AT 08:30
• AND PICKED UP NAVIGATOR. MET BILL HARRISON FROM US MISSION
AT AIRPORT. HARRISON, UNAWARE OF OUR ARRIVAL AND AT
AIRPORT FOR ANOTHER FUNCTION, SAID THAT CHARGE EXPEenD TO
BE IN NAMANGAN FOLLOWING DAY APRIL 16 AND WOULD NOT BE
ABLE TO MEET US TODAY BECAUSE OF CONGRESSIONAL DPI PGA11ON
VISITING SAMARKAND. CLEARED CUSTOMS AT TASHKENT WITHOUT
• Dth} ICULTIES AND CONTINUED TOWARDS NAMANGAN AT 09:25.
09:50 OVERFLIGHT OF WELL ON C-141 ON APPROACH TONAMANGAN
OBSERVED CLEAN BURNING OIL WELL WITH PLUME HEIGHT AT ABOUT
4,000FF, COMPOSED OF VERY CLEAR WHITE SMOKE. COULD NOT
CONFIRM FROM AIR EVIDENCE OF LARGE POOLS OF OIL ON GROUND
AROUND WELL. VIDEO AND STILL PHOTOS TAKEN.
10:05 ARRIVED NAMANGAN. PROCEEDED TO UNLOAD EQUIPMENT
AND LUGGAGE TO TARMAC WITH HELP FROM USAF PERSONNEL ON
SITE WORKING ON LOADERS. OUR C-141 WAS THIRD AIRCRAFT.
F-2
-------
UZBE)USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
ARRiVING AT UZBEKISTAN, BUT THE FIRST AIRCRAFT ACTUAllY
CONTAINING EQUiPMENT TO BE USED FOR CAPPING THE WELL. MET
AL BRIDGES FROM 362 ALC SQUADRON, FRANKFURT, WHO WAS
SUPERVISING UNLOADING OPERATIONS BUT DID NOT EXPECT ANYONE
TO BE ACCOMPANYING EQUIPMENT ON OUR C-141. BRIDGES HELPFUL
AND LOCATED STORAGE FOR EQUIPMENT IN A “SECURE” LOCATION
AT THE NAMANGAN AIRPORT.
MISSION TASHKENT TELEPHONED NAMANGAN ABOUT OUR
IMPENDING ARRIVAL AND SOON AFTER UNLOADING OPERATIONS
WERE COMPLETED WERE MET BY ISAMET DINOV, NAMANGAN AIRPORT
DIRECTOR, WHO ARRANGED FOR TRANSPORTATION AND PUT US IN
TOUCH WITH NAMANGAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
TRANSLATOR HASSAN WHO HAS SINCE EARLY AFTERNOON
CONTINUED TO HELP US GET AROUND. TEAM IS GUEST OF UZBEKJ
GOVERNMENT.
FROM AIRPORT TELEPHONED US EMBASSY IN TASHKENT AND ASKED
ABOUT CHARGE VISIT TO NAMANGAN, AND WAS TOLD CHARGE
EXPEeLED TO BE WITH US FOLLOWING DAY IN NAMANGAN BUT HIS
ACTUAL SCHEDULE NOT ESTABUSHED. NOTE GOOD NUMBER FOR US
EMBASSY TASFEKENT IS 771407.
WHEN LEAVING AIRPORT BY BUS TO HOTEL MET BOB CUDD AND
CREW WHO WERE GOING TO AIRPORT TO EXAMINE EQUIPMENT.
CUDD AND CREW STAYING AT HOTEL NAMANGAN ALSO AS GUESTS
OF UZBEKI GOVERNMENT.
ARRIVED AT NAMANGAN HOTEL AND RESTAURANT IN NAMANGAN
AT ABOUT 12:30 AND MET WITH LOCAL UZBEKI AUTHORITIES
REGARDING OUR PLANS.
HAD LUNCH AND WENT FOR STROLL IN A VERY QUITE BUT FRIENDLY
CiTY. HAS SAN TOOK TEAM TO PLACE WHERE WE WERE ABLE TO
EXCHANGE DOLLARS FOR RUBLES AT EXCHANGE RATE OF 1:100.
RUTH Ei” ’ - AND CHUCK GUTHR [ E VISITED LOCAL HOSPITAL WHERE
ONE OF CUDD’S CREW WAS HOSPITALIZED WITH THE CRUD. CREW
MEMBER DOING WELL AND EXPECtED TO LEAVE HOSPITAL
TOMORROW.
POL1’flCS OF CAPPING WELL APPARENTLY NOT TOTALLY IN SYNC AS
THERE IS TALK THAT OLD SOVIET TEAM THAT WORKED ON THE
F-3
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
ORIGINAL WELL AND IS STILL AROUND TRYING TO CAP IT, AND IS
INVOLVED IN THE OPERATION. ROLES RUSSIAN VIS-A-VIS CUDD NOT
Q AR
20:45 A1TEMPTING TO CONNECI VIA SATELLITE AND TRANSMIT THIS
RDLREP.
C. RJTTJRE PLANS
09:00 TEAM WILL MEET WITH VLADIMIR KONUXHOV, FIRST DEPUTY
CHAIRMAN OF UZBEKISTAN STATE COMM1TIEE FOR ENVIRONMENT
TO DISCUSS SPECIFICS OF OUR PLANS AND SOLICIT THEIR INTEREST
• AND COLLABORATION. AFTER MEETING, TEAM ACT! VrithS WILL BE
SPUT AS FOLLOWS:
RUTH ETZEL AND CHUCK GUTHRIE WILL VISIT CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
FOR NAMANGAN REGION TO BEGIN TO EXAMINE HEALTH RECORDS
FOR POSSIBLE SMOKE EXPOSURE, ETC.
REST OF TEAM WILL PROCEED TO VISiT THE SITE WITH FIRST DEPUTY
AND CHARGE (IF CHARGE MANAGES TO ARRIVE IN NAMANGAN AT
THAT TIME) AND TO “SECURE” STORAGE PLACE IN AIRPORT TO
RETRIEVE AND CALIBRATE MONITORING EQUIPMENT
F-4
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP THREE UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT
THURSDAY APRIL 16, 1992
A. SITUATION
WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN. CUDD WELL CONTROL,
CONTRACTOR HIRED TO PUT OUT THE WELL, IS ONSITE. EQUIPMENT
CONTINUES TO ARRIVE WITH FINAL FLIGHTS SCHEDULED FOR
TOMORROW, APRIL 17, 1992. CONTRACTOR WILL REQUIRE FURTHER
SHIPMENT OF EQUIPMENT POSSIBLY FROM THE UNiTED STATE,
KUWAIT AND OTHER LOCATIONS, DUE TO RUSSIAN FIRE FIGHTERS
EFFORTS WHICH MAY HAVE WORSENED PROBLEM BY SHOOTING
WELLHEAD WITH TANK CANNON. NOT CLEAR THAT CUDD CONTRACT
IS FULLY IN PLACE AND NOW SEEMS THAT THE UZBEKI GOVERNMENT
HAS CHANGED ITS MIND AND IS NOT WILLING TO HAVE CUDD IN
FULL CONTROL OF THE WELL OPERATION.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN
09:00 MEETING WITH DR KONJUKHOV, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN STATE
COMM1TIEE OF THE UZBEK SSR FOR NATIJRE PROTECTION. MEETING
WAS BRIEF AND RATHER RUSHED AS WE WERE EXPECTING RIDE TO
ARRIVE TO TAKE US TO THE WELL SITE.
09:30 RUTH ETZEL AND FRED STROUD RETURNED FROM HOSPITAL
AFTER SPENG THE DISCHARGE OF CIJDD EMPLOYEE., NOW FULLY
RECOVERED FROM HIS STOMACH PROBLEM.
09:50 RIDE TO WELL SITE FINALLY CAME TO PICK US UP. MUCH
CONFUSION REGARDING HOW WE WOULD ALL GET TO THE WELL SITE.
WE ALL RODE WITH DR KONJUKHOV IN A VAN, WENT TO HIS
DIRECTORATE AND FROM THERE TO THE AIRPORT TO PICK UP
MONITORING EQUIPMENT AND PORTABLE TELEPHONES.
10:47 TONY JOVER MET MIKE MOZUR, CHARGE, WHO ARRIVED FROM
TASHKENT IN C-141 BRING EQUIPMENT TO NAMANGAN AT AIRPORT.
TONY, BERNY MCCONNELL (COL, USAF FOREIGN UAISON ARRANGING
THE OVERALL LOGISTICS OF AIRLIFT) AND MIKE MOZUR RODE
TOGETHER TO WELL SITE. REST OF TEAM RODE WITH DR KONJUKHOV
IN VAN.
F-5
-------
UZBE}USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F ,
12:15 ARRWED AT WELL SITE TONY TO MEET WITH DEPUTY PRIME
MINISTER KHAKOULOV, PERSON OVERALL IN CHARGE OF THE
OPERATION AT THE SITE. DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SOMEWHAT
AUTOCRATIC IN HIS MANNER. N’flI(E MOZUR WILL BE
COMMUNICATING ON THIS ISSUE VIA CABLE. NEVERTHELESS, MOZTJR
STRESSED TO THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER THE ENVIRONMENTAL
SIGNIFICANCE OF OUR MISSION AND THE FACT THAT IS WAS
MOUNTED IN RESPONSE TO THE DIRECT INTEREST OF THE PRESIDENT
OF UZBEKISTAN. DEPUTY NODDED.
REST OF TEAM ARRIVED SOON AFTER WARPS AND IMMEDIATELY
BEGAN TO SET UP COMMUNICATIONS, SURVEY SITUATION WITH
VIDEO TAPING AND PHOTO. RUTH CONDUC1ED PRELIMINARY
HEALTH SURVEY AT SITE CLINIC AND LEARNED THAT OVER 535 PEOPLE
HAD SOUGHT MEDICAL CARE SINCE MARCH 3 WHEN THE CLINIC WAS
FIRST SET UP WITH PRIMARY PROBLEMS BEING BURNS, HEADACHES,
MINOR [ NJIJRIES AND STOMACH PROBLEMS. EXACT BREAKOUT IN
PERCENT VALUES WiLL BE DEVELOPED BY OFFICIALS AT THE CLINiC BY
TOMORROW. MONITORING CONDUCTED WAS REAL-TIME AEROSOL
MONITOR FOR TOTAL PARTICULATES, WITH READINGS OF 0.008
MG/M3 OBTAINED AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS DOWNWIND OF THE
FIRE. READINGS OF 0.14 MGIM3 WERE OBTAINED DURING HEAVY
VEHICLE TRAFFIC. DURING STRONG WIND STORM WITH HIGH DUST
LEVELS THE READING WERE 1.4 MGIM3 WITH A STEADY AVERAGE OF
0.25 MGIM3. THESE READING WERE CONSIDER HIGH DUE TO VERY
HIGH LEVELS OF DUST IN BACKGROUND. NO NOTICEABLE ODORS OF
SULFUR AND SIMILAR COMPOUNDS. MINIMAL VAPORS OF
HYDROCARBONS DUE TO VEHICLE EXHAUST AS WELL AS RESIDUAL
OIL ON THE GROUND.
CONDULmD FIELD SURVEY. ON SITE SURVEY CONFIRMED REMOVAL
LARGE TRENCHES OF OIL BURNING OF RESIDUAL OIL EVIDENT AS
WELL AS THE PRINCIPAL OIL WELLHEAD. OIL NOT BURNING AND STILL
ON THE GROUND BEING PUMPED ONTO TRUCKS FOR SHIPMENT
ELSEWHERE VIA OIL PIPELINE 5 KM AWAY. FIREFIGHTING WATER
CONTAINMENT LAKE BEING CONSTRUeri D FOR RECOVERING WATER
USED FOR SNUFFING OUT THE FIRE LATER. WE OBSERVED NO OILING
IN BANKS OF ADJACENT CYR DARIA RIVER AND NO VISIBLE OIL ON
THE WATER AT THE TIME. OBSERVED VERY LARGE AREA, AS LARGE AS
4 KM LONG AND 2 KM WIDE WHERE VEGETATION AND GROUND
APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN SPRAYED BY BURST OF WIND-DRIVEN OiL
EARLIER WHEN OIL ONLY GUSHING. THOUGH NOT CERTAIN, IT
APPEARS THAT THE LARGE AREA COVERED BY THE OIL SHOWER WAS
F-6
-------
UZBE K1STAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
THE RESULT OF A STRONG WINDSTORM AND WAS NOT A
CONTINUOUS SHOWER OF OIL. VIDEO AND STILL PHOTOS TAKEN.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACI’S LOOKED FOR
•FOUNTAIN AIR VO’S
• HUMAN HEALTH ODOR
SMOG FORMATION
HUMAN HEALTH AND CARCINOGENIC l i-tCT
OIL DROPLETS
FILTH AND COST OF CLEANiNG PROPERlY
VEGETATION AND CROP DAMAGA
B IRDS AND HABITATS
WATER BTX AND VO’S
TOXICiTY OF SOLUBLE MATERIALS
OIL
COATING OF SURFACE AND SHORELINE
SEDIMENT CONTAMINATION
SOIL BTX BO’S
NO IMPACT
OIL
SOIL CONTAMINATION TILL BREAKDOWN
HABITAT DAMAGE - TEMPORARY
•FIRE
AIR VO’S BTX, OIL
NO IMPACT
SOOT
DEPOSITION - NO AIR IMPACT
WATER SOOT
WELL FIRE BIG BUT NOT AS BIG AS SOME OF THE KUWAITI MONSTERS.
FIRE NOT SPEWING DROPLETS OF OIL AS MANY OF THESE FIRES DID IN
KUWAIT.
NOTE SENSfl1VE INFORMATION FOLLOWS. HARRY AND TONY WERE
ASKED BY DEPUTY PRIME MIMSTER TO BRIEF HIM ON AcUVLTUES.
DEPUTY NOT INTERESTED IN REPORT BUT ASKED IRRELEVANT
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE KIND OF BLOOD PRESSURE EQUIPMENT WE
BROUGHT AND WHETHER IT WAS THE JAPANESE TYPE THAT IS USED
IN THE FINGER. DEPUTY SOMETHING OF A OLD LINE STRONG MAN IN
THE AREA AND MOST UZBEKI OFFICIALS AROUND HIM APPEAR TO BE
SOMEWHAT AFRAID OF HIM.
F-7
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
DAY OBSERVATIONS LEAD TO CONCLUSION THAT THERE IS NO
IMMINENT HEALTH OR ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY IN THE REGION.
C. FUTURE ACTIONS
1. VERIFICATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF SCENARIO OF EVENTS
EARLY MARCH, INCLUDING BOOM PLACEMENT AND OIL RECOVERY
TECHNIQUES AND RESPONSE. UZBEKS SUGGEST VERY HIGH RECOVERY
RA1
2. BECAUSE SITIJATION APPEARS TO BE UNDER CONTROL AND NOT
ONE OF EMERGENCY NATURE TONY PLANS CONVERSATION BY PHONE
WITH CHARGE FIRST THING AM TO DISCUSS PARTIAL
DEMOBILIZATION OF TEAM RETURNING TO USA WOULD BE USCG
CONTINGENT AND PHIL. THERE IS CONCERN BOTH IN TASHKENT AND
NAMANGAN ABOUT ABILITY TO TAKE VALUABLE EQUIPMENT FROM
RUSSIA ON RETURN TRIP AND RETURNING PARTY WOULD BE
CARRYING VALUABLE AND NOT NEEDED EQUIPMENT ON LAST OF THE
SCHEDULED C-141 DEPARTING NAMANGAN AFTER 18:00
TOMORROW. USAF MAY BE RECEWJNG REQUEST FROM UZBEKI
GOVERNMENT FOR ADDITIONAL SHIPMENT OF EQUIPMENT AND IT IS
POSSIBLE THAT REST OF TEAM MAY BE ABLE TO HITCH RIDE AT A
LATER DATE THOUGH THIS IS FAR FROM CERTAIN.
3. IF ICE IS AVAILABLE IN NAMANGAN RUTH ETJH WILL DRAW
BLOOD FROM ABOUT 50 FIREFIGHTERS AND WORKERS THAT
PRESUMABLY HAVE THE HIGHEST EXPOSURE. DISCUSSION WITH
HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE ALREADY BEEN CONDUCTED AND THEIR FULL,
COOPERATION IS PROMISED.
4. COT I FC11ON WATER SAMPLES IN THE RIVER AND DRINKING
WATER RESERVOIR. COlT PC IION OF AIR SAMPLES AT FIRE LNE, AT OIL.
PUMPING AREA AND ONE IN THE COMMAND POST.
5. Mi± T WITH NAMANGAN OFFICIALS AND SEE ABOUT OBTAINING
HISTORICAL AIR DATA AND WATER QUALITY DATA AND WEATHER
DATA FOR THE OIL FIELD AREA
6. MEETING AT 09:00 WITH DR KONJUKHOV TO CONTINUE
DISCUSSIONS AND SiTE AcrIvrithS.
F-8
-------
UZBI KISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP FOUR UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT’
FRIDAYAPRIL 17, 1992
A. SITUATION
• WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN
06:15 CONVERSATION WITH MIKE MOZUR REGARDING OUR PLANS TO
CUT BACK OUR TEAM BY SENDING UNEEDED EQUIPMENT AND THREE
OF OUR STAFF BACK HOME, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE LAST C-141
FLIGHT OUT OF NAMANGAN. MIKE AGREED AND SUGGESTED I WRiTE
A SHORT NOTE TO THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER KHAKOULOV
INFORMING HIM ABOUT ALL THIS. MIKE ASKED ME TO ASSESS UZBEKI
INTEREST IN BILATERAL ARRANGEMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL
MAImRS IF THE OPPORTUNiTY PRESENTED ITSELF.
08:00 DAY STARTED AS ALWAYS WITH BREAKFAST AT 08:00
FOLLOWED BY PICKUP BY HOSTS ON OR ABOUT 09:00 ONLY TODAY IS
RAINING.
09:00 VISITED REGIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE UZBEK SSR FOR NATURE
PROTECTION WITH DR. VLADIMIR GRIGORJEVICH KONJUKHOV,
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF STATE COMMITTEE, DR MOUMAJANOV,
REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF NATURE PROTECTION, DR RAKIMOY
NASINJAN, REGIONAL HEAD OF DOCTORS AND OUR TRANSLATOR
MOUMIKOV KELSUUGAU, LECTURER STATE UNIVERSITY IN
NAMANGAN, FOR MEETINGS AND TOUR OF FACILiTY. FACILrI1ES VERY
PRIMiTIVE, MORE LIKE A JR HIGH SCHOOL LABORATORY THAN A
GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING. THERE ARE NO COMPUTERS, NO
COPYING MACHINES.
THIS MEETiNG WAS PRODUCTIVE AND ALLOWED US TO GET MUCH
BELL ER ACQUAINTED WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE UZBEKI
PEOPLE AND DiL-HCULTIES THEY HAVE IN MEETING THE BASIC
ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS OF THE COUNTRY. DR VLADIMIR
KONIUKHOV CAME RIGHT OUT AND MENTION THAT HE WAS MOST
INTERESTED IN ESTABLISH]NG SOME RELATIONSHIP WITH THE US ON
ENVIRONMENTAL MAI ItRS, THE SORT OF BILATERAL RELATIONS
THAT THE US HAD WITH THE USSR, BUT DIRECTLY WITH THE UZBEK
F-9
-------
UZBE)USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
NATION AND NOT INVOLVING MOSCOW IN ANY FORM. THIS SORT OF
INTEREST WAS THE KIND THAT MOZUR WAS LOOKING FOR AND WE
WERE ABLE TO DISCUSS IN VERY GENERAL TERMS SOME OF THE KINDS
OF TECHNICAL AID, SUCH AS INFORMATION, TECHNICAL BOOKS,
THAT COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE.
WHILE RUTH, HARRY, FRED, RICH, AND TONY WERE IN A1TEND [ NG
METING, PHIL AND CHUCK WENT TO THE STORAGE AREA AT THE
AIRPORT TO DROP OFF EQUIPMENT AND PICK UP ADDITIONAL
EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR THE DAY’S ACHy fliES AT THE WELL SITE.
11:30 PHIL AND CHUCK RETURN FROM AIRPORT AFTER FRUSTRATING
TIME IN OBTAINING ACCESS TO THE STORAGE SiTE. RAIN FALLING
DOWN AND FINALLY THE DECISION WAS MADE TO HAVE LUNCH iN
• TOWN INSTEAD OF AT THE WELL SiTE, AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED.
LUNCH WAS HADAT THE HOTEL NAMANGA, WHERE WE ARE STAYING.
13:20 BECAUSE OF THE MORNING DELAYS AND THE RAIN, DECISION
WAS MADE TO CONTINUE OUR MEETINGS WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENTISTS AT THE AIRPORT SITE WHERE WE COULD DEMONSTRATE
OUR EQUIPMENT AND BEGIN TO PACK UP PHIL CHUCK AND RICH ON
LAST C-141 FLIGHT RETURNiNG TO TURKEY. SPENT AFTERNOON IN
• HANGAR EATING MRE’S WITH UZBEKIS AND TALKING UP A STORM,
GEniNG BEimR ACQUAINTED AND INSTRUCTING ON USE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING EQUIPMENT.
DURING AFTERNOON HAD BAD NEWS THAT THE AGREEMENT WE
PREVIOUSLY HAD FOR RUTH TO DRAW BLOOD FROM OIL WORKERS
COULD NOT BE HONORED WITHOUT THE DIRECT’ APPROVAL FROM
THE MINISTER OF HEALT}L AimMPTED TO REACH MOZUR TO ASK
FOR HIS ASSISTANCE IN REACHING THE HEALTH MINISTER BUT
MOZUR WAS OUT OF MISSION IN MEETINGS AND STAFF WAS GOING
TO DO WHAT THEY COULD.
17:45 C-141 DEPARTS WITH PHIL, CHUCK AND RICH TOWARDS
TASHKENT TO DROP OFF RUSSIAN NAVIGATOR AND ON TURKEY,
GERMANY, ETC. THE THREE WILL TRAVEL VIA C-14l AND CHANGE TO
COMMERCIAL FUGHT IF APPROPRIA1 .
18:15 INVITED OUR HOSTS TO OUR ROOMS TO HAVE SOME
COGNAC. THEY WERE PLEASED AND WE HAD A NICE TIME FOR THE
NEXT! 1/2 HOURS.
F-1O
-------
UZS .KISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
C. FUT1JRE ACTiONS
1. VERIFICATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF SCENARIO OF EVENTS
EARLY MARCH, INCLUDING BOOM PLACEMENT AND OIL RECOVERY
TECHNIQUES AND RESPONSE. UZEEKI SUGGESTED VERY HIGH
RECOVERY RATE
2. AIthMPT TO HAVE HEALTH MINISTER AGREE TO BLOODE
SAMPLING..
3. COT I FCflON WATER SAMPLES IN THE RIVER.
4. MEETING AT 09:00 WITH DR KONJUKHOV TO CONTINUE
DISCUSSIONS AND SITE ACTIVIIthS.
F-il
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
POLREP FIVE UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT
SATURDAY APRIL 18, 1992
A. SITUATION
WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN .
09:00 PICKED UP BY UZBEKIS TO GO TO WELL SITE. UZBEKIS BOUGHT
AEROFLOT TICKETS TO TASHKENT FOR US AT THEIR OWN PRICE
(ABOUT $6.50) ROUTE TO SITE IS SORT OF ROUNDABOUT, SET1TNG
OUT SOUTH FROM NAMANGAN AND VEERING WEST ON A WIDE
CURVE TOWARDS DZHIDALIK AND THEN SOUTH CROSSING FIRST THE
NARIN AND LATER THE KARA DARIA RIVERS, WHICH JOIN UP JUST
WEST OF MINGBULAK TO FORM THE CYR DARJA.
LEARNED THE WELL SITE WAS NOT WHERE WE THOUGHT IT WAS, EAST
OF THE FERRY THE CROSSING THE CYR DARIA, BUT MORE TO THE
WEST. RATHER THAN GOING DIRECTLY TO THE HEADQUARTERS OF
THE WELL OPERATIONS, WE CONTINUED ON THE MAIN ROAD
THROUGH MINGBULAK TO OBSERVE THE CANALS WHERE THEY HAVE
BEEN STORING OIL.
A SYSTEM OF CANALS THAT WERE BUILT DURING THE BREZHNEV ERA
AND WERE NEVER ABLE TO BE UTILIZED BECAUSE ENGINEERING
MISTAKES ARE NOW BEING USED AS TEMPORARY STORAGE AREAS FOR
OIL. OUR INFORMATION IS THAT THE OIL FIRST POOLED AROUND
THE WELL LATER DITCHES WERE DUG CONNECTING THE WELL TO
CANALS, AND PUMPS WERE USED TO BOTH PUMP OIL FROM THE OIL
POOLS TO THE CANALS, AND ON TO EVERY POSSIBLE KIND OF TANK
TRUCK THAT SHOWED UP TO PICK UP OIL. MOST OF THE OIL THAT
WAS REMOVED WAS SENT BY TRUCK TO REFINERIES IN FERGANA,
DIRECTLY ON THE OPPOSITE, SOUTHERN END OF THE VAT I PY SOUTH
OF NAMANGAN. MANY TRUCKS PICKED UP OIL THAT WAS NOT SENT
TO THE REFINERIES, AND IT IS NOT CLEAR WHAT WAS DONE WITH
THIS OIL. OUR HOSTS SAID THAT FARMERS USE THE OIL FOR
HEATING, BUT WE ARE NOT SURE THIS IS POSSIBLE. WE OBSERVED
MANY (AS SHOWN IN THE NEWS VIDEO) TRUCKS LINED UP EARLY IN
THE MORNING WAIliNG FOR A LOAD OF OIL.
F- 12
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
ALL AROUND THE WELL SITE, FOR A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 4 KM. THE
LAND WA COVERED WITH A THIN COATING OF OIL. TI-US OIL WAS
PROMINE\T ONLY ON THE SIDE OF TREES AND BRANCHES DIRECTLY
FACING THE WELL. THE OIL WAS BLOWN BY THE HEAVY WiND
STORMS ThAT 0111N AFFECT THE AREA, AND CUDD ESTIMATED
THAT GIVEN THE TYPE OF WELL IN MINGBULAK AND THE WINDS OIL
WOULD BE CARRIED AWAY BY THE WIND FOR OVER 5 MILES.
IT LOOKED LIKE MOST OF THE OIL THAT WAS SPLATLERED AROUND
THE WELL SITE AREA (5 SQUARE 1 (M) WAS DEPOSITED PRIOR TO THE
ADVENT OF SPRING. THE RESULT OF THIS IS THAT EVEN HEAVILY
COATED TREES DON’T SHOW SIGNS OF BEING AFFEeLED BY THE OIL,
AND FRUIT TREES, WHICH ARE ABUNDANT IN THE AREA, CARRY
SPRING FLOWERS iN QUANTITY SOILED GROUND ALSO SHOWS
HEALTHY GRASS CROPPING THROUGH THE OILY SURFACE, EVEN IN
AREAS NEAR THE OIL WELL WHERE OILS WAS MOST HEAVY. UZBEKI
TREATMENT OF SOIL COVERED WITH OIL WAS TO BURN IT, AND THEN
BRING NEW SOIL TO THE SITE AND PUT ON TOP OF THE SOILED OIL,
AND IN SOME CASES THEY liT I PD IT.
OBSERVED STORK NESTS THAT WERE HEAVILY OILED. THESE NESTS
WERE ON TOP OF POWER LINES AND WE ESTIMATED MAYBE ONE AND
ONE HALF DOZEN SUCH NESTS WERE IN THE AREA. HAD THE STORKS
BEEN NESTiNG THE EGGS WOULD HAVE BEEN WELL COVERED BY THE
OIL AND PROBABLY POISONED. HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO DR
KONJUKHOV, AT THE TIME OF THE WIND DRIVEN OILING, THE NESTS
HAD NO EGGS. WE APPROACHED SOME NESTS AND SAW APPARENTLY
HEALTHY STORKS. WE SUGGESTED DR KONJUKHOV RE-VISIT THE
OILED NESTS LATER IN THE SPRING TO SEE IF THERE ARE CHICKS, AND
NDCF YEAR AS WE11
COT I FCIED ONE SAMPLE OF CYR DARIA RIVER WAThR UPSTREAM OF
THE WELL, AT THE FERRY THAT CROSSES THE RIVER TO THE EAST.
LATER WE COT . 1 FC ED A SECOND WATER SAMPLE AT THE DZUMASHUY
BRIDGE OVER THE CYR DARIA, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN 15 KM DOWN
RIVER (WEST) OF THE OIL WELL.
PROCEEDED TO CHECK ON BOOMS IN THE CYR DARIA, DEPLOYED,
ACCORDING TO THE UZBEKIS, WITHIN 4 DAYS OF THE BLOWOUT.
THESE BOOMS (WE VISiTED TWO SITES) WERE MADE OF STEEL PIPE,
APPROXIMATELY 12” WIDE, FLOATED AT ABOUT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE
UPRIVER AND REACHING ABOUT Z/3 THE WIDTH OF THE RIVER. THE
BOOMS WERE COTJ FCTOR BOOMS AND CAUGHT TWIGS, ETC.,WITH
F-13
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UZBEKISTAN OLL WELL RELEASE Arrtr uiA r
i RIVER CURRENT DRAWING THESE TO THE SHORE FOR PICK UP BY
LABORERS. OILED TWIGS AND BRANCHES WERE THROWN INTO PITS
AND BURNED. THE TWO BOOMS WE VISITED WERE (1) ABOUT 7 KM
DOWN RIVER FROM THE WELLHEAD AND (2) AT THE BRIDGE OVER
THE CYR DARIA JUST EAST OF THE TOWN OF DZUMASHUY. NO
SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF OILED MATERIAL WAS DETECTED AT THESE
SITES. THE SECOND BOOM, EAST OF DZUMASHUY, ALSO HAD GRASS
SORBENT BOOMS SUSPENDED FROM THE BRIDGE. THESE GRASS
BOOMS APPEARED HEAVILY OILED, BUT THEY HAD BEEN IN PLACE
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE SPILL..
AFTER VISITING THE DZUMASHUY BOOM, WE TOURED PRINCE
BABUR’S OLD CITY ON THE NORTH SHORE OF THE CYR DARIA, WHICH
IS SLOWLY BEING EXCAVATED.
18:00 ARRIVED BACK AT THE NAMANGAN HOTEL.. HOSTS ASKED [ F
WE WOULD JOIN THEM FOR DINNER AT 19:00. THEY WOULD COME
BACK TO PICK US UP.
19:00 HOSTS CAME IN TWO CARS TO PICK US UP AND TOOK US TO
THE COMMITTEE BUILDING. THERE THEY HAD ARRANGED A VERY
NICE DINNER, WHICH WE THINK THEY COOKED THEMSELVES, AND
WITH PLENTY OF RUSSIAN VODKA WE HAD A VERY WARM EVENiNG.
21:00 MANAGED TO GET PHONE CALL TO THE US TO BOTH KEN AND
JIM AND REPORTED ON ACI1VUIES.
C. FU1TJRE ACTIONS
OUR INTERPRETER ASKED IF HE COULD BRING THE TEXTBOOK HE USES
IN HIS UNWERSITY COURSE AND HAVE US READ WHILE HE TAPES THE
READINGS. IN1ERPRETER WILL SUBSEQUENThY PLAY TAPES TO HIS
STUDENTS. THIS IS PLANNED FOR 08:00 TOMORROW.
VISITS TO BAZAARS AND FINAL CONVERSATIONS EXPECTED
TOMORROW, WITH DEPARTURE TO TASHKENT AT 14:30.
F- 14
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UZB K1STAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP SIX UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT
SUNDAY APRIL 19’, 1992
A. SITUATION
WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN
08:00 MOUMIROV KELSUUJAU LECI1JRER OF STATE U [ N NAMANGAN
(TEL 2-90-59), OUR TRANSLATOR CAME TO HOTEL TO TAPE OUR
READING FROM UNWERSITY ENGUSH TEXT. WE TAPED ABOUT
TWELVE READINGS, WHICH HE PLANS TO PLAY BACK TO HIS CLASS
(REAL AMERICAN ACCENTS, HE SAiD)
09:00 VLADIMIR KONJUKHOV, MUBLUBAYER TURQUNBAY, (TEL 6-
60-45, 6-81-99 HOME) REGIONAL DIRECTOR AN1) INTERPRETER, CAME
TO HOTEL TO TAKE US SHOPPING. WENT TO CITY MARKET AND
BOUGHT SOUVENIRS, ETC., AND RETURNED TO HOTEL REGIONAL
HEAD OF DOCTORS RAKIMOV NASIMJAN (TEL 6-32-95, 2-98-45
HOME).
12:00 HAD LUNCH AND DEPARTED TO AIRPORT
14:30 DEPARTED NAMANGAN TO TASHKENT VIA AEROFLOT
15:30 ARRIVED AT TASHKENT. GUS FROM THE MISSION WAS
WAITING FOR US IN wrr TWO MISSION CARS AND TOOK US TO THE
COMPOUND WHERE THE EMBASSY STAFF LIVE. THIS COMPOUND WAS
USED BY HIGH LEVEL MINISTERS AS THEIR SUMMER RESIDENCES, WITH
DACHA TYPE HOUSES VERY Fl FGANT . TONY, HARRY AND FRED
STAYED WITH GARY FROM THE MISSION AND RUTH STAYED IN THE
NEXT DOOR DASHA, WHICH WAS BEING USED BY LINDA, THE
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS AT THE MISSION.
19:00 MIKE MOZUR ARRIVED FROM THE MISSION AND TOOK US TO
DINNER AT THE COMPOUND RESTAURANT (IN ADDITION TO US
STAFF, OTHER COUNTRJES APPEAR TO BE LIVING IN THE COMPOUND
AND THE DINING ROOM SERVES DINNER IN A RESTAURANT LIKE
SETTING). HAD WIDE RANGING DISCUSSIONS WITH MIKE REGARDING
THE SITUATION IN MINGBULAK.
F-15
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
20:30 MIKE ASKED US TO PREPARE AND I PAGE SUMMARY WITH THE
ISSUES WE THOUGHT MOST IMPORTANT, WHICH HE WOULD THEN
USE WHEN DEALING WITH THE UZBEK GOVERNMENT.
C. FUTURE ACTIONS
1. DEPART EARLY NEXT MORNING FOR MOSCOW
2. VISIT US EMBASSY MOSCOW AND OBTAIN EMBASSY
ASSISTANCE FOR TAKING OUT OF THE COUNTRY BLOOD SAMPLES, IN
CASE THIS IS NEEDED.
F- 16
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP SEVEN UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PROJECT
MONDAY APRIL 20, 1992
A. SITUATION
WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN.
B. ACTiONS TAKEN
05:30 DRIVEN BY TWO EMBASSY CARS TO TASHKENT AIRPORT,
ARRIVING AT AIRPORT SO EARLY THAT WE COULD HAVE TAKEN THE
EARLY FLIGHT TO MOSCOW. SAT AROUND AIRPORT FOR OVER 2
HOURS WAITING FOR OUR FLIGHT.
09:30 LEFT UZBEKISTAN FOR MOSCOW (MOSCOW TIME).
12:15 ARRIVED IN MOSCOW. FOUND NO EMBASSY HELPER WAITING
FOR US AND HAS MUCH TROUBLE GE1 TING A PHONE TO CALL
EMBASSY. EVERYONE OUT TO LUNCH AND NO HELP. WiTH
ASSISTANCE FROM INTOIJRIST WE BOOKED TWO CARS AND SPACE IN
HOTEL UKRAINE. CAR FARE WAS S55 FOR THE TWO CARS, HOTEL
$135 PER NIGHT.
15:00 ARRIVED IN THE HOTEL. GRAND OLD HOTEL JUST NOW BEING
RESTORED, AT LEAST IN THE LOBBY. HOTEL FACING THE RUSSIAN
WHITE HOUSE.
16:30 CONFIRMED OUR RETURN TICKETS AND GOT EMBASSY TO
AGREE TO WRiTE LETIER EXPLAINING BLOOD SAMPLES, JUST IN CASE
IT WAS NEEDED.
16:00 GOT CAB TO RED SQUARE TO TAKE A LOOK. UNABLE TO WALK
IN THE SQUARE AS THE RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT WAS ON SESSION AND
NO ONE ALLOWED IN. SPENT SOME TIME LOOKING AT THE GROWING
PRIVATE TERPRISE MARKE1PTACE BEING DEVELOPED BY ii±i4-AGERS
SPITING RUSSIAN DOLLS AND MUCH MORE.
19:00 KIRIN CAME TO PICK US UP FOR DINNER ACCOMPANIED BY A
FRIEND. WENT TO RESTAURANT FREQUENTED BY MOVIE FOLKS VERY
FT PGANT AND EXTREMELY INEXPENSIVE. TOTAL DINNER WAS UNDER
2,000 RUBLES (AT 1USD=100RUBLES).
F-17
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IJZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
22:00 RETURNED TO HOTEL TO PACK AND GET READY TO FLY BACK
HOME.
C. FUTURE ACTiONS .
I. DEPART HOTEL AT 05:30 FOR AIRPORT ABOARD MINIVAN WE
HIRED FOR THIS PURPOSE ($50).
2. GET HOME
16:30 WALKED TO US EMBASSY FROM HOTEL (ABOUT 8 BLOCKS)
V .18
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UZB KISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
POLREP EIGHT UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL ENVIRONNENTAL AND HEALTH
ADVISORY PRC J ECT
TUESDAY APRIL 2 . 1992
A. SITUATION
WELL FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN.
B. ACTIONS TAKEN
05:30 LEFT HOTEL UKRAINE FOR AIRPORT. NO PROBLEMS WiTH
CUSTOMS OFFICIALS.
• 08:25 DEPARTED FOR FRANKFURT.
09:30 OLD MAN ON BOARD AIRPLANE ACCOMPANIED BY FAMILY
EMIGRATING TO US VERY ILL. PILOT ASKED FOR DOCTOR IN THE
PLANE TO PLEASE HELP. RUTH PROVIDED SOME ASSISTANCE, WITH
THE HELP OF FRED. RUTH RECOMMENDED TO PILOT THAT MAN BE
TAKEN TO HOSPITAL ASAP. PILOT AGREFT ) IMMEDIATELY AND
ARRANGED FOR UNSCHEDULED LANDING IN WARSAW.
10:45 LANDED IN WARSAW WHERE AMBULANCE AND DOCTOR WERE
WAITING FOR SICK MAN. MUCH CONFUSION ABOUT WHAT THE REST
OF THE FAMILY WOULD DO, SINCE THEY WERE ABOUT 7 TRAVELING
WiTH ONLY TWO GROUP PASSPORTS. AIRPLANE WAS REFUELED.
WHILE AWAITING PAPERS FOR DEPARTURE, PILOT ANNOUNCED MAN
WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD IN WARSAW HOSPITAL. WHOLE FAMILY
• LffT ANE
11:15 FRANKFURT TIME ARRWED FRANKFURT. HARRY RUTH AND
FRED WERE ABLE TO CATCH THEIR FLIGHTS NOTWITHSTANDING THE
DELAY IN ARRiVING FRANKFURT.
C. FUTURE PLANS
I. TEAM WILL PREPARE DEBRIEFING AND SCHEDULE DEBRIEFING NEXT
WEEK SOMETIME
V .19
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX F
F-20
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UZBEIUSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX G
PPENDIX G: CONTACT LIST
Uzbekistan Oil Well Incident
EPA Contact List
Name
Work Number
Fax Number
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
HARRY ALLEN, ERT
FL’S 340-6747
FTS
340-6724
GORDON BINDER, AX
Fl’S 260-4700
.
P. CAMPAGNA ERT
FTS 340-6689
FL’S
340-6274
DON CLAY, OSWER
FL’S 260-4610
D. DIETRICH, OERRIERD
F l’S 260-8720
FL’S
260-9155
•
KIM FLETCHER, CEPPO
FL’S 260-4794
FL’S
260-0154
BILL FREEMAN, OIA
FL’S 260-3508
.
KIM JENNINGS, CEPPO
FTS 260-5046
FL’S
260-0154
.
TONY JOVER, CEPPO
•
FL’S 260 2387*
FL’S
260-0154
JOE LaFORNARA, ERT
FL’S 340 6470
FL’S
340-6724
JIM MAKRIS, CEPPO
•
FL’S 260-8600
FL’S
260-0154
KEVIN MATHEWS
FL’S 260-9806
FL’S
260-4386
•
MARK MJONESS, OERR/ERD
FL’S 260-2206
FL’S
755-2155
ROYAL NADEAU, ERT
FL’S 340-6743
FL’S
340-6724
GEORGE PATRICK, CEPPO
FL’S 260-4042
FL’S
260-0154
BARBARA RAMSEY, CEPPO
FL’S 260-4041
FL’S
260-0927
KEN STROECH, CEPPO
FL’S 260-9777
FTS
260-0154
FRED STROUD, EPA
REG. 4
Fl’S 257-3931
•
FL’S
257-4464
JOEL WALLINGA, OC
FTS 260-8266
FL’S
260-0084
•
BILL WHITEHOUSE OIA
FL’S 260-4898
FL’S
260-4077
NANCY SMiTH/KAREN
MARGAVITCH
POC EPA FOR STCC
FL’S 260-3439
.
.-
.
G-1
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE - APPENDIX G
[ Name [ Work Number
Fax Number
EPA EOC (INDIVIDUALS WI *
MAY ALSO BE REACHED AT
THESE NUMBERS
FTS 260-3850
FF5 260-0154
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM_(IN-COUNTRY)
VOICE
011 873 1506162
FACSIMILE
011873 1506163
OTHER HQ NUMBERS
JUDY COLLE. ICF, Inc.
(703) 934-3082
(703) 934.3156
RON DAVISON, ICF, Inc.
FTS 260-3850
FTS 260-0154
DENISE TURGEON, ICF. Inc.
FTS 260-385.0
(703) 934-3381
DAVID EYER. EG&G, Inc.
FTS 260-7198
FTS 260-0154
DEPARTMENT_OF STATE
ELIZABETH CHENEY,
AMBAS. ARMITAGE’S OFFICE
(202) 647.2413
(202) 647-2636
ARNIE SCHIF1 RDECKER ,
OFF. OCEAN, ENVIR. &
SCIENCE
(202) 647-9266
.
(202) 647-5947
RICK NELSON,
AMBAS. ARMITAGE’S OFFICE
(202) 647-2414
(202) 647-2636
DOUG SILLIMAN,
KATHY KARALEV
UZBEK DESK
(202) 647-6731
.
(202) 647-3506
UNiTED STATES COAST GUARD
BIFF HOLT
FTS 267-0518
(202) 267-4085
D. LENTSCH
FTS 267-0518
.
COMMANDER RICK SOFTYE
(919) 331-6000
(919) 331-6012
EM1 CHUCK GUTHRIE
(609) 724-0008
(609) 724-0232
CHIEF MIKE CREIGHTON
(919) 331-6000
G-2
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UZBE)USTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
APPENDIX G
Name Work Number
Fax Number
NRC
NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER
FTS 426-2675 [ __________________
NA
TIONAL AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
RANDY COFER (
FTS 928-5692
.
DEPARTMENT_OF ENERGY
RICH DAILEY
FTS 896-71 j7*
(202) 586-7979
DOE EOC
(202) 586-8100
(202) 586-7979
HEALTH
AND HUMAN SERVICES, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL
FRANK YOUNG
(202) 245-6811
(202) 245-7360
KENT GRAY
(404) 236-0615
.
RUTH ETZEL
(404). 488-4227
L
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
DR. MICHAEL REYNOLDS (206) 526-6317 I (206) 526-6329
(703) 696-3674
(703) 696-2755
JEAN SNIDER
.NOAA
: I
(202) 267-0418
FTS 340-6724
FT. MEYERS TROOP
SUPPORT
DIV.
UNITED STATES ARMY
FT. MEYERS COMMISSARY
G-3
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
APPENDIX G
F Name
Work Number
Fax Number
DOD-PENTAGON
LTC STEVE CARROLL
[ (703) 697-0744
(703) 614-2569
LTC JIM NEWTON
COL BARRY McCONNELL
(703) 697-0744
(703) 695-2251
.
MISSION DIRECTOR
. ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE
TSGT SULLIVAN - 93RD
AERIAL PORT SQUADRON
HANGAR 2 BLDS 1794
MSGT STEVENS -
CAPABILITIES BRANCH
(301) 981-7441
(301) 981-3831
CONTRACTOR NUMBERS
‘
DR. BORIS 7095 283-3015
EDWIN BERK (703) 934-3250
7095255-6923
(703) 9 4-3l56
(713) 622-9964
CONTROL
.
.
(713) 353-5481
(713) 353-5480
** IN-COUNTRY ADDRESS ICF/EKO NOVOALEKSEEVSKA 20 A, 129626 MOSCOW,
RUSSIA, CIS
G-4
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
PPENDIX H: OBSERVATIONS ON THE A T1VATION OF EPA’S EMERGENCY
OPERATIONS CENTER
1.0 INTRODUCTION
On March 30, 1992. the EPA’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated to
support the U.S. government response to an oil well blow-out in the newly formed republic of
Uzbekistan. The staff in the EOC effectively responded to the incident by supporting EPA and
the Technical Assistance Team sent to Uzbekistan; however, certain obstacles hampered support
personnel from optimally performing necessary tasks. The majority of these problems fit into the
following two categories:
• Equipment. furniture, and supplies; and
Insufficient information on and procedures for organizing, preparing, sending, and
supporting a team traveling to an incidànt outside the United States.
With each activation of the EOC, lessons are learned on how to improve the facility to
effectively assist the federal government by responding to an incident and supporting officials
working in the field. This document provides a list of observations made during the activation
which highlight the obstacles personnel confronted. These observations are followed by
recommendations developed to enhance the ability of the EOC staff in performing their duties.
The recommendations focus on:
• Amending Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the FOC Standard Operating
! rOceth1 (EOC SOPs) Notebook;
• Adding additional SOPs to cover areas not yet identified in the EOC SOP
Notebook;
• Developing guidance papers on international travel considerations and basic EOC
operations; and
• Improving the CONTACTS databases by adding travel-related information.
This document focuses on the functions and activities performed in the EOC: team
support. logistics, communications, and information gathering and dissemination. It does not focus
on the efforts of the team while in-country, other federal agencies’ operations, or other EPA
activities or operations conducted outside the EOC to support the Uzbekistan incident.
2.0 OBSERVATIONS ON EOC OPERATIONS DURING ThE UZBEKISTAN INCIDENT
• The following lists identify areas that, with a little improvement, could enhance the ability
of EOC staff in performing their duties when responding to an incident. The lists summarize
oncerns or problems observed during the Uzbekistan activation of the EOC and are separated by
ssue areas.
H-i
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
2.1 Staff Issues
A. Roster for International Missions : Candidate rosters of people willing or able to
participate in interr ational missions are needed. Prior to this activation, a list of potential
candidates was unavailable. Delays resulted from the need to track down necessary Social
Security numbers and passport numbers of all individuals potentially available for travel.
B. Roster Updates and Distribution : The system for generating contact list updates and
ensuring that- Headquarters staff maintains the latest version needs to be improved. In
particular. problems arose when several changes occurred in a single day. Confusion
resulted after additions were made and revisions were distributed to staff. individuals had
a difficult time determining which revision was the most recent. Staff had a difficult time
in updating the NICT roster with room numbers.
C. SOPs for International Missions : There is a need for SOPs which support the
developmeni of international travel tips for a particular country or region, lists of travel
items, summary of local customs, background information, and other international travel
considerations.
D. Identify Point of Contact (POC for Personal Matters Involving team Members : SOPs
are needed to identify point-of-contact(s) (POCs) for and phone numbers of team
members’ families in the event of an emergency.
E. Staff Knowledge of Software : Several staff members need additional training to use
basic software.
2.2 EOC Issues
A. Equipment Maintenance : Scheduled maintenance checks on equipment prior to the
activation would quicken the response time in initiating an activation.
B. Reception Area : The reception area was in transition. Maintaining important items in
the reception area, such as telephone lists, back-up supplies, and keys for all doors, would
enhance the performance of staff members working in the reception area.
C. Coordinating Preprogrammed Numbers in Fax Machines with Changes in Personnel
Rosters : The group-dial telephone lists within the fax machines should be updated on a
regular basis when the EOC is not activated to coincide with changes in the CONTACT
database. Delays were incurred because personnel had to manually enter numbers to send
material.
D. Coordinating Access to Teleconferencing Systems with Other EPA Offices : There
was confusion in determining priority and authority for controlling and accessing video and
teleconference systems, including:
1. Who can authorize “bumping” other groups;
2. Conditions for bumping other groups; and
3. Time window needed to make reservations.
H-2
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AF’PENDIX H
E. Computer : Computer equipment/software is needed in the EOC, including:
1. ‘B” Drive for a computer;
2. Mice for the computers;
3. Freelance software;
4. Fonts on some computers;
5. Font cartridge for laserprinter.
F. Supplies : Supplies needed to 15e maintained in the EOC include:
1. Blank disks (formatted. 3.5”/5.25”, DDIHD);
2. Empty files (Pendaf1ex manilla, expanding), tabs;
3. Envelopes;
4. Pens/pencils;
5. Staples/stapler;
6.. Legal/notebook pads;
7. Eraser for wipe-off board;
8. Current EPA directory;
9. Desk/wall calendar;
10. Dividers for notebooks; and
ii. Letterhead, colored paper (stock was low).
G. Kitchen : En .surthg that the kitchen is properly stocked (e.g., coffee, tea, condiments)
and maintained (e.g., the refrigerator and microwave) would enhance the effectiveness of
staff employees working long hours in the EOC.
H. Classified Documents/Security : Several security issues were raised, including:
1. Access to secured material/areas;
2. Authority to open and close the EOC;
3. Authority to access the EOC during off-duty hours; and
4. Controlling theft.
2.3 Inter-Agency Issues
A. Workjn with Other Federal A ericies Not Directly Participating in team Activities :
The procedures for working with other agencies involved in the incident (State, DoD) but
not directly involved in the team’s activity need to be defined and should include:
1. Coordinating logistics;
2. Funding; and
3. Communications.
B. Military Personnel : Concerns were raised over U.S. military personnel involved in
team activities, including:
1. Military uniforms in foreign countries; and
2. Current political relationship with affected country (i.e., concerns were raised as to
whether the presence of military personnel would negatively affect the ability of
the team to perform and would such a presence have political repercussions).
H-3
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
C. Coordinating Travel Plans Involving Several Agencies : EPA can make all reservations
for an inter-agency team but each department/agency must produce their own Travel
Authorizations.
D. Identifying Agencies for Team Membership : Obstacles were encountered in
determining which Agencies should have representation on team. The obstacles included:
1. Political issues;
2. Technical expertise;
3. Procuring equipment.
2.4 On-SIte Issues
A. Interpreters : The following areas on how to obtain/use interpreters need clarification:
1. Identifying people familiar with the field;
2. Determining whether the team should use interpreters from U.S. or procure
services in-country; and
3. Determining if the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan could provide interpreters.
B. Other U.S. Citizens in the Affected Area : Issues were raised during team meetings on
how to deal with other U.S. citizens in the area, including individuals:
1. Involved in the incident, such as clean-up crews;
2. Affected by the incident, such as students residing near the affected site; and
3. Available which may be tapped to assist the team, if needed.
C. In-Country Transportation : Procedures for obtaining in-country transportation
requirements in the following areas need to be clarified:
1. Access to vehicles;
2. Size and number of vehicles;
3. Costs; and
4. Drivers.
D. In-Country Food and Water Requirements : Concerns raised prior to the team’s
departure included:
1. The availability and quality of food and water in Uzbekistan;
2. Whether the Department of Defense (DoD) would assist/allow for the purchase of
a quantity of Meal Ready Equivalents (MREs); and
3. Determining back-up options if DoD MREs were not available.
E. U.S. On-Site Contractor Issues : Questions were raised on how to work with the U.S.
contractors (hired. by the Uzbeki Government) involved in site activity, including:
1. How many people are included in contractor team?
2. Who makes up the team (e.g., EMTs)?
3. How should EPA-led team interact with private responders?
4. Does the EPA-led team have authority to delegate tasks to the contractors of the
Uzbeki government?
5. How should the EPA-led Team ensure that tasks are not duplicated?
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
F In-Country Communications : SOPs coveting the following in-country communications
capabilities/requirements need to be clarified:
1. Standard communications:
2. Emergency communications; and
3. Secured communications.
0. Emergency Medical Concerns : SOPs for identifying Medical Evacuation (Medevac)
teams to assist team members and communicatirig to the Medevac team in case of an
emergency need to be clarified.
H. Affected Country Background Information : Ways of gathering information on in-
country conditions need to be identified. Issues raised during meetings prior to the teams
departure included:
1. Establishing POC on-site and experts in the U.S. to monitor conditions and. current.
events (political/cultur4l context). and
2. Obtaining meteorological, seismic, and geographical data.
I. In-Country Lodging : Current procedures need to be updated to assist in identifying
lodging for team members.
2.5 Travel Issues
A. Passports : Procedures need to be developed for ensuring potential team members
had, or could quickly obtain, passports.
I. Not all of the potential team members had a passport;
2. Potential individuals would need to submit three photos with each application; and
3. It was not clear whether team members could use personal passports if they did
nOt have an official government passport.
B. Visas : Procedures for obtaining a visa, need to be updated (e.g., requirements,
turnaround).
C. Cash Advances : Procedures to verify per diem rate and cash advance amounts need to
be clarified and easily available:
1. Team was required to obtain cash advances from EPA before 3:00 p.m. deadline;
2. There was no individual assigned to coordinate cash advance activities (for
Uzbekistan Charlotte Engler in Tony Jover’s staff assisted the team in this matter);
and
3. Procedures identifying all necessary forms, signatures, and requirements for inter-
agency money transfers need to be easily accessible.
D. Hazardous Materials (Hazmats : Some of the equipment the team required in
Uzbekistan required the use of hazmats, such as fuel for the generators and chemicals for
sampling. Obstacles were encountered in determining which materials were considered
hazmats and what restrictions existed in transporting them.
E. Team Lodging While in Washington D.C. : There was some confusion encountered in
obtaining lodging in Washington D.C. for team members from other parts of the country.
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F. Logistics : Procedures for coordinating transfer to and from airports should be clarified
and readily available.
G. Military Air Transport Requirements : For military transport, EPA needed body
weight of team members.
H. Travel Logistics : Delays were incurred in determining travel arrangements for team.
the organizatiori through which to arrange travel (i.e.. Omega Travel. government, or
personal arrangements), and how to identify contacts to assist in processing the necessary
forms, obtaining signatures and providing general assistance.
I. Non-Duty Logistics : Procedures for obtaining Travel Authorizations and cash
advances, and for addressing other logistical issues during non-duty hours need to be
improved and readily available.
J. Medical Requirements : Medical concerns were raised during departure preparations.
In preparing to send the team, concerns surfaced in determining:
1.’ Medicine that can be brought into the affected country;
2. Medicine that is available in the affected country; and
3. How to meet any special requirements of team members.
I C Returning to the U.S. : Problems occurred in coordinating the team’s return to the
U.S.
1. The debrief was not scheduled ahead of time. The team was expected to debrief
upon arrival in the U.S., but this did not occur. Problems surfaced in coordinating
the debrief because the team returned to the U.S. at different times and locations;
and
2. Procedures that assist in identifying options for changes in plans and itinerary need
to be clarified.
2.6 Equipment Cache Issues
A. In-Country Equipment : There was confusion in identifying the kind of equipment
necessary to support the team.
1. Safety equipment/protective gear;
2. CQmmunications; and
3. First aid kits.
B. Equipment Transportation Requirements : The team faced delays when it was revealed
that the size and weight of each piece of equipment. must be documented.
Documentation is necessary to assist DoD in preparing transportation of the team and
equipment.
C. Customs : Problems arose in determining how to return equipment from the affected
country to the U.S.
1. Size and weight for return transport; and
2. Customs requirements of affected country.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
D. Returning Equipment to U.S. : Options for returning the equipment need to be
identified, established in an SOP. and readily available. Options which were presented
included:
1. Contact the Department of State to mark equipment as diplomatic materials:
2. Negotiate with affected country to guarantee the return of equipment not marked
as diplomatic property:
3. Ensure that the affected country’s customs requirements do not prevent the team
from returning equipment: and
4. Write-off the equipment and leave it behind.
These observations form the basis for the proposed recommendations provided in the
following section. Attachments to this document provide proposed sample procedures and
guidance papers and are based on. the observations and recommendations made during the
incident.
3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE OBSERVATIONS
The following recommendations are separated by issue area and focus only on operations
based in the EOC.
3.1 EOC Standard Operating Procedures
The draft EOC SOPs should be finalized as quickly as possible. Currently, activities are
onducted based on individual knowledge gained from previous activations, and not on the basis
uf a formal system of procedures. Delays were incurred when new contract support personnel
and a new receptionist were brought to the EOC to support EOC operations. These individuals
needed to be trained while the EOC was activated. Time used in training these individuals could
have been more efficiently spent supporting the activation. If completed the SOPs could have
been used by the new contract support staffer and the receptionist as a training guide, thus
allowing for the completion of tasks in a more timely manner.
Additional SOPs and amendments should be added to the current draft document. The
following suggestions should be considered:
A. Uydatin Fax Group Lists : The fax group lists should be updated when there is a
parallel change in the CONTACTS database. Currently, the draft EOC SOPs Notebook
(EOC SOPs) does not provide a procedure for this activity.
B. Document Distribution : When documents are distributed to key EPA officials, the
NICT, or other groups and individuals, they should be distributed in descending order of
authority (i.e., the Administrator’s Office should receive documents prior to other groups
or individuals). This requirement was known by the individuals working in the EOC
during the activation but it is not currently formalized in the draft SOPs.
C. Unusual Events in the EOC : Procedures to provide guidance in the event of unusual
conditions which prevent EOC staff from performing necessary duties should be
considered. These should include contingency telecommunication procedures if
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
established systems are in use or disabled, emergency contacts in the event of accidents.
and/or procedures for conducting operations during non-duty hours. Non-duty hour
procedures should include obtaining travel authorizations and cash advances.
teleconferencing with individuals not at EPA and procuring maintenance support in the
event that normal EPA maintenance support is unavailable.
3.2 Equipment, Furniture, Computer Systems, and Supplies
The current procedures in the draft EOC SOPs define material requirements and
instructions for using the equipment. furniture, computer systems. and supplies in the EOC.
However, additional requirements have surfaced from the experience gained from this activation.
The SOPs focusing on equipment, furniture, computer systems, and supplies should be amended
to reflect this additional experience. In particular. the SOPs require changes in the following two
areas:
A. Checklists : Checklists ‘in the EOC SOPs need to be amended, cleared through proper
channels, and immediately implemented. Checklists assist’ in ensuring that maintenance is
performed regularly and that items do not become lost or stolen. The checklists should be
used on a regular basis to ensure that needed equipment, furniture, computer systems, and
supplies are in place and operational prior to an activation.
B. Workstation Activation Boxes (WABs) : Workstation activation boxes should be
developed and assigned to each workstation in the EOC, including: both offices, the three
workstations in the workroom, and the workstations in the backroom. The WABs should
be filled with basic material requirements, such as computer disks, pens, staplers, and
other basic supply requirements. A proposed SOP and a sample checklist of supplies to
be placed in the WABs is provided in Attachment A.
33 Travel Guidance Notebooks
A Travel Guidance Notebook should be developed and placed in the EOC. Proposed
information to be placed in the Notebook is provided in Attachment B. This information is
designed as quick reference material needed to assist in developing, sending, assisting, and
returning a team involved in an international incident.
3.4 General Information Guidance Papers
General guidance papers, or quick reference sheets should be developed and placed in the
EOC. These documents should be designed to provide training on how to perform basic tasks
necessary to successful EOC operations. A sample guidance paper, “Creating and Using Tables in
Wordperfect” is provided in Attachment C. Additional examples of quick reference papers could
include:
• Other computer and software uses (e.g., the CONTACTS Database, Wordperfect
file management, Freelance Graphics);
• Programming the fax machine;
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• Operating telecommunication systems: and
• Operating video systems.
3.5 CONTACTS Database
• The CONTACTS database should be reprogrammed to accept information needed for
international travel. Additional fields should include passport number, Social Security Number,
and availability. Availability is based on the willingness to travel and medical and physical
limitations, and could include other factors such as language skills and expertise.
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
APPENDIX H, ATTACHMENT A
WORKSTATION ACTIVATION BOXES
Workstation Activation Boxes (WABs) are containers of supplies placed at each
workstation in the EOC. The boxes should be marked with a warning that the material inside
should only be used in the event of an activation. A sample SOP on Workstation Activation
Boxes is provided below. On the following page. a proposed checklist identities the supplies
which should be placed in the WABs.
Category: Supplies
SOP Title: Workstation Activation Boxes
Purpose: Ensure that each workstation has adequate supplies for initial activation
requirements. Verify, on a regular basis, that designated workstation supplies are
maintained in boxes.
Location: At each workstation in the EOC.
Whols
Responsible: EOC Manager
Procedures: Each workstation should be supplied with a workstation activation box that
contains supplies required for an activation.
• The EOC Manager should designate support personnel to verify supplies
and locations of Workstation Activation Boxes.
• Workstation Activation Checklists are kept at the receptionists desk
located in the EOC. The designated individual should obtain and fill out a
checklist each time the procedure is performed.
• The designated individual should perform this procedure on a regular basis.
• The designated individual should sign the checklist and return the
completed form to the EOC Manager.
• If items are missing or damaged, the EOC Manager should instruct the
designee to procure the missing/damaged items.
• The EOC Manager should maintain a file of all completed checklists.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
Workstation Activation Box Checklist
Each Workstation Activation Box should be supplied with the following items:
Pens, pencils ______ Files (Pendaflex, manila,
expanding); tabs
Highlighters
An activation box is required at each
Notepad workstation location. Verify that activation
boxes are situated at the following locations:
Notification Information
Update Forms
Director’s Office
Stapler
team Leader’s Office
Staple remover
Work Room Workstation #1
Paper clips
Work Room Workstation #2
Rubber bands
Work RoOm Workstation #3
Phone message pads
team Room Workstation #1
Scissors
team Room Workstation #2
Computer disks
_____ 3 1/2 team Room Workstation #3
____ 51/4
team Room Workstation #4
Computer disk holders
team Room Workstation #5
Tape (Scotch, masking,
mailing)
Scotch tape dispenser
Mailing labels
Signature of reviewer Date of review
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APPENDIX H, A11ACHMENT B
PROPOSED GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS
This attachment provides suggestions and guidance in assisting to organize and send
government representatives to international locations. The focus is on k gistical issues.
1.0 Selecting team Members
The criteria for selecting team members fall into two general categories: incident-specific
considerations and personnel selection. Incident-specific circumstances include:
• The conditions at the site (both long and short term conditions need to be
considered, especially in terms of scientific considerations);
• The U.S. government’s objectives;
• Financial options;
• The personnel skills necessary to respond to the incident and accomplish the U.S.
Government’s objectives; and
• The feasibility of sending a team (e.g., political and financial concerns,).
Team member selection will be based on a consideration of which agencies are involved in
an operation and what personnel are available with the required skills. Several variables need to
be considered in identifying individuals within the government who are eligible for team selection,
including:
• Required documentation (e.g., passports, visa photographs);
• Skills and expertise;
• Medical condition;
• The potential length of the mission;
• Family considerations;
• Cultural influences in the affected region;
• Availability to travel; and
• Willingness to travel.
EPA representatives on the team could consist of On-Scene Coordinators, Headquarters
ersonnel, regional officials, potential contractors, and other individuals. The names of these
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individuals should be placed in the CONTACTS database which is easily accessible. The database
should be updated whenever changes occur. The database will need the following information on
potential travellers:
• Names;
• Telephone numbers (work, home. 24-hour, fax emergency contact);
• Passport number; and
• Social Security number;
• Medical requirements/limitations; and
• Level of security clearance.
Other information, such as language skills and expertise which could assist the team in
ways not directly related to the mission (e.g., diplomacy, contingency planning, administration
management) should also be considered.
2.0 EPA Travel Policies and Requirements
EPA has developed specific requirements for travel procedures. The following
information summarizes these procedures and shàuld be used as a quick-reference guide to
expedite travel activity and is separated into two categories: travel during normal and non-duty
hours.
EPA policy stipulates that EPA personnel pay travel costs directly. Travellers are
reimbursed for these costs after expense reports justifying travel costs are submitted. Most often
for domestic flights, flight plans can be changed; however, certain costs may accrue.
2.1 Travel Procedures during Normal Business Hours
The following information highlights travel procedures during normal business hours.
A. Travel Authorizations . AIF official international travel requires EPA authorizations if
federal funds are spent. To obtain travel authorizations, EPA Form 2610-1 must be completed.
After the form is filled out, it must be signed by an Assistant Administrator in the Administrator’s
office. The following information will be needed for travel authorizations:
• Name and professional information, such as title and work location, of the
traveller;
• Dates of travel;
• Purpose of trip;
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
• Approximate cost of the trip; and
• Mode of travel.
B. Team Logistics . Logistical matters will vary depending on the circumstances of an
event, the time-frame during which activities are happening, and the size and scope of the activity.
Issues and requirements which have been addressed in past activations include:
• Travel from U.S. location to EPA Headquarters in Washington D.C. .
Requirements for getting the team to Washington D.C. include funding for
domestic travel and travel authorizations from regional location to Washington
• Lodging while in Washington D.C. . Requirements include identifying hotels, space
for equipment, and funding for hotels while team members are in Washington.
• Transportation to and from EPA Headquarters and airports . The team might
require taxis, vans, or large trucks depending on the equipment they are bring to
the airport.
• Determining equipment and supplies needed by the team ; The team will need
assistance in identifying the location of equipment needed for the mission, possibly
includir)g:
- 1. The purchase of new equipment and accessories;
2. Borrowing equipment from other agencies involved in the operation;
3. Renting or leasing equipment from private sources;
Funding for equipment requirements will also need to be addressed.
• Identifying and coordinating equipment storage and care . Depending on the types
of equipment, certain special arrangements will need to be made to ensure that
the equipment is maintained in good working order prior to the team’s departure.
• Scheduling meetings, briefings, work space. and other needs for the team . The
team will require access to computers, conference rooms, teleconference and
communication systems while developing strategies, coordinating schedules, and
other activities prior to departing for, the affected site.
C. Cash Advances . Cash advances are provided to individuals when it is expected that
significant costs will accrue due to travel. Cash advances must be authorized by an authorized
official in the Adminstrator’s office. Cash advances must be picked up in person at the EPA’s
cashier office no later than 3:00 pm each working day. Persons obtaining cash advances must
provide identification and sign, in person, for the advances.
2.2 Travel Procedures dunng Non-duty Hours
EPA is currently in the process of developing specific procedures for travel during non-
ty hours. The following section provides information and options which are available until the
cedures have been developed and finalized.
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A. Travel Authorizations . Under certain circumstances, teams may need to organize and
depart the country during non-duty hours. The following sections provide guidance on how to
expedite international travel during non-duty hours.
B. Team Logistics . Coordinating the Team’s activities will be more difficult during non-
duty hours. Issues which will need to be addressed include:
• Travel from different U.S. locations to a specific meeting place either in
Washington D.C. or at a specified location . The Team may need to meet and
coordinate logistical matters at a location away from EPA headquarters (a
particular international airport, for example).
• Lodging while in Washington D.C. . Requirements include identifying hotels, space
for equipment, and funding for hotels while team members are in Washington.
• Transportation to and from different locations and airports . The team might
require taxis, vans, or large trucks depending on the equipment they are bring to
the airport.
• ! dentifvin and coordinating equipment storage and care . In addition to the
concerns listed above, it may also be necessary to find alternate staging areas,
storage facilties, and means of transportation for equipment ans supplies.
• Accessin2 facilities to conduct meetings and briefings, identifying work space, and
other needs for the team . The team may require access to computers, conference
rooms, teleconference and communication systems while developing strategies,
coordinating scheduies, and otherS activities prior to departing for the affected site.
C. Cash Advances . Steps should be taken by all individuals likely to respond to
an incident to ensure that cash advances are available or that some other means of
supporting the Team financially is available prior to an incident.
3.0 Travel Logistical Information
Omega Travel located on the North side of Waterside Mall on the street level is
contracted to handle commercial carrier reservations and ticketing for the EPA. Omega will
require the following information on domestic flights:
• EPA Travel Authorization(s); 2
• Flight plans including anticipated departure and return times;
• Travellers’ names; and
2 Travel Authorizations are explained in Section 3.1 of this document.
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• Credit card numbers.
For international travel, the following additional information will be required:
• Passports or passport numbers;
• Visas, when applicable; and
• Other foreign country requirements which might exist (e.g., proof of inoculations..
listings of equipment for customs).
3.1 Passports
All EPA personnel travelling on official business should obtain a U.S. government
passport. Passports require a recent photograph and personal information on the traveller,
including:
• Name;
• County and country of origin;
• Date of birth; and
• Government affiliation (?).
EPA personnel travelling on officiaL business should not use a personal passport.
3.2. Visas
Many countries require that all foreigners obtain a visa in order to enter their territory.
Visa requirements may be identified by contacting Omega travel,.a foreign embassy, or the U.S.
Department of State. To obtain the actual visa, the following information is required:
• Personal information about the traveler (e.g., name, date of birth);
• Purpose of visit;
• The length of the visit;
• The planned location of the foreigners while in-country; and
• Other data such as verification of required shots, amount of money, types of
materials or equipment, or medicine being brought into the country.
In emergency situations, EPA may ask the U.S. Department of State to assist in speeding
the process and obtain the required visas quickly. The country or regional desk within the U.S.
epartment of State can provide the specific requirements necessary for travelling to those
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countries under their purview. To contact the State Department call the main operator at
(202)647-4000. Ask the operator to direct you to the particular desk.
All potential international travelers should have three passport photos made and filed in
case quick departure time is needed. Health information should also be kept for easy access to
ensure that all necessary foreign country requirements can be checked and verified.
3.3 Flight Logistics: Using Government Transport
Air travel can be arranged through commercial or federal carriers. The events
surrounding an incident will dictate the type of carrier that will be used. Typically, commercial
travel is preferred; however, during certain kinds of incidents, it might be less expensive and more
efficient to use military aircraft. This is especially the case when the team will require large or
many types of equipment. The advantages to using military aircraft under these conditions are
tw ofold. First, military aircraft are more accommodating and better equipped for handling
equipment than commercial carriers. Second, by using military aircraft, the team can place the
equipment under diplomatic protection. Diplomatic protection is beneficial when returning
equipment to the United States. (For example, the team was able to clear their equipment
through Uzbekistan customs because it had been marked as diplomatic property of the United
States. The U.S. contractor working at the well site did not have thisprotection and had
difficulty returning their equipment.)
One drawback to military transport is that certain airfields cannot accommodate military
airplanes. The individual in charge of coordinating travel logistics should contact the U.S.
Department of State and/or Department of Defense and verify that airstrips near the incident site
can accommodate the carrier which will be transporting equipment and suppLies.
During both Operation Desert Storm and the Uzbeki Oil Well Incident, team members.
used military transport. These two events were similar in that the EPA coordinated their
departures with pre-planned military flights to the region.
When EPA personnel use military transport to fly internationally, they are required to
have a passport, obtain a visa (where applicable), and maintain a listing of equipment. They are
also required to report their individual weight.
To obtain transport on military aircraft, the CEPPO official designated to coordinate
mission logistics should identify a liaison in the Department of Defense. The type of transport
available will depend on the conditions of the event. A large oil spill in the international waters
or in the territorial waters of a foreign state will require the use of Coast Guard or Navy vessels,
while an inland disaster such as an earthquake or major hazardous substance release will require
the use of Air Force aircraft. Initial contact numbers for obtaining information on military
transportation is provided in the following table (703) 545-6700.
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0 Field Equipment Considerations
If the team is required to survey an incident on site, Headquarters staff will be required to
provide logistical support to coordinate, gather. and deliver equipment needed for response
efforts. The following information highlights common equipment concerns.
4.1 Types of EquipmentlSupplieS Needed
In the past, four types of equipment/supplies were required by teams travelling abroad:
• Sampling. Monitoring. and Assessment . For both Desert Storm and Uzbekistan,
the teams’ mission plans included monitoring and assessment. The technical
experts on the team should provide a list that identifies the types of equipment
that will be required to perform monitoring tasks. Items could include monitoring
equipment, analyzing equipment. hand held recorders for field observations, and
other related supplies. The official in charge of coordinating equipment and
supplies should use this list to verify that the team’s equipment requirements are
available.
• Data Management . The team will need access to áomputer systems to record data
obtained from field and other sources. The official coordinating equipment and
supplies will need to determine the types of computer systems available at the
affected site and procure any additional data systems the team might need. This
may include:
- Personal and/or portable (laptop) computers;
- Printers:
- Faxes;
- Storage disks: and
• Accessories (e.g., cables, adapters, paper).
• Communications . The team will need to have the capability to communicate with
• Headquarters and other entities on a 24-hour basis. Depending on the
circumstances and conditions in the affected country, communications requirements
may include secured lines, mobile/satellite systems, and long-distance calling cards.
The official coordinating equipment and supplies should verify the types of
communications equipment available on-site and determine if any additional
communications systems will be required.
• Personal Supnort . Personal equipment includes items needed to support the team
but are not directly related to the specific tasks in the mission plan. These
personal items could include medical supplies, clothing, bedding, food, water, and
shelter, such as telits and wind tarps.
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4.2 Obtaining Equipment on Loan from Other Federal Agencies
Other federal departments and agencies have assets which may be used by the team. At
an early stage in coordinating the team’s mission, EPA should contact involved agencies to
determine if any equipment (e.g., cellular/satellite communications systems or video equipment)
needed by the team is available. It will be important to determine and resolve liability issues
covering other Agencies’ equipment prior to the team’s departure.
4.3 Contracting Equipment for Emergencies
In some cases, it may be mote efficient and less costly to procure equipment from private
sources. For example, if a piece of equipment is only going to be needed for a single mission. it
may be less expensive to lease it from private sources. Alter equipment needs have been
identified, efforts should be undertaken to determine the most cost effective and quickest means
to procure the needed equipment.
4.4 Transporting Equipment in and out of Foreign Countries
The following three areas typically need to be addressed:
• Size, weight, and hazards (I.e., chemical) associated with the equipment. in terms
of air carrier freight restrictions;
• Foreign country customs requirements; and
• Damage prevention while in transit.
The size and weight of equipment could limit the transportation options available. Certain
carriers are unable to transport large items. Many carrers will not transport hazardous materials.
It is necessary to verify with customs officials inthe foreign country (through the State
Department, or the foreign embassy in the U.S.) that any equipment brought into the country can
be returned to the U.S. If it appears that problems could exist, the U.S. Department àf State
should be contacted and efforts should be made to. label the equipment as diplomatic property.
4.5 Verlf ing Operational Status of Equipment Prior to Departing to the Incident
Prior to departing to the affected site, team members should test all equipment to ensure
that it isin working order. The team should also verify electrical and other requirements (such as
the availability of gasoline for generators) prior to leaving.
5.0 In-Country Logistical Requirements .
Logistical requirements for international response efforts will vary among incidents. The
variations result from the unique circumstances and conditions, such as geography, language.
customs, technological capability, and relations with the United States, of the affected country.
This section is designed to identify those items or activities which will need to be addressed prior
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a team’s departure. The following list of items should be reviewed early in the activation
process.
A. Background Information . The team will need to be aware of the political and cultural
structure of a society, the geographical and metèorological characteristics relevant to the
incident, as well as other types of information, such as customs and religious concerns.
There are many sources of information from which the team may acquire this information.
including:
• State Department Country Profiles, Cables and Advisories;
• Geographic and meteorological sources within the Government (U.S. Mapping
Agency, NOAA , NASA);
• Expert knowledge from within EPA, contractors, academia; and
• Local libraries.
The team will also require incident specific information, such as amount and chemical
content of a spill or gas release, the size of the affected population, medical facilities in
the region. affected water sources, climate conditions, and geographical access.
B. Emergency Contacts . Headquarters staff should determine, prior to the team’s
departure, contact phone numbers in the affected country. These should include the
Embassy phone number, the hotel phone number (when appLicable), and satellite or other
communicatipn numbers that the team will have access to. Especially important is
ensuring that the EOC staff know the country codes for communicating to the team (to
obtain country codes, dial the international operator at “00”). Emergency communication
channels should be established with the following entities prior to the team’s departure:
• Embassy/Government Officials Emergency communications may be made through
the U.S. Embassy. Headquarters and field personnel should have the Embassy.
telephone number as well as an Embassy Point-of-Contact (POC) (either within
the Embassy, or at the Headquarters, U.S. Department of State). Communications
between the Embassy and the Department of State are reliable.
• In-Country Emergency Numbers : The Embassy staff should identify in-country
emergency numbers (e.g., hospital and police) for the team prior to departure.
These numbers should be kept by the team and at the EPA EOC.
• United States : The team should maintain a list of emergency telephone numbers
for communicating information to the United States. These should include:
• The EOC phone number: (FTS) 260-3850;
- The National Response Center 24-hour number: (202)-426-2675; and
- Other important numbers, such as team members’ home phone numbers.
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
C. Hazardous Materials . The U.S. State Department or the affected country’s Embassy
should be contacted to determine if any of the materials the team intends to bring are
restricted. If so. it should be determined if any procedures exist which can be followed to
exempt these restrictions. Air carriers might also have hazardous materials restrictions.
The carrier should be contacted to determine the procedures for transporting needed
materials. If the carrier will not transport such materials, alternate carriers should be
considered. It might also be necessary to find alternate field materials.
D. odging . The team’s lodgings need to be secured prior to the team’s departure.
Lodging could be provided at hotels, in military provided facilities, or tents near the
incident site.
E. Medicine and Drugs . Foreign state restrictions to any of the drugs or medicine the
team might be transporting should be reviewed prior to finalizing any .list of equipment or
supplies. If a team member requires certain types of drugs or medicine, staff should check
if it will be available in country.
F. Meals The team will need adequate food and water supplies for the duration of their
stay in the foreign country. This might require releasing cash advances prior to the team’s
departure, procuring food and water supplies from the military or a private contractor, or
some other method. It is important to know the conditions suirounding the site in
advance -- such as water quality -- to ensure the team’s health.
G. Translators If the team might need translators, it should be determined whether their
services should be procured within the United States or in the effected country. If the
team are guests of a foreign country, the country might provide translators. The U.S.
Embassy in the affected country might also be able to provide translators.
H. Transportation : Transportation in the affected country, the team’s transportation
requirements, and the most effective means to procure transportation all need to be
addressed prior to the team’s departure. Issues will include, air, ground, and sea transport,
when applicable.
H-22
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UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
APPENDIX H, ATrACHMENT C
SAMPLE PROPOSED GUIDANCE PAPER
CREATING AND USING BOXES IN WORDPERFECT
The following instructions provide a brief summary of how to develop t bles in Wordperfect. For
complete descriptions, review the Wordperfect User’s Manual.
Creating a Table
• Press Alt-F7.
• Select “2 Tables”.
• Select “1 Create”.
Defining the Table
Define the table parameters by selecting the number of columns and rows you wish to have. The
computer first asks how many columns you wish to have in the table:
• Select the number and press “enter”.
lie computer now asks for the number of rows.
• Select the number and press “enter”.
The table will now appear on the screen with the top left field highlighted. You can move about
the table by using the arrow keys. Notice the bottom of the screen. A list of different commands
are presented. These can be used to tailor the table for your specific needs.
Note: You are still In the Tables mode of operation and will not be able to enter text at this
time. To exit the Tables Mode, press F7. (However, do not do so at this time)
Chanzin the Column Width
To change the width of the column press the control key and the left or right arrow.
The column with the highlighted cell will grow or shrink (the right arrow enlarges, the left arrow
shrinks). All rows will be affected by the change in column width.
Creating Headers
H-23
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.UZBEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
As in the normal wordperfect mode, it is possible to block sections within the table mode. If you
want to create a header cow for the table:
• Position the highlight in the upper left hand cell of the Table.
• Press P12”.
• Using the right arrow key, extend the highlighted section across the entire row.
• Select “4 (Header)”.
• The computer will ask how many rows. Press “1”.
You will note that when you are in the header row, a star (* ) now appears in the bottom right
corner of the screen. If you move the cursor down to the next row, the star disappears.
Creating Titles for the Columns
To leave the Table Mode, enter F7. The highlighting cell disappears and is replaced by the
flashing curser. With a few exceptions. working in tables is identical to working in normal
Wordperfect mode. Centering (Shift-F6), will center text into the middle of a column. Indent
(F4) will indent within a cell.
Note: The Tab does not move to the next tab, but rather to the next column.
Move between cells by using the arrows. Position the curser in the top left cell. Type in the
header information you want.
Note: The Star in the bottom right corner indicates, that this row is a header row. This row
will print out at the top of each page, BUT, it will not be visible on the screen, except on the
first page.
Filling Out the Table
Just as in Wordperfect normal mode, type in the information. Move between columns and rows
by using the arrows or the tab key.
Returning to Tables Mode
If you want to return to the Tables Mode, press “Alt-F7” and the cursor will reappear. Normally,
this is to readjust cell size or to add or delete rws and columns.
H-24
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
ddin and Deleting Rows and Columns
To add columns or rows:
• Re-enter the Tables Mode (Press “Alt-F7);
• Press the ‘Insert” key.
In the bottom left corner of the screen, the computer will ask 1-Rows, 2-Columns.
• Select the appropriate number (“1” to add rows, “2” to add columns);
• Select the number of rows or columns you want to add.
r Note: Make sure you are in the proper location within the table when adding. For example,
if you add rows while you are in a Header row, the additional rows will also become header
rows.
Deleting rows and columns is basically the same procedure: however instead of selecting the
“insert” key, select the “delete” key.
[ E
Note: When deleting
rows, or columns, be
sure
that you are located
in the proper
select
highlighted field.
The
computer will
delete
the
number of
rows
and
you
‘
starting with the
field
you are in.
For additional information about tables in Wordperfect, consult the Wordperfect User’s Manual.
H-25
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE APPENDIX H
H-26
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ArFACHMENTS
ArFACHMENTS
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UZBEIUSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AflACHMENTS
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ATTACHMENT I
FTACHMENT 1: UZBEKISTAN BACKGROUND PAPER
THE STATE OF UZBEKISTAN:
FACTS, FIGURES, AND AN OVERVIEW OF THE AREA
SURROUNDING THE OIL WELL BLOW OUT IN THE FERGANA BASIN
INTRODUCTION
This document provides a summary profile of Uzbek, an independent state that was once
one of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics with the USSR. The profile focuses on four issues:
geography, demographics. political units, and Uzbekistan’s international relations with other
nation-states in the region.
The oil well blow out is situated in the eastern part of Uzbekistan in the Fergana Basin
within the Namangan Oblast. An oblast is a political territory often defined by population,
culture, or other demographic considerations. They are comparable to counties in states. The
capital city of the region is also named Namangan. The area is approximately 300 kilometers east
of Tashkent, the nation’s capital. The Syr Darya flows northerly through the region. The area is
Uzbekistan’s most economically productive region and is well populated. All of Uzbekistan’s
cotton, the country’s most important crop and commodity, is grown in the basin. The area
supports limited oil and gas mining production. The population in the area is primarily Uzbek,
ith small enclaves of Tajiks and Russians. -.
GENERAL OVERVIEW
Uzbekistan was formed on October 27, 1924, from the territory which formerly belonged
to Turkestan (to the South and West) and the Soviet People’s Republics of Bukhara and
Khorezm (two western autonomous oblasts within Uzbek). On 1936, the Kara-Kalpak ASSR
(Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) was incorporated into Uzbekistan extending the
republic’s border west to the Aral Sea (See Figure 1). In June 19, 1990, the Uzbekistan
government declared its independence from the Soviet Union by issuing the decree that
repubLican law would take precedence over Soviet law. After the August coup, the Russian
government recognized Uzbekistan’s independence. Currently, Uzbekistan is member of the
newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). However, elements within the
population and the government have indicated a the desire to withdraw from the US.
GeoEraphv
Uzbekistan is a 447,400 square kilometer land mass (approximately the size of California)
in the Southern portion of the former Soviet Union (See Exhibit 1). The country borders the
former Soviet republics of Kazakh (North), Kirgiz, (East), Tadzhik (South and East) and
Turkmen (South.and West). The Aral Sea borders the country to the North. The Amu Darya
river separates Uzbekistan’s southern-most border from Afghanistan.
Al-i
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U BEKJSTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
ATTACHMENT I
Nearly eighty percent of Uzbekistan’s territory is desert. The country’s deserts are located
in the northern- and western-most territories of Kara-Kalpak and Buk.hara. The country rises
from sea level in the West to over 7,000 feet to the East. The Pamirs and Tien-Shan mountain
ranges borders at k , Tadzhik, and Kirgiz. The eastern oblasts,
iii this area , are more humid, an tJ eat for producing certain crops. particularly.
cotton (see below). - —_______ —
______________ are ih twa1T! jo i !s flowing northerly from the
, JU 5 fl-tIt I 1er republi
Uzbekistan from its southern neighbor northwesterly and separates
Turlcmen. The Syr Darya
flows virtually due north entering from Tadzhik near Leninabad and exits the country west of
Tashkent, near the city of Syr Darya.
Both
table
region.
rivers flow into the heavily polluted and rapidly declining Aral Sea. The Aral Sea’s water
has declined steadily over the past two decades as a result of irrigation demands in the
- ExbIbj, j j Iap of Uzbek
A1-2
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ATTACHMENT I
The region is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes have been reported in and
around both the Pamirs and the Tien-Shan mountain ranges.
Agriculture
Only nine percent of Uzbekistan is arable land. As previously noted. Cotton is by far the
country’s mo t important crop. Over sixty percent, or roughly 4.86 milton tons, of all Soviet-
produced cotton came from Uzbek. Uzbekistan’s economy is primarily based on cotton
production. State requirements for cotton and poor farming and management practices have
combined to magnify soil depletion problems resulting in decreased yields in recent years. Other
crops are fruit (primarily melons, grapes, and tropical plants) and grain wheat, rice, maize).
Livestock raised in Uzbekistan include sheep and cattle. The silkworm industry in the western
region is well developed. Overall, Uzbekistan cannot feed its population and must import
foodstuffs from other former union republics and foreign countries.
Minerals
Uzbekistan has large gas deposits, especially around Bukhara, Gazii, Kagan, and in the
Fergana Basin; minor oil fields exist in Bukhara and the Fergana Basin(the Basin is situated in
the eastern most portion of the former republic). In addition, coal, lignite, non-ferrous metals,
and gold are mined in the territory.
Industry
The majority of industrial production in Uzbekistan is also based on cotton. The machine
industry focuses on farm machinery for cotton harvesting and processing. The garment industry is
also well-established. Other industries include iron and non-ferrous metal works and mining.
Local natural gas and coal are the primary energy sources.
Demo2raphics
The 1989 census identified Uzbèkistan’s populated to be over 19,906,000. The majority of
the population lives in the central and eastern portions of the country. Over 20 distinct ethnic
groups live in Uzbek. The ethnic breakdown of this population is presented in Exhibit 2.
The official language of the former republic is Uzbek, a Turkish language related to the
Osmanli and Azerbaijani languages. Sixty-eight percent of the population use Uzbekistan as their
primary language. Other languages spoken in the region include Russian, Kazakh, Tadzhik, and
Tatar.
A1-3
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
ATIACHMENT I
Exhibit 2: Ethnic Character of Uzbek
Ethnic Group
Percentage of Population
€E
Uzbekis
(p nh Muslims)
- ‘- Rjissians
68.7
.
10.8
‘
Tartars .
4.2
Kazakhs
4.0
Others*
12.3
The combination of Muslim tradition and a prir ariIy rural population, both of which
promote large families, account for a growth rate of 23 percent per annum, a flgure well above
the former Soviet Union’s average. As a result of this growth rate, Uzbekistan’s population as a
percentage of the Soviet Union’s grew from 6.6 percent in 1979 to 6.9 percent in 1989.
Four cities have populations of over 1 million: Tashkent, Samarkand, Andizhan, and
Namangan. All of these cities are located in the eastern half of the former republic. However,
the country’s population is predominantly rural.
Political Units
Structure
Uzbekistan maintains a hierarchial political structure headed by a republican government
which consists of executive, parliamentary, and judicial branches. Uzbekistan is separated into
eight provincial governments (oblasts and/or Autonomous Republics), each with its own capital.
The Kara-Kalpak ASSR is an independent autonomous region which, theoretically, has more local
control over internal affairs than the other seven political units. The capital city of Uzbekistan is
Tashkenit. Located in the Northeast, near the border of Kazakh, Tashkent is also the largest city
in the former republic.
Under provincial governments are rural and city political units. The institutional roles and
positions within these units are similar to those of mayors and city councils in the U.S..
Political Affiliations
Muslim culture has resurfaced as a significant political force in Uzbek. Also, as is similar
to the other Central Asian republics, communism remains a strong force as compared to the
disintegration of the Party in other regions of the former Soviet Union. Other political units are
based on ethnic culture (for, example, there are strong Iranian enclaves throughout the republic),
.-tn j aes ir ’ Tadzhiks, Kara-Ic .aIpaKs, iwreans, Kirgiz, Ukrainians, turkomens ana
others..
A1-4
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AUACHMENT I
especially in the central regions of Bukhara and Khorezm. Nationalistic, Democratic and Green
movements have also surfaced in the area.
International Relations
Since the August Coup, three aspects relating to Uzbekistan’s international relations
should be considered. First, Uzbekistan has mairrtained its relations with Russia and nine other
former Soviet Republics through its membership in the CIS. Uzbekistan has many similar cultural
and ethnic features with the four republics immediately surrounding the country (Kazakh, Kirgiz,
Tadzhik, and Turkrnen). Uzbekistan along with these four republics are often referred to as the
Central Asian republics. Like the other Central Asian repubLics, Uzbekistan has initiated efforts
to establish economic and political relationships with countries in the region, primarily Iran, Iraq,
and Afghanistan. Turkey has also stepped up activity in the region as a hedge against excessive
Iraniai nd Iraqi influence in Central Asia. The third major international issue is the
consideration being given by the former Central Asian republics, including Uzbek., in forming a
new central state, Turkestan, which would have a single central government and several provincial
governments. Recently, delegates from Central Asia and neighboring republics met to discuss the
formation of a Turkic state with a boundary running from the shores of the Black Sea to just
inside Russia in the West and North, and to China in the East. These predominately Muslim
republics now see the possibility of. forging a single entity uniting the various Turkic and Iranic
Muslims within a unified greater Central Asia.: Opinions appear to be split as to whether this new
concept was designed to coordinate economic and cultural activity or as a means of stemming
possible future Russian control in the area.
Due to Uzbekistan’s economic dependence to cotton and it’s inability to feed the country’s
population, it is likely that the republic will maintain its current economic and political links in the
short term. Also, because Uzbekistan’s infrastructure remains entangled with the established
Soviet infrastructure, for the short term, it is doubtful that any new political alliances will emerge
outside of economic, agreements.
A1-5
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE - A11ACHMENT I
A1-6
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UZSEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ArFACHMENT 2
ATFACHMENT 2: NEWS ARTICLE ON CENTRAL ASIA
The articles on the following pages provides a general overview of the former Soviet
Union’s Southern Republics.
A2-l
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE - AflACHMENT 2
A2-2
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T Ø J REPORt
TOXIC
WASTEL
In the former Soviet Union,
economic growth was worth any
price. The price is enormous
I n sate e phot of the Eurasian landnia c.
at night, the brightest pools of light do not
emanate from London, Park or Rome. The
largest glow, covering hundreds of thousands
oraaes and dwarfing every other light sour from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, can be found in the
northern wilderness of Siberia, near the Arctic Or-
dc. It comes from thousands of g flares that burn
day and night in the Tyumen oil fields, sending
clouds of bLack smoke roLling - the Siberian
forest. During the past two decades , the steady
plume of noxious sulfur dioxide has helped to ruin
more than 1,500 square jniles of timber an area that
Poisoned air, poisoned land, poisoned water. This od shale plant
U.S NEWS WORLD KE! ogT Ai R1L
-------
•1
n the Baltic coast in Estonia dumps untreated cooling and cleaning fluids and tons of indusrnal w s:e into a sea nine nations share.
U S NLV S WI)WLU RI.iU4(1 . \IKJL U. l’ ’!
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OVIET
WORLD REPORT
is half again as large as Rhode Island.
Siberia’s acid rains are just one more
e’ uentsl catastrophe in a land
.an has run roughshod over na
tu A is now facing the deadly conse-
queii . The former U.S.S.R. had no
monopoLy on pollution and environmcn-
ul neglect, as residents of Minazn2ta,
Mexico Qty and Love Canal can testify.
But Soviet communism’s unchecked
power and its obscasions with heavy in.
dustzy, economic growth, national secu-
rity and seerecy all combined to pro-
taco an environmental catastrophe otun-
______ rivaled proportions.
When h orian* 5-
raally condt an an-
topsy on Sovietcom-
munisin, they may
reach the verdict o(
death by ecocide,”
________ write Murray Fesh-
________ bach, a Soviet expert at
Georgetown Univer-
ty, and Alfred Friendly Jr. in their new
book, “Ecocide in the U.S.S.R.” (Basic
Books, $24). “No other great industrial
ilization so systernaticaily and so long
poisoned its a ir, land, water and people.
None so loudly proclaiming its efforts to
improve public health and protect na-
ture so degraded both. And no advanced
society faced such a bleak political and
economic reckoning with so few re
s’- s to invest toward rec very.”
a of progress . Commimisin
.t the 290 million people of the
fouuer Soviet Union to breathe poisoned
- air, eat poisoned food, drink poisoned
‘water and, all too often, to bury thefr
frail, poisoned children without knowing
what killed them. Even now, as the Rns
sians and the other peoples of the former
U.S.S.R. discover what was done to them
in the name of socialist progr , there is
little they can do to reverse the calamity
Communism also has left Russia and the
other republica too poor to rebuild their
economics ,nd repair the ecological
d.21n ge at the same time, too disoip-
nized to mount a collective war on pollu-
tion and sometimes too cynical even to
try. Even when the ener and the re-
sources needed to attack this ecological
disaster do materialize, the damage is so
widespread that cleaning it up will take
decades. Among the horrors:
• Some 70 million out of 190 milliotr
Russians and others living in 103 cities
breathe air that is polluted with at least
five times the allowed Limit of danger-
ous chemicals.
• A radiation map. which has never been
released to the public but which was
made available to U.S. News, pinpoints
more than 130 nuclear explosions mostly
in European Russia. They were conduct-
ed for geophysical investigatious, to cie-
ate underground pr ure in oil and gas
Selds or simply to move earth for build-
ing dams No one knows how much they
have contamin’tcd the land, water, peo-
ple and wildlife, but the damage is almost
certainly enormous. Red triangles on the
map mark spots off the two large islands
of Novaya Zemlya where nucle-
ar reactorS and other radioac-
tive waste were dumped into
the sea. Tapping one location,
Alexel Yablokov, science advis-
er to Russian President Boris
Yeltsin, says a nuclear subma-
rine sank there 10 years ago, its
reactor now all but forgotten.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” he
says with disgust.
• Some 9 ),000 barrels of oil—roughly 1
out of every 10 barrels produced— are
spilled every day in Russia, Yablo-
kay. That is nearty the equivalent of one
Exxon Valdex spill every sax hours. To
speed up construction of oil pipelines 1
builders were permitted to install cutoff
valves every 30 miles instead of every 3,
so a break dumps up to 30 miles worth of
oil onto the ground. One pool of spilled
oil in Siberia is 6 feet deep, 4
miles wide and 7 miles long.
• A rding to Yablokov, the
Siberian forests that absorb
much of the world’s carbon di-
oxide are disappearing at a rate
of 5 million acres a year, posing
a bigger threat to the world en.
vironment than the destruction
of the Brazilian rain forests.
Most of the damage is caused k
TWIIIT
PlaciN? OP
ALL P0001
CONTAIN
MAZAIDOUS
PIST1C iDU
4’,
-o U.S.NEV. & WORLD REPflRT Ai’i 1I
-------
pollution and by indisaiminate dear-
cutting, mostly by foreign atnpanies , in
soil that can’t tolerate such practices .
a Because the rivers that feed it were
diverted, the Aral Sea is evaporating, al-
tering rainfall patterns, riling local tern-
peraturca as muds as 3 degrees and r
leasing so much salt and dust that the
level of particulate matter in Earth’s at-
mosphere has risen more than 5 percent.
a Officials in Ukraine have
buried 480 tons of beef eon.
taniinated by radiation from
the Chernobyl nuclear acci-
dent. An additional 920 tons
will be buried in June.
A confidential report pre-
pared by the Russian (formerly
Soviet) Environment Ministry.
for presentation at the Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro this
summer bLames the country’s unparal-
leled ecological disaster primarily on a
policy of forced industrialization dating
back to the l92( . The report, a copy of
which was obtained by U. News notes
the “frenetic pace” that a mpanicd
the relocation of plants and equipment
to the Urals and Siberia during World
Wa and theirrapid return to Europe-
an Russizafter the war. This, the report
says, ereated a “growth-at-any-
TWO cost mentality.”
The communist state’s tin-
challenged power also was re-
iN ISTONIA flected in its obsession with gi-
gantism and in its ability to twist
science into a tool of politics.
The late Soviet President Leo-
nid Brezhnev planned to re-
verse the flow of the Irtysh Riv-.
er, which flows north, in order
‘C. ‘
tuaoceut , lctl . Young otthe
Oiano nuclen? a 1t ø U a
D a naU in a Muisk hospüa4 left
Abow, enn. mea sre the effectr of
m” frm near Ome aabä where a
1957 , suckar explosion w s ca ed up.
to irrigate parts of arid Central Asia for
riceanda,rngrowing. Buttoredirect6.6
trillion gallons of water each year would
have required building a 1,500-mile ca-
caL Qiticawarried that the project would
alter world weather patterns, but Soviet
officials gave up only after spending bil-
lions of rubles on the plan. “Soviet sci-
ence became a kind of sorcerer’s appren-
tice,” write Feshbacb and Friendly.
Usisplalied aatfr . Not surprisingly
in a nation obsessed with national securi-
ty and seerecy, another culprit was the
military-industrial compLex, which the
Environment Ministry’s report says “has
operated outside any environmental
controls.” In 1979, some 60 people died
in a mysterious outbreak of anthrax near
a defense institute in Sverdlovsk (now
renamed Ekatcrinburg). After years of
Soviet denials of any link with defense
matters, the Presidium of the Supreme
Sovictvoted in late March to compensate
the vi ms of the incident and conceded
that it was Linked to “military activity.”
At the same time, the report says, corn-
muni m’S reliance on central planning
and all-powerful monopolies produced
an “administrative mind-set” that creat
ed huge industrial complexes that over-
taxed local environments. The report
says the emphasis on production over
efficiency has Led to some 20 percent of
all metal production being dumped — un-
used—into landfills. Nor did Soviet in-
dustries, shielded from competition. feel
any need to improve efficiency or switch
to cleaner, more modern technology.
Worse, it became virtually impossible
to shut down even the worst offenders.
because doing so could wipe out vtrtuaU’
kINDIRGAITINS
WW BUILT ON
A *AOIOACTTVI
WASTI DUMP
L.SNEW’j & WORLD REPOI(T AI1 IL 13. 19 2
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WORLD REPORT
an entire industry. In Estonia, for exam-
ple, t Kobtia-Jarve chemical plant, a
maj’ ter, squeeZes 2.2 million bar-
rels ¼ year from Shale and provides
90 penxnt of the euer ’ for the newly
j d pendCflt country. Environment
Minister Tanis Kaasik says flatly that it is
“impossible” to shut down production.
T.rrthls satt*. A pervasive seaet po-
lice force, meanwhile, ensured that the
people seldom found out about the hot-
rorsvisitedoti them in the name of prog-
ress and that, if they did, they were pow-
erless to stop them. It took Soviet
officials more than 30 years to admit that
an explosion had oceurred at a nuclear
storage site near Oielyabinsk in 19S7.
The blast sent some 80 tons of radioac-
ve waste into the air and forced the
evacuation of more than 10,000 peo le.
Evenwithg as7iaS4 acultof silence wish
in the bureauaaCy continues to suppress
information on radiation leaks and other
hazards. Indeed, the No.1 environ-
mental problem remains “lack of
information,” says former Environ-
ment Minister Nikolai Vorontsov.
Even now, with the fall of the
Communist Party and the rise of
more-democratiC leaders, there is no as-
surance that communism’s mess will get
cleaned up. Its dual legacy of poverty
and environmental degradation has left
the n w political leaders to face rising
de’ (or jobs and consumer goods
V nsternation about the sts of
poh nd too few resour to attack
either problem, let alone both at once.
Although 270 nia functions were re-
corded at nuclear facilities Last year, -
nomic pressure will make it difficult to
shut down aging Soviet nuclear power
plants. In March, radioactive iodine es-
caped from a aiernobyl-style plant near
St. Petersburg, prompting calls from
German officials for a shutdown of the
most vulnerable reactors. Yeltsin adviser
Yablokov warns that “every nuclear
power station is in no-good condition, a
lot of leaks.” In the short term, Russia
has little choice but to stick with nuclear
power, which provides 60 percent of the
electricity in some regions.
Environmental consciousness has
permeated only a small frac.
tion of society, and musing the
rest will require breaking the
vicious circle of social fatalism.
“We haven’t got any ecological
culture,” says Dalia Zukiene, a
Lithuanian official. Russian
aerosols still contain chloro-
fluorocarbons. though Russia
has now banned them, but if a
Russian is lucky enough to find
A swath of
destruction
a deodorant or mosqui-
to repdilen he will grab it—re-
gardless of the consequences to the
ozone Layer. “We still bear the stamp
of Ifomo sovsencus—we’re not inter-
ested in the world arouud us, only in
our own business,” says Zukiene. Adds
Ma Pozbidayev*, an environmental
writer in Tyumen, in the oil fields of
western Siberia: “Sausage is in the first
place in people’s minds.”
Despite the mounting toll,
the environmental activists who
rushed to the barricades in the
early days of glasnost have
largely disappeared. When the
Social Ecological Union re-
cently tried to update its list of
environmental groups it found
that more than half of them
had disbanded in the past year.
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“If people go to a meeting at all, it isn’t
for the sake of ecology,” says Vladimir
Loginov, an editor of Tywnen Vedo-
mosn a newspaper in the Tyumen oil
region. “They have to eat.”
In fact, the crisis of leadership afflict-
ing much of the former Soviet Union
poses a whole new set of threats to the
environment. The loosening of poLitical
control from Moscow already has
turned the provinces_especially Sibe-
ria—into the Wild West. Local authori-
ties,. particularly in the Far East, have
extended vast timber-cutting rights to
U S. E & WORLD .; Pi
-------
foreign companies, especially Japanese
and South Korean, without either im-
posing strict controls on,their metl ds
or requinng reforestation. “T
noniic chaos here presents enormous
opportunities for Loesi am atiOfl,
without any government nuol, to ait
forest, to sell it abroad sad to receive
some clothes, cars, video equipment,”
says Yeltsin adviser Yablokav. “If you
visit the Far East fore enterprises, you
will be surprised how many Japanese
cars you will find.”
The breakup of the Soviet Union is
adding to the tensions. Despite alerno-
byl, Ukraine, facing an energy isis as
the price of the oil it imports from other
regions rises to world levels, is quietly
contemplating building new nuclear
power plants. But a stepped-up Ukraini-
an nuclear power program would create
its own problems: Krasnoyarsk. the tra-
ditional dumping ground in Russia for
nuclear waste, is refusing to accept
Ukraine’S spent reactor fuel because
Ukraine is demanding hard irrency for
its sugar and vegetable oil.
In the mountainous Altai region of
Russia, which recently declared itself au-
tonomous and elected its own parlia-
ment, newly elected officials are trying to
revive a a)ntroversial hydroelectric proj-
ect on the Katun River. Victor Danilov-
Danilyan,•the Russian minister
of ecology and natural re-
sources, says local officials in
Aitai, many of whom are former
Communist Party leaders, are
now tzying to cast the battle
over the project as a nationalist
issue. He says local authorities
have deliberately ignored the
danger of increased toxic wastes
in the water and intentionally
underestimated both how much the
project will cost and how long it will
take to build. “‘They’re just deceiving
people,” Danilov-Danulyan charges.
“They just want to grab as much as
they n while they’re in power, to
build d dzas for themselves.”
Still, there arc some glimmers of
progress, including the recent cre-
ation of three new national parks in
Russia. In February, President Yel-
tam signed a new environmental
law that empowers local officials
or even individuals to sue an
offending enterprise and de-
inand its immediate do-
sure. It also holds poLlut-
ers, not some distant
ministiy, responsible for
PU u 1 . ’k t their actions. The new
law further permits aggrieved parties to
sue for damages, not just fines. The en-
vironmental ministry’s report notes that
over the years, “few ministries, if any,
chose to dean up their act and didn’t go
beyond paying lip service to the need
to protect the environment.” In
most cases, polluters got off with
suiall fines or escaped punish-
ment alsogether by passing the
“ buck to government ministries.
But Vladisiav Petrov, a Law pro-
fessor at Moscow State University and
the main author of the new legislation,
says that if it is strictly enforced, the law
would shut down 80 percent of the
countiy’s factories • vernight. In the
sooty steel town of Magnitogorak, in the
Urals, an independent radio journalist
says he will try to force the Lenin Steel
Mill, which employs 64,000 people, to
dose. He doubts he will succeed
Growth id s y. Moreover, while the
new, 10,000-word statute has teeth, only
a handful of Lawyers, and even fewer
judges, are familiar with environmental
law. Petrov says the courts are ill-
equipped to handle I2ivfl from individ-
uals and would be overwhelmed if peo-
pie tried to collect damages from
polluters. “In order for this article of
the Law to be effective, the whole court
system should be changed,” he says.
Still, environment ti 1fl is a growth
industry in the former Soviet Union.
Many scientists in fields such as nuclear
physica hope to recast them-
selves as ecologists. Mindful
that the Russian government
does not have the funds for
large projects, they are looking
for foreign partners to join
them in cleanup projects. So
far, most Western groups have
offered advice but not much
money.
Some Western input may be
ScIUKTIST$
IICINTLY
FOUNO 11
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POISONID BY
CHIRNOITI.
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5. 4 d
U.S.N & WORLD REI’ORr. APRiL U. ‘
-------
nec y, however, to prevent the en-
vironmental effort from suecumbing to
its own form of gigantisin. One Central
Asian academic’s plan for saving the
Aral Sea, for example, calls for build-
ing a 270-mile canal from the Caspian
Sea ‘ert water ir LO the depleted
Ar because the Caspian Sea is
low a the Aral, the water would
have to be pumped into the canal, and
that would require
Thi SOVIETI, considerable electnc-
WITh 10% OP ity. The din
AMUICA’S work of solar power
stations.
CAll, HAD The spreading -
op u.s. au.T ’o logical disaster may
yet force change on
POLLUTiON an impoverished and
cynical people. “We
have a R” ’ sayinç ‘The worse, the
better,’” says Yablokov. Tth situa-
tion has now become so obvious for all
people that I feel that a lot of decision
makers began to turn their minds in
this direction.” The Stalinist idea, be
says, was to build socialism at any azt
because afterward there would be no
more problems. “It was an unhealthy
ideology,” he says. “Now I feel that my
people are coming to understand the
depths of this tragedy.” U
A faded red-and-white
sign, tucked away in a
drift of blackened snow
near the entrance to the Lenin
Steel Works in Magnitogorsk , ________
still issues the old Soviet call to
arms: “To you, our beloved
motherland, we give our labor _____________
and our hearts.” And our lungs
as well, it might have added.
Encased in a perpetual cloud of red,
white and purple gases spewing from
two d en smokestacks, the 60-year-old
steel plant, located on the banks of the
Ural River, is both life and death for
this city of 440,000-an economic boon
that provides jobs for 64,000 workers
and an environmental disaster that saps
the health of all for miles around. Mag-
nitogorsk’s children’s hospital is crowd-
ed with bronchial asthma cases. Doctors
say that two thirds of the diseases they
treat are linked to respiratory problems.
The Lenin Steel Works. the world’s
largest, is a communist dream come
true—and that is the problem. Only a
Stalinist system that could both
rouse and frighten the masses
could have built such an indus-
trial monster in the middle of
the icy Russ’ wilderness, 670
miles east of Moscow.
Named for the “Magnetic
Mountains,” which are rich in
iron ore, Magnitogorsk is the
anchor of a huge industrial belt that was
founded east of the Un! Mountains in
the l93( to help the Soviet military-in-
dustrial complex turn out tanks and ri-
fles. In World War II, the equipment of
24 entire steel related factories was
transported to the Magnitogorsk plant
almost overnight from European Rus-
sit, ahead of advancing German troops.
During the war, the Lenin Steel Works
produced half of all the Soviet Union’s
tanks and 1 out of 3 of its artillery shells.
Today, relying largely on the same 50-
year-old equipment, the open hearths
of the sprawling. 16-square.mlle factor’ ’
produces 20 percent of Russia’s steel.
But with the demise of Soviet propa-
L!SNE . W RLDRLK
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b The Lenin &ed
Wovia in Magnicoga ’sk coi s 16 square miLer and poLiwes an area twice the size of Delaware.
Breathing sulfur
and eating lead
Magnitogorsk ‘s children need oxygen cocktails
SOVIET J
LEGACY
BY DOI.ZL S STANGUN *1m VCT A POn IN
M( RcIN KNICkfl ’ i IwMk7d. PErU G 4 IN
T u. ,st CumEr A I I.A$U i i KiEV Jw Ct’ 1N
t
I
-------
ganda and its pretense of building a
workers’ paradise, some residents have
begun to Look beyond the ledger sheet.
Each year, the Lenin steel mill belches
out 650,000 tons of industrial wastes, in-
cluding 68 toxic chemicals, and pollutes
some 4,000 square miles of Russia, an
area twice the size of Delaware.
Safsty last. Steelworker A.natoly
Konstantinov, who is aLso a deputy in
the MagnitogOrsk ty cou cll, says that
in his sector of the plant, “not a single
ealog cal safety provision is being car-
ried out, not a single altering device is
working-” During the winter, the cen-
tral avenues of the.czty are lined with
piles of soot .euausted snow. The parks
and sidewalks are a blur of gunmetal
gray. At wglit, the
mi BW.ST taste of sulfur settles
thickly on the tongue.
MZLk O SOMI At ildren’s Hos’
MOThl S is pita! No. 3, the wait-
ing list for treatment
PI N 1D of respiratory prob
lerns is so long that
only the most serious-
P*STICIDIS ly ill are admitted.
The hospital is adding
a new rehabilitation center for respira-
tory patients, but it still won’t be able
to keep up with a caseload that has
jumped from 270 patients a year a dec-
ade ago to more than 500. Fewer than
1 percent of the city’s children are esu-
mated to be in good health. Inns
Cierednjcher O, the director of the
hospital’s respiratory diseases depart-
ment, says heavy pollution, exacerbated
by poor diet, is the primaxy aalprit.
Po4atloa’stoU. A mother helps her child inhale vaporized driigsat a clink.
“The problem is that all mothers are
unhealthy here and can’t give birth to
healthy babies,” says Qierednichenko,
who herself suffers from chronic bron-
chitis. “Even if the volume of waste
being thrown into the alt deciesses,
there will be unhealthy children here
for years.” _____
To treat the worst respiratory cases,
doctors administer an “oxygen axktail”
made of fruit juice, sugar and eg white
infused with pure oxygen—an elixir
that, while nutritious, is more wishful
thii*ing than serious mediane, accord-
ing to Western experts on respiratory
disease . Faced with an aaite shortage
of medical supplies, the hospital can
handle only a fraction of those in ne&.
Even the “oocktail” misc is out of Sc .-
vice for lack of a rubber belt. To pro-
vide treatment to less ciitical patients,
one group of mothers is trying to raise
St narrOW
sea up to 50 yea!.. -
pour at dinto the sea. : water. Because its €tshw te ontent
sThe Baltic Sea is.dying. A quarterof is so high, the Baltid.SupPOrtSICW plant
I - --..-”. __
!BET G u LTm NIA Ab ’, -
Esr IA AND DAVID BAKrAL SW 4 •
ANn DnThAPK
U.S.NE & WORLD REPORT. APRIL 11 [ 992
-------
money to open a private therapy center.
Nor would a better diet of local vege-
tables and milk help much. “For 20 miles
all? 4themil1,thesoilafld ti
be’ ned by heavy metals for many
yea.. ys aierednichenko. “Parents
can oniy get contaminated products.”
Low pdodty. But there is little taste in
Magmtogorsk for attacking the source
of the problem. “If they close this pLant,
it would be a catastrophe for the city as
well as the people here,” says Pyotr Bi-
bik, head of the factory’s trade union.
“The whole town is dependent on it..”
Igor Yegorov, *31-year-old steelworker
standing near the outstretched arm of
Lenin at the factory gates, puts the en-
vironment low on his priority List.
“These days it’s more Important to earn
money and buy something for your fam-
ily than to think about health,” he says.
Plant o ciaIs say they are gradually
cutting back on toxic emissions and
building a new s on that will use
newer, cleaner teehnolo ’. But they say
curbing pollution is costly and they can’t
afford to pay for it. Qos-
UV TY ing the plant, they add,
would imperil 500,000
uauro’ jobs, both in Magxiito-
,,. p q gorsk and among 80
suppliers throughout
1111 YOSAA the country.
CONTAIN Most residents seem
oblivious to the sulfu-
MfP” T rous air. Marina Malu-
tins, a 26-year-old steel-
w. wife, moved her family from
the . polluted bank of the Ural River
to Metizov*ya Plosbadlr a small hill-
side community downwind of the
smokestacks. She says she would rather
live with their young son in a three-
room wooden house, pollution and all,
than share a cramped apartment with
her parents in a healthier environment-
“Our friends are enyious,” she smiles.
In 1990, report Murray Feshbach and
Alfred Friendly Jr. in their new book,
“Ecocide in the US.S.R.,” Soviet central
planners and the Metallurgical Ministry
deferred all cleanup action and asked the
people of Magnitogorsk and other indus-
thai towns in the Urals to understand
“the difficult situation in the country.”
Passivity still hangs in the air as
heavily as the acrid smoke. The same
Soviet power that willed th industrial
town and thousands of others Like it
into being reduced its citizens to the
role of cog in the socialist machine.
“For 70 years we only thought about
the state, never ourselves,” shrugs one
hospital worker. A Little smoke is not
likely to change that.
• WORLD REPORT
Poisoning Russia s
river Of plenty
The onec abundan’ Volga has fallen victim to
dams, power plants, chemicals and sewage
T he word ekolog -ecology-has
come to the R1t c 1 town of 1k-
raynoye on the banks of the Volga
River near Astakhan. The residents of
the town, which takes its name from the
Ru ’ ” word for the caviar produced by
the river’s once abundant stur-
geon, pronounce the foreign-
sounding term with hesitation.
But they need it to expLain why
so many dead fish are strewn
their muddy footpaths as
the river ice begins to melt this
spring. “They say it’s the ecolo-
gy,” says Alexandra Shishkov, In
front of her wooden cottage.
“They say the sturgeon is sick, that it has
become kind of soft. We don’t really
know what this means.” Her husband
greets her cheerfully, clutching two fish
in his hands. Friends have given him
wild carp, a rare catch these days.
The mighty Volga is no longer a river
of plenty. Chroniclers through the cen-
turies remarked on its bounty, especially
where the river reached the wide Rus-
sian plains called the steppes. When the
Mongols and Tatars invaded the area
around the present-day cities of Volgo-
grad and Astrakhan, they traveled light,
knowing the area teemed with fish and
game. Later, ethnic German farmers
cultivated fruit, vegetables and grain on
the riverside land. Most of them
were evicted from their farm-
steads as a punitive action dur-
ing World War IL
l th. goose. The river-
banks where the famous Volga
boatmen once pulled their
barges by rope are now crowded
with factories, dams and hydro-
electric plants. The Volga is the
heart of the Soviet military-industrIal
complex, and its factories were able to
pollute with impunity. In the name of
national security, cities such as Saratov
and Nizhni Novgorod (Gorky) were
closed to foreigners until recently.
The Soviet Union’s veil of secrecy also
covered its environmental problems. But
new data show that some 3,000 factories
dump 10 billion cubic yards of contanm
nated waste and other effluenis intO the
:.—c — yc
Hwy trifle. A sh4pywd at Am’akhan, w#sa the Volgu’s delta begins
--i —-
-‘ #-
SOVIET
LEGACY
BY DOUGLAS STANGUN IN M, c ,NrTOGOKSK
U. Wowi.D REI’OWT. AI1 1L U. I”1
-------
a WORLD REPORT
river every year. The air in many riverside
cities and towns is peppered with sulfur,
hydrocarbons and other chemicals.
But logists say the Volga’s real
problems began not with pollution but
with a frenzy of darn building n the 1950$
and ‘60s. It used to take 50 days for the
river water to travel the 2,300 mIles from
source to estuary. Now it tak iy ar and
a hr LL The slower pace causes poilutanta
to acxumuLate in eight vast man-made
“ ‘tT! slon! the river’s course and to
settle on the riverbedaudin ;‘sdelta. On
some stretches of the now sluggish Vol-
ga, petroleum byproducts have reached
concentrations 100
ml *1*1.1 5* times the allowable
• limit or greater. When
HAS DIOPPID it reaches the Caspian
44Fu1,AH = Sea, the riverr
- one final insult, from
ITS SURIACZ the Klrov district of the
HAS SHIUNK city of Volgograd:
40,000 cubic yards of
SY 4 PEICINT raw sewage every year.
Sturgeon, the source
of Russia’s famous black caviar, have
been bard hit by this breakdown of the
river ecosystem. Biologist Vladimir Thu-
kov, a leader of the Save the Volga Corn.
mittee, says toxic chemicals art eating
away the flesh of the fish and deranging
their metabolism and nervous systems.
Val ry Vinogradov, the procurator of
the Volga Inter-Regiomi Nature Protec-
tion Office, says foreign firms won’t buy
VolEs sturgeon anymore because it is too
soft to slice. The sturgeon die younger
and produce smaller roe. In 10 years
Russia’s sturgeon catch has deereased by
almost 60 percent, says Vladimir I nay-
by f of the fisheries department of
th tan Ministry Agriculture.
Is ncdos . ? More than poLlution
is killing the fish. Like America’s dwin-
dling Pacific Northwest salmon, many
die in the water intakes of hydropower
stations. Although fish farms replenish
the stock, “the sturgeon a threatened
with extinction,” says Zliukov.
The state’s grandiose pLsmto harness
the flow of the river have bed other un-
foreseen, and now possibly irrcvernble,
consequences. The Volga-Don Canal
near Volgograd was built directly aeross
the adjacent Sarpa River, which was
blocked with three dams in order to sepa-
rate the two waterways. But the Lake ore-
ated out of the S-sips has turned into a
swamp, and the water tables of the near-
by villages of Tsatsa and Dubovoy Ovrag
are rising sharply. Some residents al-
ready have abandoned their homes, but
most remain. In Dubovoy Ovrag, Na-
dezhda Starkova says the soil is too wa-
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U.S.NEWS& WORLD REPOI(1 P
-------
ter-logged to v°
potatoes anymore.
Her tre have rot-
ted at the roots. To
make matters worse,
one of the area’s prime
polluters, a factory pro-
ducing paraffin-based an-
imal feed additives, is just
upwind from the village.
Still, Starkova is sticking it
out. “Where would we go?”
she asks. ‘This is our home.”
ft is too late to undam the
riverandunbuildcafl”,bute n
vironmental activists have
scored some victories. A plan to
build a parallel canal — Volga-
Don -2—sparted a petition drive
and protes ’s in more than 100 cities
in 1989. Activists in the southern
Volgograd dirictofKrasnoarmeisky
(“Red Army”) are now a,ncentrating
on 50 square miles of settling ponds
hold chemical waste on land that
was once the ethnic German
town of Sarepta, renowned for A RIWON
its cherry orchards and mineral
spnnp. Waste water flowing AND A HALF
into the ponds has been treated,
but not weLl The water is so
laden with chemicals that the
ponds don’t ripple in the wind,
nordotheyeverfreeZC .St ea11IS
of yellow, red and black water
signal the presence of hydrocar-
bons, oil, sulfur and iron oxides.
But friction over how to proceed is
felt everywhere that Save the Voiga ac-
tivists roam. Young Turks such as Gri-
gory Radkovslcy, the vice president of
Votgograd’s environmental agency, view
themselves as advocates, but they are re-
luctant to confront polluting companies.
Radkovsky’s wife works at one of the
offending factories. So does his father.
“We have to be flexible,” he says.
A paucity of scientific data has become
both grounds for exaggerated suspicions
on the part of environmental protesters
and a universal excuse for plant manag.
ers and officials. Irma Belay, an environ-
mentalist in Krasnoarrneisky angrily
calls her village a “second Q ernobyt.”
She says that when the head of a local
collective farm washed his car with water
fromapond, it took off the finish. Kras-
noarmeisky is no Chernobyl, fumes Rad-
kovsky. For starters, he points out, there
isnoradioactivefailoutiflthearea-He
a ises the activists of playing on.emo-
tions and of being “not scientific.”
Blaming mosquitoes. But Svetlana
Umetskaya, a deputy in the Russian Su-
preme Soviet, recalls that health officials
chided her for claiming pollution was
making residents of Krasnoarmeisky
chronically ill with respiratory ailments.
She still bristles over a deputy health-
care minister’s comment that the main
source of health problems in her district
was an overabundance of mosquitoes..
Other officials blamed vodka.
Even Russian environmental officials
have found themselves pilloried when
they have thed to act. Viktor Danilov-
Danilyan, the minister of ea,lo f and
natural resources, minces no words
about the appalling conditions at a huge
gas-condensate plant in Astrakhan: “The
complex is already polluting 90 miles
around the city. The level of toxic agents
is very high, based on the measurements
of workers’ health we have taken. Eco-
nomically the plant is unprofitabLe. Now
instead of installing cleanup filters, they
are talking of building the scond stage of
the plant This is madnes.?
The plant’s technical director, Vladi-
mir Nazaito, responds “The worst thing
is when people who don’t know what
they are talking about become judgmen-
tal. I am firmly convinced that
until professionals start doing
what they are supposed to, we’ll
have a miserable existence in
this country.” Nazarko admits a
recent visit by a government en-
vironmental impact assessment
team was rocky. “They are bi-
ased, more emotional than
technical,” he complains.
Mother Volga has always
stirred Russian emotions, but usually be-
cause of its bounty and its purity. Irma
Belay recalls that her family, like many
asthma sufferers, moved to the area in
the 1950s for its clean air and dry cli-
mate. Another Volgograder says his
mother, penniless after World War II,
depended on the river to survive. The
merchants wouldn’t give her bread on
credit, but they did give her caviar from
the Volga. The family ate it from a large
jar with soup spoons. Now, plentiful cay-
jar, like clean air, is only a memory. M
BY VICTORIA POPE ON lift \OLC
Ya,os!arl
Kosfroiiuz
Loc Pfa stO rease
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-------
— —
249 P 2
InsideTliis Issue...
Golf PoUutlon Task Fcrve report en*oamcatai be1 th effects at Gait Wa’
lnta ’tuko mcct11 g In G oa focus’s an tuksr fnsp bons aid OPA requfr 3ne us
Tltauiuzcoatad glass beads proild ; w approach for oil 1I deaunpa . . .
LouMiant we1th. d e ion Uli two wor s aid iuea IZ000.pzlon avde o i l spiU
USCO seeks cupablildea ditemeats for prop ed South Fbrlda Oil Split Rase cb Center
ReØosiil Retpcnae Team plane segilnat In Texas oil s$1 stabilizadon and clea nup
Well continues to burn out of control In Uzbekistan
A massive well blow-out In the Mhigbulak farming area near Namangan, Uzbe$dstan, “does not pose
a sezious environmental threat to the nearby S r Darya River at this tin ic, as all of the escaping oil is bun ng
cleanly,” ac rdiflg to Tony Jove wb WiS the leade of a U.S. technical team that rec ncly retamed I a
mission to the area. The well has ban losing an estimated 35,000 to 75 .000 barrels of heavy crude -pe w
day since ft b’ew out on 2 March. The oil spilled Into the s l7o mduitg agricultural fields mu1 eady April,
when the gushing oil Ignited. Since then, the well has been burning out of conuol, although wdll-connol
teawi have been anernpdng to cap ft. A major c em has been the proximity ‘f d well to the S Darya
Rivet, which flows about 100 yards fl m the sate. This rtver is the “lifeblood of the Pcrgana V&lley.”
according to Jover, povidthg the primary source of wa .r ftc lrrigsñon and drinking water In the area.
Mowever. Jover said that, as long as the well nondmics to burn. the river does not appear to be at risk. He did
note that, during the period before the well Ign ited, large volumes of oil accumulated 112 the surrouraiing fields
and that an undetermined amount of oil entered the Syr Daryl.
The wild well reprewlts the first major oil discovery In Ua’bukistan, whl 1 has always been an oil
importer. Some otnervers believe th* the discovery is a ii that Usbekistin may have substantial oil
Tanker spills up to 3,500 tons of oil off Mozamblqüe
Up0metr1ctabeavyfli o l1sp111edfkinnthedagdMnkerKatioaPintOthe
lndi Ocean off sazchetu Mownblque after a freak wave s u the 69 .992Dvfr ranker during the night of
16 April and breached d vessel’s No.3 arbovd tank. At the dme of the acddent, the ith i P was
anchored at a position of 23’36’ 5, 3259’E, or about 26 miles nonbeast of Maputo, M ambique. This
mc i dent is the second ma r oil spill involving the 26-year-old Kithu P. On 7 June 1982, dz vessel—then
named Kanna—ran over d anehor chain of dz French ore canier Pengall west of the look of Holland and
spilled about 1.200 metric tons of heavy fuel, oil Into the North Sea.
During the flr two days after the recent spill, the Katfna P suffered addItloual damage, and the
hole In the tanker’s No. 3 swbeetd tank opened to about 80 feet by 40 feet. raising fears that the tanker
might break up and lose her cargo of about 66,000 menlo tons of heavy fuel. The Katina P’s 2.0 crew
members were evacuated, arid the vessel owner, Polembios Shipping (Londvn, U.K.). conn acred Pentow
Marine (Care Town, South Africa) to srabUI e and salvage the vessel. Esdmates of the spill size have varied
wi dely from about 150 to 3,.500 tons, the conrcnn of the dzunaged No. 3 rank. Part of the unc*rtainty In
the arnoun of oil spilled is du to the fact that the Kauna P’s crew repoxtedly attempted to transfer oil from
the da maged nic to other tactics. A precise estinratc of the loss will probably riot bc available u ri1 a survey
— pp 5
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24 Api’. 1992
VoL IV, No.9
The Isst raadovsa1 Newsiattar ec
Oil Pglljtdoa Prevendasr, C r.h ei, u.id Cleanup
Frum Wo.’fd lnforrM4oa Systems eM
the Conser for 5kort-U vd?*.*,w4n
• . . • . . pagc2
• . • • . . page6
• . . . . . pagel
• . . . . . pageS
• ‘ . . . . page9
• a a . . pagelO
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Ii L.I1’ . • j :t ir. C4I I.—
• Q ii.: L _D I -FC. SYSTETS
“ . 3 OoLob oil potluao SuU* ______
•lnterflatiOfl3 legai sSUCS The Task lorce tV fld 1 that EPA, NOiV . and otJw U .S. agenci
- ‘--- fl s jstancC” to the United Nations Co npc adon Ccmm1s On in it S woit to deñne ca m peT1s b1e
mexital djm age. In p3XtiCU13I zoi’ding to the Task Force, U.S. & C1C$ should c1p dcvclop modela
“ or-cetermining both the c t of damage and bow 1ia Ufty is to be n2easw If restoring prCC4atiI2g
condl ons is not possibic.” The Task For also xecomnm nded that tbe United Stares suppOt intern Llorta1
efforts to pros ute the Iraqi offic aIs wbo were r ponsthle for waZtQfl e viionniental damage and to
“encourage ncgt ons and enact domestic Iegislathon toa g mruncntaL terrorism a unmv sal1y
probibited crime.” Such legislation would allow d U.S. govenuflerti to prosecute enviroon al terrorism
regai’dleU of where the ac occurred or where i efeera were felt.
‘Prot2ctlOfl of the nvhonmeflt and ve s of unique natural t itae are l depqndeflt values due
certain deference in the cond 1Ct of bosdiltici,” according to the TIS Form. ‘The report t ccommceded that the
U.S. Pre. decL and community endorse the pr p1es of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva
Coiivcndon protu ng wld &p(C3d lOng.tC1T13 and severe eavironmenul damage dunng war. In addi on, the
Task Force urged the United Nations to begin c egotiationS on an i tesnant to pratc “ viIOCintfltal1y
unique areas” from au lor duilng wartime. Such an agieem t U31 1 es blISh * sy cw for dos1 a&
environmentallY unique area and m1gi L requite that waning groups refrain from attacking thee areas. For a
copy of the 74-page report, entitled The Envfrowe ai Aftermath of the G u f War (S. Prt. 10244), uL co cost,
contact: Paul Qdmcs, pocunia Qer , Enviiv ’neflL and Publlc Worki Committee, US. Senam, Washington.
DC 20510; Tel; 202-V.4-7841.
Well blow•out in Uzbekistan
rescrv and that the rq iblic could become a wealthy o producers Others have critid ed Uzbe ieft, the
rep b1ic’S st te.owited oil company. for nduøing exp1orath activities without the nece axy safeguards to
prevent a blow-out and, in the evcz of an ac d . to deal effectively with the resulting po1Ludo .
In response to a request from the Republic of Uzbeklstan for technIcal expertise, d US.
governmcnt dispatched a sevea-perwn ream under EPA’S direction to the wefl site to help assess the
rnmetnal and public be Lth Imp. cts of the well bluwout and to develop a spill respo7 e If the oil entered
r Darya. The am consisted of Tony lover, director of infucua400 management at EPA’ S Q1 n1ca1
Enicrency Preparedness and Prevention Office Washington, D .C.; two u rnbct5 of EPA’s Evironmcntal
Response Team In Edison, New 7cr y a sea or on-ace ootdlnatoc front EPA RegIon 4 in Atlanta,
Georgia: two members of the US(Xi a National Suile Force, 1nciudb g Commander RichaM Softye, executive
officer of the National Suike Force Coordinadon Center In Elizabeth Cry, North Carolina; and an
environmental medicine specialist from the Centers for Disease Control hi Atlanta., Georgit The team
departed (corn the United Staree on 12 Apr 11, wived in U2bekI n catS April, spent five days there, arid
retunted hottic on 22 Apd. -
In addition, the US. governrr ct made available seven military C-141 cargo planes to anspOrt
well-control equipment for Cudd p es uge Coc o1, Inc. Houston, Tcxa.s), which was asked by the Uzbekistan
government to partic1pa the respoise to the b w-out. Acoording to the U.S. State Deparuacol ,
five C- 14 1s transported capping and firc ghttng uipment. a sixth C-141 carried personnel for offloading the
equipment. and a seventh anspocted the offloading eqnlpm=u. The State DeparUncnt noted thac”the unique
naturc, bulk, and shape of varl ts pieces of cquipmesl meant that the Items co zId not be packed In anialler
size loads.” In addition to the 1-coevol equipment, Cudd Pressure Control dispatched to the well site a
nine-person team, including Bob Cudd,president of Qidri Pressure Corinol. and Robert Grace, president of
Crec*, Shut scn, Moore & Associates. Inc. (Amarillo, Texas), a pcirol im consul ng engixteenng firm.
• Well blow-out and fire: The cause of the well bl w-oet on 2 March was probably the discovery of oil at
a shallower depth than cad. According to Duncan Robinson. OPB correspon cn1 in the Common wealth
of Independent States, the drilling had reached about l’7.000 feet when the blow.oit occtrned; that. depth was
about 2,000 feet lean than Uzbekncft had anticipated, Robinson reported. For the month of Mardi s d during
the early pan of ApriL the well gushed a massive amount of oil Onto (he surrounding fields. According 10
Robinson. who visited the well site In mid.April, the flow rate has increased since the initial blowout, but the
estimates of the current flow rate have varied dramatically, lover told OPB that. based on available
iI 199 01992 WIS
249
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2 ii:31 U..H. .D 4-D. STe 5 249 F04
Ps; 4 Golob’s O 1 Poth1i o ’ BuU6 li 24 Apt J 1992 0 1992 WIS ___________
i(ôjma1iCfl, the U.S. C logical S trvcy spc ulate4 t hat the flow tale was up to .5.0O0 b ’e1s per day, while
approzlniatelY flf ao to 75.000 barrels per day. Robinson said that Uzbe eft made i estimate of up to
100,000 barrels per day, ALthough most QPB ouces regard that estimate as too higit
When the well ignited In early April. the imme ate threat of continuing oil spillage ended. as the
flre coosumed all of the escapthg O IL ether the weal re was the result of a concerted decision or an
accident. it sol’eed the polluLiOO problem. OPB seai ed two confilcting reports about the origin of the well
tire. According to one account, TJzbelcxieft made $ decision 10 ignite the well in order to prevent any furthcr
oil spillage, espe a1Ly Into the Syr Da17a according to die other account, while workers were remo’ 4ng the
dulling rig (mm the gushing welThead. a spark ac d t2llY I m4 the oil: acid the melted runains of the
dilWng rig remain nearby the weflhiead.
• Spill respon : The two primary objec veS of the Init ial spill re4pQnse were to prevent the spilled oil
from entering the Syr l)arya River arid to collect as much of the oil as possible tar processing. Aecording to
• Commander Softyc, the Uzbeks bailt a large b m in the form of a triangle around ike wclthead each tide of
the uisngle measured aboUt 0.5 mIle long. atid the berm beI ht v*ned between abOut 4 SM 6 f t In addition.
they used front-end løaders to push soil up sgaimt & natural berm along the miver banks to reinforce is.
Commander Softyc told OPB that d se berms• seemed to have been effective in minimizing the amount of oil
that emeted the Syr Darya. Me noted. however, that the tlzbeks did not have any cleanup equipment. tudi 53
booms. k itnxncti, and sorbents, to respond to the spilled oil in the Syr Darya. EPA’s lover said that they
ImProv ised, maltung both sorbent booms out of vegctatk’n and diveralon booms from pipes. Jover told OPB
that, within to 4 days after the initial blowo a, 12-Inch pipes were deployed In the river to divan oil and
oily debils tOWards the banks; he also said that. about 7 miles downstit 5m from the well site, he oøscrved
booms made from bundled grasses suspended from a bndge
The Uzbeks used irrigation canela hi the fields surrounding the weiLto coUect the spilled oil for
cvcnwal pumnplng according so Commander Softye. He add di one dtked ff canal measuring about 10 to
IS feat wide contained oil so a depth of 4 feet for about 0.5 wile. Since the oil waa very viscous. die Uzbcks
used two large steam-hearing units to facilitate its recovery. For removing the heated oil and usnsferthig It to
tank trucks they had two pump trucks. Commander Softye told OPB that peattaps more dzn 200 tan .
ir cks’ participated in the recovery opera on- He noted that “very few of these trucks had their own pumping
apabllfties, ” and so they had to rely on the two pump truc for loading the oIL According to lover. the
trucks trar ported. the oil either directly to refineries In Fergana tq the south or to a 7-mile-long pipeline near
U well she. This p1pelh e earned the oil so a r Ilway center In AkhmIit, wl e it was loaded onto rail cars
for the nip to the Fergana rcfuicrics. according to Robinson. He told OFB that this pipeline was cOflStuC
following the initial blow-out to assist In trinsporting d sptllcd oil, and after the blow-out Is brought undcr
ontml. 1* wIll be t ed to catty oil (r n’the producing well.
In addition, the tlzbdu are building two beldirg ponds near the well for use i tt collecting runoff
atcr from the tirefighting oper r on Commander Softye oared that these ponds could also serve as a
oLlectucn point for any oil spilled during the well-control operation * i the fire is cztingul ed. He also
a1d that the Uzbeks were spraying the tire with at test two streams of water from one side of the well In an
ffoit to cool down the uea. a scrics of storage tanks for use once the well begina producing were under
mistnaodon In that area, Comm&idee Softyc oascd.
At the height of the response to the blow-out, it lead 1,700 people were involved in all aspe s of
he operation. (rum building the pipelin, and consuucthig the hernia to removing the oil (mm the lrngadon
anaLs and tr*nzpwnng the oil by truck. cord1ng so Robinson. Us said that, by mid-April 1 the number had
tccre&scd to 1,300. RCbICMXI no’ ed that about 600 of the people Involved were woridng on the pipeline
orntructioo. Commander Softye told OPS that he observed about 200 people working at the well site alone.
• Well blow-out control: The well co rteuied to burn out of c ntrvl as of 24 April. accordIng to
bducbukur RflChidOv, deputy general director of UzbeknefL The well-control Operation suffered a serious
etback on 14 ApriL when a Russian teem used art armored tank to blast the wellhead five times In an
3 runove the coke buildup. Instead of improving the sthuation. the tank blasts apparently damaged the
vdilhcad itself and rupn.ired the piping. Before the tank blasts. the well-control operation would have taken a
w says to complute. but now it will likely take much longer, pethaPs as much as a few monthS, according
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j1 . I AL
t
ri ç33 • 92 1.1 .A]Lb lIFU. STEIS
(‘ mi der So(tye said that the flames read d a height of about 300 feet I gb nd th when he was
ng about 0.25 mile from the well, the heat of the “was btwfllfl&” his face.
A major reas° lor the delay involves the ne to bring in additional e ulpmei1t to deal with the new
aiion. C d pr ss re Control had aasembted Its Inidal stock ile of cquipm t a the a.ssumptioti that the
wcilhead and piping we e Lnt The weflhead was blas while d Cudd personnel and e pmcoe were en
rOUtC to the well site, and now that the s1t aLiOfl has changed, cnuch of Q dd’s cqulptna3t is longei
appropriate for the opera Ofl . according to WUhl n Scott, vice pt idCflt at Grace. Shursen. Moc
AsoalleS. Scott told OPB told that the wdU- fl O opera Ofl Will involve digging down at und the well
below the tuprtre and thco cuuing ihz tgb the intact piping d attaching a blow-out perventet (SOP) to stop
the Oil flow. ThI5 O 8tlOfl will reQ .uIre not only 4ItfCt SIZCS Of BOPS than inid&Uy in c1paXed. b t also a
As of 24 April. the Cudd team was simply “itanding around” at the well site, according to Richard
Hubbell. president of RPC Enet y Services (Atlanta. (3eOtgia). the 1 1A t nompany that ownS Cud P essuse
Control. He said that Cudd had not yes receive4 a formal c a vm Uzt &o’ef to Conduct the wei1-conU oi
as
It did In d s case, but usually an agmeetnerli is reached by this tune. Hubbell told OPB thai O dd has been
trying to be as pailent as possible” and that the Oadd team baa beefl staging the eçilpmeni that has already
arrived. He said that he hopes the United Starts wifl in transpo ng the addidoi 1 equipment needed to
cOfl L the w U. as d wthth f Ir st 51% pt a
• Environmental Lmpa : Although tbe oil gushing fxotn .he well during the month before It ignited caused
scme environmental damage. IM Iong.(tIm envt.roomental impact wiLt probably not be severe as long as the
well coodnates to bwm according to ConuD det Softye. 8ased on their survey of the area. U.S. team
members said that the benns cc truct d around the well appeared to have boon c eCttVt In preventing the
tern of millions of ga1b of spilled oil from entering the Syr Daxya River. Althou8lt they did not see any
free-floating oil In tiLe river, the team members 414 oba&vC some minimal ailing along d banks howcver
RobinsOn said that be saw o in the dyer aver 5 rc 1ea downitiUnt from the site. Apparently. some paint
ring March, spilled oil entered the river, but it has been carried 4ownS um sln’te then. The Siate
mInoo of the Uibck RepubllC for smure protectico. he dqulfteted In Tash c.ilt. said that there were no
kills In the river, and during their missiOn, the US. team w local residents tithing along the river banks.
While the well waS gushing oil, the prevailing inds deposited the airborflt oil over an oval-shaped
area that was centered on the well and d thad a long axis cxtending about 2.5 mIles from the Onrtheast to
the s uthwe3t and a short axis extending about U5 miles, according o Jove;. Ho notcd that oil was found on,
the opposite bank of the Syr Daaya and that. as a result. some oil was undoubtedlY deposited Into the river by
the windS. ACCOIdifl8 to lover, In the dcpos DOfl area, only the sides of the need, shrubS . and other vegetation
facing the well were affected. He said that, spill took place before the onset of spring. its apparent
Impact on vegetation has not been severe. He ot erved that the oiled trees had “perfect blossoms” and that
“grasses were growing without diflictilfy.”
When the U.S. team took real .tZme measwemeTlts of the total partlculatei In the air, they found only
0.008 millIgram per cubic meter downwind of the well fire. Mast of d air pollution did not origftiate front
the burning well. cordiflg to lover, n rather from the vehicles I vOlv d in d dii recovery operation. He
said that, due to vehicle traffic along a nearby dirt road, the total pazticulates wese 0.14 milhi im per cubic
meter. lover cotti OP that thC wcll was bunting very clean,” with no odors of sulfur or other
gases detectibte.
• Recommendatlofli by the U.S. learnt The tizbeklstan government “needs to develop spill preveD Ofl
programs and contingency plans,” according to lover, as “this incident seem. to have caught than by
surprise.” He said, however. “the Uzbeka managed to deal with the spill With their Owit tflgen ’41tY arid
resources.” Commander Softye noted that they did not have any cleanup equipmctfl . such as booms 1
skimmers. arid sorbents. and relied only on makeshift equipment In their response. In addition. lover said that
the U.S. team recommended Increased attention to reducing worker exposure to the spilled oil. He also said
th I. since the Fergana Valley is a major agti dtural center in Uzbeki fl. the goVeU incflL will need to factor
environmental cortsider4tlorls into its efforts to develop the oil n .source .S in thaL reg Ofl.
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2/9/2
0381026 DIALOG File 624: McGraw-Hill Publications Online
HOUSTON FIRN WORKING ON UZBEKISTAN BLOWOUT
Platts oilgram News April7, 1992; Pg 2; Vol. 70, No. .68
Journal Code: PON ISSN: 0163—1284
Dateline: Houston
Word Count: 142
TEXT:
Wild Well control of Houston is sending a five—man team to
b i42g under control a burning exploratorY well in Uzbekistafl that
gushing 62,000 to 80,000 b/d of oil, according to Wild Well
Control president Joe Bowden.
The company is shipping equip meflt by air and hopes to start
work in the next two days, Bowden said, adding that the
blowout probably will be brought under control in a couple of
weeks.
The Russian news agency Itar—TaSS reported the government-
owned well, located in a farming area at Mingbulak near the Syr
Darya River east of Tashkeflt, has been out of control for about
a rnonth, and about 3-million bbl of oil has spewed out.
The Tass report said the workers had set the fire intentionally
so that the gushing oil would not spill into a. nearby river,
though that could not be confirmed.
2/9/4
0375819 DIALOG File 624: McGraw-Hill publications Online
UZBEKISTAN
Platts oilgram News March 17, 1992; Pg 6; Vol. 70, No. 53
Journal Code: PON . ISSN: 0163—1284
Section Heading: News Briefs: International
Word Count: 92.
TEXT:
A new wildcat discovery, well in the Fergana Valley has been
gushing oil uncontrollably, Moscow’s Channel 1 TV says.
oil workeri from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as oilwell
capping specialists from the Uzbekneft Assn. . are trying to
harness the gusher. “Many years of searching for oil in this region
have been crowned with this powerful, at present uncontrollable,
gusher,” the TV said. “It’s too early to talk about the reserves of
the field, but one thing is clear: there is a lot of oil in the
republic,” the report says.
copyright 1992 McGraw-Hill, Inc.
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Copyright 1992 PennWell Publishing Company
Oil & Gas journal
April 27, 1992
SECTION: DRILLING/pRoDucTioN; Pg. 25
LENGTH: 376 words
HEADLINE: Huge blowout reported in Uzbekistan
BODY:
Moscow reports one of the largest oil well blowouts recorded on
the territory of the former Soviet JfliOfl remained out of control
during late April in Uzbekistafl’S Fergana Valley (OGL, April. 13,
Newsletter).
The newspaper Trud said the well, now on fire, was fl.owing
nearly 20,000 metric tons/day (146,000 b/d) of oil with a pressure
of 10,300
Located near the town of Mingbulak in MamanganSkaYa province,
the well is near the Syr-Darya River. Initially unreported by the
Moscow media, the blowout occurred Mar. 2.
l3esides personnel from Azerlaiiafl and other areas of th
nonwealth of Independent States, Uzbekistan invited American
..r iauj5t5 to provide advice on how to control the blowout.
However, Uzbek authorities had no hard currency to pay western
firms.
A u.s. Environmental protection Agency team has begun assessing
environmental damage from the big blowout. EPA information placed
the flow at 35,000—62,000 b/d. The local government asked EPA to
develop a health strategy for the area and contingency plans for
the effects of a possible spill into the Syr-Darya River.
When the well caught fire, flames reached a height of 100 m (328
ft), Trud reported. Earthen dams were built to contain part of the
spill. Trucks have removed about half of the oil, surrounding
farmland has been polluted, and nearby residents were evacuated.
If the estimated flow of 146,000 b/d is accurate, the well’s
production is nearly three times Uzbekistafl’S entire oil flow of
56,000 b/d last year.
The wild well is in the Fergana Valley’s northern tectonic zone,
where 10 oil and gas fields have been found. Total number of oil
and gas fields in the valley is close to 50, most relatively small
and lying along the valley’s southern tectonic zone.
Well depth when the blowout occurred was about 17,000 ft,
icating that the hold was one of the deepest drilled in the
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Fergafla VallEY. Deepest pay previously reported was in the Eocene
at 16,600 ft. Until now, the best initial flow from a Fergana well
was about 2,900 b/d.
First Fergafla oil was found in 1880, and the first field --
Chimiofl -— began production in 1904. Production is mainly from
Tertiary reservoirs, although there is some Jurassic and Cretaceous
pay.
copyright 1992 PennWell Publishing Company
Oil & Gas Journal
April 13, 1992
SECTION: OGJ NEWSL R; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 130 words
BODY:
Uzbekistan’S state oil company Uzbekneft has discovered oil
with a wild well near Namangan in Fergana Valley after 4 years of
e,cp].oratiofl, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Productive capacity has
not been determined, but the blowout is flowing oil into the Syr-
Darya River, and Azeri oil workers have been called in to control
it
Gaz de France, under its Spbvergaz joint venture with Russia’s
Lengaz, has signed a cooperation agreement with st. Petersburg to
revamp the gas pipeline network there, boost exploration, and study
and carry out all projects related to the gas industry. The
agreement is similar to that signed with MosgaZ and MostieploenergO
in Moscow. And through its OukrfragaZ joint venture, GDF is
revamping and expanding Ukraine’s natural gas grid.
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UZBEKS
CHAPTER ThIRTEEN
Uzbeks
Shirin Akiner
BACKGROUND
The Uzbeks are a people of predominantly Turkic origin, with a
significant admixture of Iranian and Turkicised Mongol clci,ienu.
They speak Uzbek, a language which evolved out of Chagatai, the
chief literary medium of the eastern Turkic world (contemporary and
counterpart to Ottoman Turkish in the west). The Uzbeks are Sunni
Muslims of the Hanafi school, as are the majority of Soviet Muslims,
and also of Muslims outside the Soviet Union.
The Uzbcks, by far the largest group of Muslims in the Soviet Union,
are also the third largest Soviet nationality 1 ranking after the Russians
.and Ukrainians. Today they number some 16,686,000.Over 14 milliOn,
approximately 85 per cent of the total, live within the Uzbek SSR; a
further 7 per cent, some I million, in the Tadzhik SSR; 3.5 per cent,
approximately half a million, in the Kirghiz SSR, and close on 2
cent each, some 300,000, in the Turkmen and Ka akh SSRs.’ Outside
the Soviet Union, there used to be a colony of some 1.5 million Uzbcks
across the border to the south, in Afghanistan; many of these fled to.
Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of 1979—89, and some moved
still further afield, to begin new lives in Turkey. None have so farj
returned to Afghanistan. There are another 20,000 Uzbeks to the wCsI ,
in the Xinjiang-Uightir Autonomous Region of the People’s Republkj
of China. Cross-border contacts have become easier in recent years
but are still fairly limited and restricted, in the main, to close bloo
relations. I
The Uzbeks are descendants of the nomadic tribes of the Golde
Horde who settled in Transoxiana in the fifteenth to sixteenth centun
and there intermingled with the sedentary population. Independ
rival khanates emerged, the most powerful of which came to be en
on Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand. Tsarisr troops invaded the region in.
second half of the nineteenth century. They met with little resisun
from the local rulers who, distracted by internecine struggles, failed
present a coordinated resistance. Bukhara became a Russian protectorate
in 1868, Khiva in 1873; Kokand was annexed, and its cé abolished,
in 1876. However, Russian rule proved to be less oi than that of
most other, colonial regimes, and, for the most part, the indigenous
population continued to live much as liefore.2 The social and material
changes introduced by the Russians were relatively few, and limited
to the main urban Centres. Almost despite themselves, though, they
provided a channel for new ideas into a society that had previously been
isolated and closed for many centuries. Of even greater significance was
the fact that, once part of the empire, the Central Asians came into close
contact with other ‘Russian’ Muslims, notably the Tatars of the Volga
and Crimea, and the Azerbaijanis. Far more progressive than the Central
Asians, it was they who introduced the jadid (reformist) movement to
Central Asia. They pioneered a more modern type of education. Many
of the privately owned vernacular newspapers that appeared in Central
Asia from 1905 onwards were jadid publications.3
Tsarist rule in Tashkent was replaced by Soviet government in late
1917, but not finally consolidated until April 1919. Nevertheless, in
April 1918 the Turkestan ASSR was proclaimed (within the RSFSR),
comprising most of Soviet Central Asia. Meanwhile, a fierce struggle was
waged between Bolshevik and anti-Bolshevik forces, interventionist 5
and native basmachj (lit. ‘robber’) bands (themselves disu t d, with
disparate aims). The former protectorates of Bukhara and Khiva were
transformed into nominally independent People’s Soviet Republics in
1920, then incorporated into Turkescan in 1923—24.4
UZBEKS UNDER SOVIET RULE
Whereas the ts2rist administration consciously restricted its efforts to
bange Central Asian society, the Soviet administration, by contrast,
Dught drastically to remould it. Possibly the most fundamental
inovatjon was the creation of national administrative units. These
rere based on echno-lin uistic divisions. It would be an exaggeration to
iy that such divisions did not exist (though this is indeed a view held by
)me), but certainly prior to this they had had no political significance.
raditionally, religion had provided the key element in self-definition:
duslim’ as opposed to ‘non-Muslim’. The ethonym ‘Uzbelç’ was
arcely used. The most common terms were those derived from
lace-names, for example, Namangan/yq ‘someone from Namangan’;
e colonial administration referred to the native sedentarjsed Population
Sart, a word of Sanskric origin meaning trader’. By the early ycirs of
ic twentieth century a handful of intellectuals had begun to raise the
escion of ethnic identity, but in a vague, tentative way. There was
)thrng in their discussions, nor in the subsequent turmoil of civil war,
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MUSLIM CENTRAL ASIA
that in any way prepared the ground for the National Delimitation of
the Central Asian Republics of 1924—25, as a result of which the Uzbek
SSR and other Central Asian republics were created. Far from being.
a response to a popular, indigenous demand, the Delimitation was an.
administrative decision imposed on the re;ion from the centri — parts
some would say, of a ‘divide and rule’ policy. 5
The Uzbek SSR, which came into being on 27 October 1924,
encompassed the districts of Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Samarkand and
Ferghana, part of the former Bukharan state, and part of the Khorczn
(Khivan) state. It included the Tadzhik ASSR until 1929, when this
acquired full union republic status; it acquired the Karakalpak ASSR
(originally part of the RSFSP) in 1936. Uzbeks represented 66 per cent
of the total population (they are approximately 70 per cent today).. A
Language and Literacy
The creation of separate administrative units was but the first step in
the process of nation-building. The development of distinctive national
literary languages, literatures, histories, rituals, symbols and art forms
were concomitant necessities. It was not an easy task. It was not ilu
the Central Asians lacked traditions, but that their shared heritage wa .
so great that efforts to parcel it up into ‘nationalist’ packages led
distorted and grossly anachronistic interpretations of history, not i a
mention awkward rivalries over medieval scholars. However, artificial
though they were, in time these devices achieved a measure of success
and a degree of national pride, even of nationalism, was born. The
Uzbeks, for example, have come to believe that they have a uniqu
hereditary claim to the brilliant achievements of ancient Transoxiani
This, along with their numerical superiority, has reinforced thei
view of themselves as the natural leaders of Central Asia today
The neighbouring republics regard this cultural aggrandisement as yèl
another expression of ‘great Uzbek chauvinism’.
Easily comprehensible literary languages, full literacy and a plentih
supply of printed material were required in order to reach out to
masses, to communicate the new ;deólogy to them and involve then
in the new political system. The Uzbeks, unlike some other peoples’s
Central Asia, already had their own literary language, Chagai.ai al
known as Old Uzbek). However, it was a refined, learned mediut
far removed from the spoken dialects of the region. Moreover, ai
perhaps more importantly, it was firmly associated with the p
Revolutionary period. In the 1920s there was a struggle between.
so-called ‘bourgeois nationalists’, who mostly supported the continu
use of Chagatai, and the pro-Russian group, who were in favour
developing a new literary form based on the dialects of Tashké
and Ferghana.’ These were the dialects of the economic and politi
centres of the new republic, and also of the burgeoning print langua’
However, they were atypical of the main body of tJzbek dialects (and
most other Turkic languages) in that they had little vowel harmony.
Nevertheless, they were adopted as the base for the national language.
I’erms drawn froin Russian were introduced to convey new concepts in
i ich fields as idcology, technology and the general Soviet ‘way of life’.
fhe change of scripts gave visual emphasis to the new orientation. Thc
Arabic script continued to be used up to 1930, when it was replaced
y the Latin. This in turn was superseded by the Cyrillic in 1940.
i One of the chief reasons advanced for the abolition of the. Arabic
Icript was that it was an impediment to the spread of literacy. That is
I.debatable point, but it is undeniable that the literacy rate rose with
istonishing speed under Soviet rule. According to the 1926 census,
liceracy among Uzbeks stood at a mere 3.8 per cent; by 1932, 52.5
r r cent of the population were said to be literate. The curve continued
‘to rise, until today it is claimed to be over 99 per cent. There may be
me over-optimism in this, but even so what has been achieved is
arkable, and far outstrips literacy rates in neighbouring countries
iuch as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. It required an extraordinary
èvel of organisation and coordin ation, since virtually everything had
be created from scratch, from the construction of school buildings
the training of teachers, from the compilation of basic textbooks to
the provision of paper and printing facilities.’ Yet there were also losses
e changes of script have meant that the Uzbeks have been bereft no:
nly of the whole of their pre-Revolutionary written culture but alse
01 flr t-hand acquaintanco with sources relating to the formative firsi
decades of Soviet rule. Literacy has given them access to only a small
and carefully edited segment of their history.
Islam
In November 1917 the Soviet government issued a declaration ‘to all the
toiling Muslims of Russia and the East’ that henceforth their beliefs and
stoms would be considered ‘free and inviolabk’. Ac first this promise
fulfilled reasonably well. By the end of the 1920s, however, the
tuation had changed. In Uzbekistan, as in other parts of the Soviet
nion, a fierce anti-religious campaign was unleashed. Muslim schools
‘d’courts were phased out (initially, since there were few accepcabk
lernacives, they had been allowed to continue functioning); mosque
crc closed, often to be turned into clubs or cinemas, religiou
terature confiscated and destroyed, religious functionaries persecuted
c Arabic script, which had been used for the literary languages og
niral Asia for close on a thousand years, and is precious to Muslims
round the world because it is the script in which the Qur’ n was
ginally recorded, was replaced by the Latin. In short, as far as possible
visible signs of the religion were wiped out and it became dangerous
‘admit to being a Muslim.
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217
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— &—-$ I . )
• However, it was impossible to eradicate ov&night something that had
for centuries been the very essenCe of life. Quite apart from the role
the religion had played in shaping the culture and history ntral
Asia, almost every custom and tradition had its roots in : The
claim that the religion survived owing to the activities of se et Sufi
(mystic) organisations is surely too extreme. Even if there bad been
such activity (which has not been proved convincingly) it could not
have been effective had there not been a widespread, deeply ingrained
belief that to be a Central Asian was synonymous with being a Muslim.
To have abandoned such practices as, for example, circumcision and
the special burial rites would have been to cut oneself off from one’s
ancestors, to become an isolated individual rather than a member of a
living community of past, present and future generations.
During and after the Second World War the government adopted a
sli htly more conciliatory attitude towards Islam. Four regional Muslim
Spiritual Directorates were created, to regulate such formal aspects of
Islam as were allowed to reappear at this time. The largest and most
important directorate had its seat in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. The
first two (until 1989 the only) nsadrasm (religious colleges) in the Sovict
Union were reopened in Bukhara and Tashkent. A small number of
mosques were also gradually reopened and a few religious publications
sanctioned, their print runs tiny and circulation tightly controlled Some
twenty to thirty carefully chosen pilgrims (drawn from the whole of
the USSR) were allowed to make the annual bajj to Mecca, one of the
basic precepts of Islam. These changes were mostly cosmetic did
little to bring greater freedom of worship to ordinary believers. Thea:
primary purpose was to impress foreign Muslims, to pave the way to
better relations with Muslim state,s in Africa and -Asia.
Social and Economic Change
Soviet rule brought drastic changes to the social and economic life of iL
Uzbeks. Under the tsarist administration there had been some indusuial
development of Central Asia (chiefly the extraction of petroleum
coal and copper), also a substantial expansion of the cultivation o
cotton. Short-staple native cotton had long been ;rown locally, bâ
it was the introduction of higher yielding American seed in 188-t
that revolutionised production and transformed the region into I)i
principal supplier of raw material to the Russian textile industry (tl
simultaneous extension of the railway system solved the transpó
problem). The ‘great leap forward’ in economic development, howcv
was initiated during the first two Soviet five year plans (1928—.8).tld
order to accomplish this, large numbers of professionals and skill j
technicians were brought in from other parts of the Soviet Union.;.
the 1930s, some 85 per cent of the industrial workforce was compo
of immigrants from European Russia. During the war years, a numl
of industrial enterprises from the western parts of the Soviet iJnion were
relocated in Central Asia, over 100 in Uzbekistan akme; this further
helped to accelerate the economic development c region (and
brought in yet more immigrants). After the war, the serial growth
rate remained high for a time, but by the mid-1950s had begun to decline
sharply. This downward trend has ince continued, occasioned to a lar é
extent by the lack of sufficient capital investment in the post-war years.
There was, however, a temporary upturn in the 1970s; this was closely
related to an increase in cotton production from I 96 5onwards.io In
1980 Uzbekistan reputedly produced over 6 million tonnes of raw
cotton; in 1983 it almost rivalled the output of the whole of the United
States of America. Since then, though, there has been a decrease in
production. In 1989 it accounted for just over 5 million tonnes.
The workforce in the cotton fields is entirely Uzbek. Despite all
the hardships and lack of facilities in the rural areas there has as yet
been very little urban drift; the great majority of the population have
remained in their ancestral villages. This has been a very Important factor
in preserving the traditional way of life, at least within the confines of
the family. hi the late 1920s there was a vigorous campaign to socialise
women; known as hujum (‘attack’), it sought to draw women out of the
home, to give them an education (only I per cent were literate), and to
turn them into wage earners. It was responsible, too, for causing women
to stop wearing the veil. The bujum had a lasting effect on the Jives
of urban women, many of whom now work outside the home, some
as highly qualified specialists. In the villages, however, there has been
little change. The desperate, hopeless conditions cause several hundred
women a year to commit suicide through sclf-immolation.iI
UZBEKS IN THE GORBACHEV PERIOD
erestroika and glasnost’ have been slow to come to Uzbekistan. Even
ow they can scarcely be said to be much in evidence. Fear and distrust,
Ieacies of the terror of the 1930s, are to some extent responsible for
us. There is also confusion and uncertainty about the true intefltiOfl
the centre. No one quite knows what is expected of them. The most
werful reason, however, surely lies in the nature of the society itself.
ff ie Uzbéks have a tradition of deferring to those who are senior to them
Lii age or status. Criticism of the aqsaqaly (‘white beards’) is considered
nseemly and a fault in the person who shows such temerity, no matter
w justified the criticism might be. This attitude, when combined with
system that itself provides few checks and controls on those in power,
ates an elite who are doubly insured against the riced to account for
eir actions. The word ‘mafia’ is frequently used of the ruling cliques
Uzbekistan, not least by the Uzbeks themselves, who suffer acutely
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MUSLIM CENTRAL. ASIA
from this blight on their society and yet are impotent in the face of
it. Virtually every organisatiofl and every neighbourhood is plagued
by this phenomenon. It is impossible to characterise.a typical ‘mafi?
member; they are found at every level of society, drawn from every
nationality. Inevitably, though, the great majority are native Uzbeks,
nurtured, supported and tied into the local networks of power. Loyal
neither to Moscow nor to their compatriots 1 but to themselves .: 1 ne,
their stranglehold on society is very nearly as strong as it was in the
days of ‘sta nation’. Consequently even the modest moves towards
democratiSatlon that have taken place elsewhere in the Soviet Union
have hardly begun to make an appearance in Uzbekistan.
Nevertheless, since the late 1980s there has been slightly greater
freedom of the press and more opportunity to discuss publicly sub jects
that were formerly forbidden. It is mainly the writers who have led the
struggle for greater openness 1 but academics, painters 1 film-makers and
other creative artists have also made an important contribution. Social
and environmental issues have been widely discussed. It has come as a
painful shock to many to discover how serious are the problems that
now confront the republic. The catalogue of disasters is vast; it includes
the abysmal level of health-care and housing in rural areas (where some
80 per cent of the Uzbeks live); widespread disease, malnutrition and
poverty; high infant mortality; a colonial-type economy that uses the
indigenous population almost as slave labour to produce raw materials
which are purchased at prices far below the world market level,
then exported to other parts of the Union to be processed; hi h
unemployment, leading to inter-ethnic tensions; ecological calamiucs
that are making large tracts of land uninhabitable. There is a growing
indignation over the extent to which their culture and history have been
distorted and manipulated. As in other parts of the Soviet Union, there
is a demand for the rehabilitation of those liquidated in the purges of
the 1930s; also, for the filling-in of the ‘blank spots’ of history. Yet
by no means everything is open for discussion; the jadid period — the
period of the first stirrings of political awareness in the early years of
the twentieth century — remains a sensitive topic. So, too, does the ,
establishment of Soviet power in the region, the incorporation of ihé
Bukharan and Khivan states into Turkestan, and the whole of the ciVill
war period.
Environmental Issues
The largest and most complex environmental problem is that of the Aul
Sea. Not only is the region itself fast being reduced to an irredeemabl
wasteland, but the effects of the devastation are beginning to be felt, ii
is reported as far away as in Pakistan to the east and along the Black Sc
coast to the west. It is a cycle of disastcr comparable in scale t ’ that
the cutting down of the Amazonian rainforests. In recent years climat
UZBEKS
changes have been observed, possibly caused by the shrinking of the
sea; dust storms, fiercer and more frequent now, scoop up salts from
e exposed seabed and scatter themfar and wide; some are deposited
on the glaciers, again to be carried down to the sea by the snow melt, but
in a yet more concentrated form. Highly toxic and non-biodegradable,
these salts are the residue from the fertilisers and pesticides used to boost
the cotton crop. The çffect of long 4 erm exposure to these chemicals is
believed to be similar o that caused by exposure to radiation. Scientists
speak of a catastrophe of greater proportions than that of Chernobyl.
Physical and mental abnormalities abound. Doctors fear chat a genetic
mutation has taken place and that the local population is, quite simply,
beyond the help of medical science. Some political activists are openly
calling it genocide.
Evidence of the apj roaching calamity has long been available to
the authorities, yet thcy chose to ignore it. Once again, it was left
to the writers forc4 the matter out into the open. A Society for
the Protection f the ral Sea was created under the auspices of the
Writers’ Union Iii I989. t has done much to raise public awareness of the
disaster. Solutic s to th problem, however, are still very far away.’ 2
The plight of’ihe Aràl Sea, like so ni ny of Uzbekistan’ problems,
has its roots in’ the mono-culture of otton. The drive for higher
productivity initiated by Khrushchev n the 1950s developed a mad
momentum of its own during the Bttzhnev era. It turned into a
fantastic charade, with the centre setting ever more outrageous targets
and the republican leadership readily concurring The strain on the
rcpublic was unbearable and every aspect of life suffered. Precious
ater resources were squandered with no thought for sustainable
development; intensive irrigation led, on the one hand, to the creation
of saline swamps; on the other, to a severe depletion of the rivers that
feed the Aral Sea and, eventually, to the drying up of the sea it.selI.
. It is now openly acknowledged that the mono-culture of totton
has been responsible for some of the worst health problems of the
republic. As more land was turned over to cotton, so other forms
of agriculture were neglected. Crop rotation declined, leading to an
impoverishment of the soil. Less space was available for the cultivation
bf fruit and vegetables; pasture land, too, was reduced. Basic foodstuffs
Lbecame scarce and expensive, and the diet of the population suffered
ccordingly. Vitamin, protein and iodine deficiencies are widespread,
[ lesiscance to infection low, especially among children; the official infant
nortality rate in some parts of Uzbekiscan is 118 per 1,000 live births,
he actual rate probably higher (ci. the Soviet average of 25.4).
Further health hazards are created b the vast quantities of chemical
eailisers and pesticides that are used on the crop (according to Uzbek
ciencists, some 54 kilograms per hectare). These have seeped into the
il and the water supply, poisoning both; in many parts of the republic
iere is no clean drinking water. The food cycle has been contaminated
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MUSLIM CENTRAL ASIA
to such an extcnt that, in the worst affected regions 1 even the breaA
milk of nursing mothers shows traces of toxic saks. Butylos, the mu
d.mgerOus of the defoliants, was banned in 1987, but others, almo-.
as lethal, are still legal, and OfltiflUC to be used. It is the women and
children, who harvest the crop by hand, who are exposed without any
form of protective clothing, to the full force of these chemicals. The
harm they do in the short term is all too obvious, but it is feared that the
long-term effects will be evcn more seriouS. Apart from the damage to
their health, it has been estimated that Uzbek children and young people
lose 2 to 3 months out of every academic year, from the beginning of
their 5 chooling through to the last yearof university, by working in the
cotton fields. They are thus scriously sadvant ged in their education.”
The cOLtofl mania has brought many other troubles to Uzbekist3n
The most spectacular was a giant cmbezzleme t conspiracy linked to the
falsification of cotton staustiCS. It has emerged that an the Brezhnev CIS
some of the plantatiofl5 and consequently their harvests, existed only on
paper. The profit, however, was real enough and went to highly placed
pockets in Moscow and Tashktnt. Some of the ringleaders were brought
to trial and convicted in 1988, but the ‘Uzbek affair’, as it has come to
be known, remains very much alive, with new rackets and swindles still
coming to light. Many thousands of people have been arrested. It is
a vivid exposition of the workings of the ‘mafia’, revealing not only
colossal greed, but also total indifference to the sufferings 0 fl cted
on others. It shows, too, the international aspect of such operations.
volving not only those within the republiCs but also those outside.
Many iJzbeks deeply resent the manner in which the all-Union press
has laid such stress on their part in the affair, as if they alone were
guilty. Their indignation is understanctab , and to an extent justified;
nevertheless, it does seem that corruption and lawlessness flourish more.
easily in Uzbeki5t , behind its many still closed doors, than in most
other parts of the Soviet Union.
‘Popular Front’ Movement Birlik
The tizbcks have no experience of democratic self-rule. In the time
the khanates power was concentràt in the bands of a tiny few; th
was followed by a aLf .centuty of colonial rule, replaced in turn,
another, in many ways yet harsher form of external control. It is sn4
wonder that they find it dif ficult to formulate a coordinated respon
to the current situation. Having flO political culture of their own, th
are forced to look elsewhere for models. The central questiOfi is oflC
orientati0 arc they Uzbcks who, having accepted the nationality thr
upon them in 1924, now seek to carve out a future for a nationally ba
republic? Or do they belong to a larger grouping; for example, than
Turkcstan? Or Turan? And are they Muslims, striving to create a soci
0 r nised on islamic precepts . or do they find inspiration in Wc è
systems? As yet there are no clear answers. The questions th ies
are too new.
The intelligentsia are pulled in two directions. Many have a pro-tound
respect for Islam, but few have any real understanding of it; now, after
seventy years of Communist rule, it has become an alien philosophy.
For all their instinctive sympathy for it, they find it hard to comprehend
how, in practicil terms, Islam could provide the basis for contemporary
life. Everythin in their education predisposes them towards Western
models, and within the Soviet experience, to the example of the Baltic
republics of l 1oscow, of the Ukraine. Birlik (‘Unity’), the largest of
the contemporary political movenients in Central Asia, founded in
Tashkent in November 1988 by a group of Uzbek intellectuals, was
closely modelled on popular front movements in other parts of the
Soviet Union, in particular, that of Lithuania’s Sqjs dis. The movement
grew rapidly under the chairmanship of Abdurahim Pulatov, a lecturer
and research scientist in cybernetics at Tashkent University. Thanks
to his energy and organisational skills, it succeeded in attracting
supporters from all walks of life; at its height it numbered some
500,000 members. It put forward a candidate, the poet Muhammad
Salih, in the elections of March 1989 for the Congress of People’s
Deputies. Despite Birlik’s popularity, however, and despite Salih ’s
own very considerable following, he was unsuccessful, defeated by
the underhand and highly unconstitutional tactics of the local Party
and government representatives.
‘ Nevertheless, the movement persevered and continued to campaign
on a number of issues. The struggle to obtain legal recognition for
tJzbek as the state language of the republic provided them with their
thief platform. Legislation enshrining this in the Constitution was
passed in October 1989. Almost simultaneously, Birlik disintegrated.
To some extent this was the result of personality clashes within the
kadership, but collapse was undoubtedly hastened by the strain inflicted
by the authorities, who pursued a cat-and-mouse policy, sometimes
Yiting cooperation from Birlik members, sometimes clamping down
a them, often intimating that official registration of the movement was
inent, but never actually granting it. The members were politically
• inexperienced to withstand such pressure. There are those, like
uliammad SaIih and his faction who seem inclined to create a new
• -Turkçstan party, while Abdurahim Pulatov is tending towards a
re nationalist approach. A number of other small organisations have
g up recently; none have clearly defined aims and at present are
ely more than discussion groups.
Islam
cial attitudes towards Islam are ambivalent. In the press, especially
rgans of the centre, and even in statements from the senior
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. .r.s .—. ‘ — -
leadership, including those of Gorbachev, there is not infrequently a
cruical, almost derogatory, approach to Islam. In practice, however, the
last years of the 1980s have shown a marked improvement in working
relations between the state and the Muslim community.
The clearest intimation of change came in March 1988, when a new
multi was elected. The post is of more than regional importance, si,ce
the incumbent is the mouthpiece of official Soviet views on Muslim
affairs for those within the USSR, as well as for those abroad. Three
generations of the Babakhanov family fulfilled this function loyally,
proving themselves dependable allies of the secular authorities; but
times changed, and the leadership they had served fell into disgrace.
Shamsuddin Babakhanov, elected in 1982, became an embarrassment
to all concerned, not least to the policy-makers in Moscow. Yet there
was no formal mechanism by which he could, be relieved of his duties.
Then, suddenly, the Muslim community held an unprecedented public
demonstration in Tashkent, accusing him of licentious and un-Islamic
behaviour and demanding his resignation. Their voice was heeded; a
lew weeks later the Rector of Tashkent madrasa, thirty-seven-year-
old Muhammad Sadyq Mahammed Yusuf Hoja-ogli, was installed in
Babakhanov’s place. It was a neat solution to an awkward problem. ‘ ,
Shortly after, a number of dramatic concessions were made towards
the Muslims. More mosques were opened over the next few wecks
than had previously been permitted in several years. A new edition
of the Qur’in was promised, its 50,000 copies to be the first step
towards fulfilling Mufti Muhammad Sadyq’s publicly expressed hopej
that there should soon be a copy of the Holy Scripture in every homc
An Uzbek translation of the Qur’in is in preparation and extracts hav ,
already appeared in print. Extensions to the two madrasa, in I
and in Tashkent, have been sanctioned and construction is un&
There have been several other notable improvements 1 but p ” 1
most potent symbol of the ‘new thinking’, and the one
the believers most deeply, was the return of the Othman Qur’in
the safekeeping of the Muslims. Believed by Central Asians to
seventh-century manuscript, copied soon after the death of the Pro
it is one of the holiest treasures of Islam. It was taken to St Pete
by the tsarist administration, returned to Central Asia by the
governments but kept for most of the past seventy years in the cus
of the civil authorities.
Not every obstacle to a truly Muslim life has yet been rc
but it is a great deal easier to be a Muslim in Uzbekistan
it has been at any time since the republic was founded.
mass of believers have welcomed these developments, whici
done much to enhance Gorbachev’s popularity. However, ‘
freedoms place new responsibilities on the Muslim leaders. 1.
now expected to give moral direction to the community, to:l
counterbalance to ‘undesirable phenomena’ ranging from
UZBEKS
to nascent fundamentalism. The Multi Muhammad Sadyq was elected
(the single, unopposed candidate in his ward) to the Congress of
People’s Deputies in March 1989. The government has encouraged
him to speak out on matter4 of law andorder as, for example, during
the violence in Ferghana inJtine 1989. He and the other u /ama (religious
scholars) have for so long been accustomed to a marginal role in society,
however, that it is not easy for them to find a Common language with
the community at large. Yet as the euphoria over mosques being open
for worship, and Qur’ins legally &vail3ble, gives way to a commonplace
acceptance of such things, the Muslim leaders will have to meet the
challenge of their new function, or lose the respect of believers.
A rival form of moral Islamic authority is being provided by the
so-called Wahhabis (not apparently linked in any way to those in Saudi
Arabia). Eschewing polhics and indeed, as far as possible, any form of
involvement with the secular authorities, they live by the labour of
their own hands. They are greatly respected for their upright, ascetic
lives. They began as a small group in the Namangan region, but their
influence has now spread to the capital.
CONCLUSIONS
social and economic problems of Uzbekistan are steadily worsening.
in many developing countries, the population is very young and
rapidly (the birth-rate is almost double the Soviet average).
ent is widespread, especially in rural areas, but attachment
‘the land remains strong and there has been little Out-migration.
!is difficult to judge the extent of the crisis Since information is
)lete and not always reliable. However, there is now a greater
of oublic discussion and this has led to a radical change of
, most people were prepared to accept their lot; today,
is growing disillusionment, anger and disaffection, which’ in turn
led to a rise in nationalism and general xenophobia. Thi 5 is a new
enon, but one that is likely to increase as economic inequalities
more pronounced. Resentment is by no means directed against
immigrants alone; as the clashes in Ferghana in June 1989
the Meskhecjan Turks showed, even fellow Sunni Muslims
imune.
problems are so colossal that it is hard to see how they will
1. Serious analysis of the economic and related ecological ills
ely begun, so though there is much indignation, there are
no programmes for implementing change; plans for economic
•idencc remain vague, as do those for saving the Aral Sea or
the agriculture. The future does nor look promising’. Even
conflagration is avoided, sporadic localised outhreaks of
224
225
-------
NOTES.
1. Compkce data from the 1989 census are not yet available. In 1979 the
regional distribution of 1.Jzbeks within the USSR was as follows:
Percentdg e
Total number of Uzbeks 12,455,978 100.0
Source: Cbislennoit’ i sostav naseleniya SSSR: Po dannym
VsesoyuznOi pe,epui naseleniya 1979 g. (Moscow:
Finansy I statistika, *984).
In the period *979—89 there has been an increase of
34% in the overall number of Uzbeks in the USSR.
There are several accounts of life in Central Asia under the isang
administration. Of particular ifltCleSt are those by the American cons%4
in Moscow, E. Schuyler, Türkistan: Notes of a Journey in Rusu ii
Turkistan ... (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivingtoi
1876), and by F. H. Shrine (of the Indian. Civil Service) and E.D
Ross, The Heart of Asia: a History of Russian Turkestan and th
Cent ral Asian Kbanate s from tbe Earliest Times (London: Methu
1899), pp. 238—428. . I
For a review of the pre.Revoluti0n Y press in Central Asia, sce t
Bcnnigsefl and Ch. ercier QuelqueiaY, La Presse a I c mOIdven2
national cbez les musulmans de Russie avant .1920 (Paris—The Ha
Mouton, 1964); T. ErnazoV, Rastsvet narodnoi pechati v Uzbekis i
(Tashkeflt Uzbekistan, *968). .
The best study to date of the khanates in the tsarist and early Soviet es
is S. Becker, Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukbara and
8t 5—I924 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968). ‘
Cf. A. Bennigscfl, ‘Islamic, or Local Consciousness among
Nationalities?’, in Soviet Nationality Problems (New York: Cofu
University Press, 1971), pp. 168—82; T. Zhdanko, in I. R. Gri
.:nd S. Ya. Kozlov (eds), Ethnoculturat Processes and National Pro
l l7 \ nn 11 ,3_56:R.Vaid
UZBEKS -
The Fo at ion of the Soviet Central Asian Republics: dy in So’
Nationalities Policy, 1917—1 936 (New Delhi: People’s hing Hot
1967).
6. A useful discussion of the political currents underlying the changes
script, etc. is given in E. Atlworth, Uzbek Literary Politics (The Hag
Mouton, 1964), pp• 169—200; see also S. Akiner, ‘Uzbekistan: Republic
Many Tongues’, in M. Kirkwood (ed.), Language Planning in the Sot
Union (London: Macmillan, 1989), pp. 100—22.
7. See W.’ K. Medlin, W. M. Cave and F. Carpenter, Education a.
Development in Central Asia (Leiden: Brill, *971); also T. N. Kar>
Niyazov, Ocberki Kul’tsny Sovetskogo Uzbekistana (Moscow: AN SSSR
1955), pp. 55—68, 334—60.
8. ‘Obrashchenie Predsedatelya Soveta Narodnykh Kommissarov V. I
Lenina i Narodnogo Kommissara p0 Delam Natsional’nostei 4. V
Stalina k vsem trudyashchimsya musul’manam Rossii i Vostoka, 20 noya
(3 dek.) 1917 g.’, Dokumenty vneshnoi politiki SSSR, vol. 1 (Moscow.
Gos. izdatel ’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1957), pp. 34—5.
. The fullest Western study of Islam in the Soviet Union, though now
somewhat out of date, is still A. Bennigsen and Ch. Lemercier-Quelquejay,
Islam in the Soviet Union (London: Pall Mall, 1967); cI. Islam v SSSR, E
G. Filimonov (responsible editor) (Moscow: MysI’, 1983).
10. See, further, A. R. Kh3n and D. Ghai, Collective Agriculture and Rura.
‘ ‘ Development in Soviet Central Asia (London; Macmillan, 1979).
I I. For two contrasting views of the lot of women in Soviet Centra
i Asia, see G. Massell, The Sun ogaee Proletariat (London: Princetor
; University Press, 1974); B. P. Pal’vanova, Emansipatsiya musu/’ma,,k:
.. (Moscow: Nauka, 1982). There havp been several reports in the press on
d self-immolation, e.g. ‘The Flames of Feudalism’ by E. GaIarov, Head ol
Burns Unit, Civic Hospital, Samarkand, International Pravda, vol. 2, no.
7, 1988, p. 24. -
.Sud’ba Arala, R. Ternovskaya (ed.) (Tashkenc: Mekhnat, 1988), a
collection of some 20 essays by journalists, academics and pohticians,
presents a survey of the current thinking on the problem; see also
iAral skaya Katastrofa’; Novyi Mir, no. 5, 1989, pp. 182—241.
See, e.g., the reports in Ogonek by A. Minkin, no. 13, March 1988,
. Zaraza ubiisrvennaya’, P. 26; and no. 33, Aug.. *988, ‘Poslcd tviya
zarazy’. 0. 25.
MUSLIM CENTRAL ASIA
)lence will probably spread. The population has Lost confiden
the old leadership and new Leaders have not yet emerged. It
be excluded that fundamentalist elements will fill ‘the vacuum. It is a
sItu3tlOfl ripe for manipulation.
In UzSSR
In KazSSR
In KirSSR
In TurkSSR
In TadzhSSR
10,569.007
263,295
426,194
233,730
873,199
84.9
2.1
3.4
1.9
7.0
2.
3..
4.
5’
-------
______
REE 0RT FROM TURftESTAN
:. .
rr HE Hotel Uzbelcistan, in the
I heart of Tashkent, the Uzbek
capital, is a monstrous and mo-
noconous gray block of concrete that
arches around an empty plaza. Like
many buildings in the ancient city, the
hotel was erected after a 1966 earth-
quake devastated the old landmarks.
After the earthquake, the core of Tash-
kent was rebuilt in a maaer of months,
with the help of thirty thousand “vol-
unteers” from what were then the
Soviet Union’s fourteen other repub-
lics. A quarter of a century later, parts
of Tashkent are still variously referred
to as the Riga sector, the Vilnius sec-
tor, or the Kiev quarter, after the
capitals of republics that contributed
labor. The worst sector, Tashkentis
tell visitors, is the Ashkhabad quartet,
which was built by workers from poor
neighboring Turkmenistan.
The reconstruction may have been
efficient, but Tashkent, once an oasis
for ctravans on the old Silk
Road across Asia, lost much of its
historic flavor. The traces of ancient
Greek, Persian, Arab, Mongol, and
Turkish civilizations that ruled the
region before caarist Russia expanded
into Central Asia in the nineteenth
centuzy have virtually disappeared. The
nondescript Stalinesque architecture,
which often makes government com-
plexes, business offices, and aparu nent
high rises indistinguishable, did more
than any political-indoctrination cam-
paign to stamp Tashkent with a Soviet
ambience. In the sterile and now shabby
lobby of the Hotel Uzbekistan, the
symbols of a rich Asian culture—
colorfully embroidered beaded caps,
damascerie-like tapestries, and tea sets
with their pots and handleless cups—
are relegated to souvenir-display shelves.
Yet a half century of czarist rule and
more than seven decades of Soviet
domination did not completely trans-
lorm Tashkent or its inhabiunts. Some-
times visibly, sometimes heneath the
surface, physical and cultural tradi-
tions have survived attempts both by
monarchs and by Communists to Russify
the south. Despite widespread poverty,
flowers have remained an essential
element of Tashkent life. On the day
of the first snow in Moscow Last fall,
stalks of red gladioli stood almost
shoulder high under the Central Asian
sun in Tashkent’s downtown parks; i tt
the courtyards of simple clay-brick
houses in Old Tashkent, pink, white,
and red roses were still blooming.
Although the Islamic religion was
scorned by the ars and banned by the
Soviets, its everyday customs have never
been abandoned. In little teahouses or
open—air bazaars, “Salaani alaikuin,” or
“Peace be upon you”—the Islarrn¼.
greeting common to the nearby Arah
world and to Iran, Pakistan, and At-
gbanistan—has remained siand.irt
among the Uzbeks. And a1tliou ’
Moscow’ posed its language .ini
ways, the local heritage has perc
-------
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in life-cycle ru uals. At a Late-autumn
wedding I observed during my lirst
day in Ta.shkent, the bride kept her
head bowed and avoided eye contact in
the modest manner of Central Asian
brides; the bridegroom wore the gold
brocade coat and matching crown,
bedecked with feathers, that distin-
guishes Central Asian bridegrooms.
The legendary hospitality of Cen-
tral Asians has not disappeared, either.
Its the hotel lobby, I met a budding
entrepreneur named Dilmurad Mo-
harnznedaliyev (the Russified version
of Muhammad All). An unusually
large young tJzbek, who could have
been a pro fullback, he immediately
invited me to another wedding. “If you
really want to know about the future
of Central Asi, this is where you’ll see
it,” he said. “This is a different Itind
of marriage—this is a
wedding.”
We drove to a kolkhoz, or state
collective, on the outskirts of Tashkent
which grew pears, melons, and thnis
fruits. White sheets had been draped
between high poles to separate guests
from the produce, and to separate
women from men. As a foreign guest,
I was designated an honorry man and
invited to sit at one of many long rows
of picnic tables covered with big bowls
of fruit, plates of cold cuts and cheese,
and piles of thick round Eatbread and
small sticky cakes. Custer, of bottles
offered everything from local soda pop
to a slightly, sweet Uzbek champagne.
Platters of kabob were served while
a band played local music and some
three hundred men talked noisily.
The “wedding,” it turned out, was
actually a double ceremony for two
brother,, isicander and Ismail D5alilo’ir,
aged three and five. Late itt the evening,
the little boys, dressed in miniansr
gold groo&s coats and crowns topped
by a peacock feather, made their debut
to receive toasts and gifts. In tJzbek,
the ceremony is called a wrnat toi
elsewhere it is known as a circumci-
sion. The medical procedure had in
fact been performed earlier in the day
in the presence of the boys’ male rela-
tives. The evening’s festivities, cel-
ebrating the occasion, were to continue
all night and end with a rice breakfast
at 6 A.M. “It is the most important
event in a male’s life until he turns
eighteen,” Mohaxnmedaliyev explained.
“It is called a wedding because it is the
ceremony during which a boy-child
— , rr’ .c Allah.”
AP1 IL 6. 9 )2
For much of the evening, the senior
men of the family and their friends sat
at the entrance to the kolkhoz greeting
guests and chatting. ?bfost wore the
black quilted coats and black four-
cornered caps with white embroidery
so common in Central Asia. Among
them was the boys’ grandfather Abdul
Kayoum HoIa. a lcin4ly old man with
a big beard. tJn.like his grandchildren,
he had deeply slanted eyes. Over the
centuries, the intermingling of the no-
madic tribes that once roamed the
Central Asian steppes and their vari-
ous conquerors has produced combina-
tions of Indo-European, Turkic, and
Mongol features, among others. Even
within a family, they can range from
very Western to very Asian. After a
new “freedom of conscience” law ii
1990 formally allowed the practice of
religion in the Soviet Union, Kayourn
was among the first to make the pil-
grimage to Mecca during the annual
hajj; “Hoja” is an honorific title added
to the beginning or end of names after
the pilgrimage. Although he had spent
his whole life under Communist rule,
Kayoum told me, he had seccetly
learned, and kept the faith that first
took root in Central Asia in the eighth
century. “Two thousand made the hajj
in 1990. Five hundred were from
Ta hkent,” he said, smiling proudly.
“Islam is now growing very fast. The
Isllniic public is agitating.” His grand-
sons would have a different upbring-
he predicted, because of the new
freedom to practice and teach religion.
He hoped that one day Sharia, or
Islamic law, would rule the land. Wjth
the confidence of a true believer, he
said, “Everyone wants an Islamic state.”
ffiHE Soviet Union was home to
. almost sixty million Muslims—
the fifth-largest Islamic population in
the world, larger than that of any
Middle Eastern country. The majority
now live in the five former Asian
republics Turknsenistan, Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajiki-
stan—the most isolated and least-known
parts of what is now the Common-
wealth of Independent States, and
perhaps of the world. It wasn’t always
chat way. For centuries, this area was
part of Turkestan, which in its medi-
eval glory stretched from Turkey into
western China and united diverse
peoples and tribes with a common
culture, language, and religion.
After Russia absorbed Central \.
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HE NEW YORI(Er
n waiti g for years to get nco a
minary. One of them, a tail youth
ram Tajikistan named Suleymon
oleuyev, who carried a huge weath-
red copy of the Koran, had been
vaiting since 1982. With the rescric-
ion on numbers lifted, the only Jimi-
auon now is space; from fifty students
hree years ago, enrollment at the
&nstitute has risen to four hundred, it s
iirector told me. Two new madrasahs
riad opened recently in Tashlcent, seven
more in ocher parts of Uzbekistan.
‘We’ve got to be proud and than z1
to Allah,” Bol&uyev said of the
new religious freedoms, dis-
counting the role of peratroTha.
Bottuyev’s mission now, as he
sees it, Li to spread the word
further. “The knowledge of
history and scaence proves Is-
lam to be the only religion in
the world that does not lead man astray
and to bad deeds,” he said. Indeed, all
the young seminarians seemed sur-
prised that there might be any question
about whether Islam would, in the
end, prevail throughout the region.
None of them wanted to copy Iran’s
Islamic revolution, however. “We want
a theocratic state run by the dergy, we
want Sharia, but the m . el of Iran is
not suitable,” Tsumbai Lyusanov, a
soft-spoken young Kyrgyz whose fam-
ily came from China, told me. “This
would not be a militant state. We want
no victims and no bloodshed—just
peaceful existence.” The Muslim, of
Central Asia are different from theit
Iranian brethren in another important
way as well. Iranian Muslims are
predominantly Shilte, but the Muslims
in the five republics are overwhelm-
ingly Sunni. In Shiism, the clergy are
empowered to intercede between God
and man, and thus mullahs and int2 ms
like Ayatollah Khomeini are able to
play powerful leadership roles in in-
terpreting God’s will to the faithful.
Among the Sunni, man’s relationship
with God is direct, and the clergy serve
largely as guides or advisers. The
difference is sometimes compared to
the difference within Christianity, with
Catholicism’s infallible Pope and strict
hierarchy in contrast to the looser struc-
ture of Protestant faiths.
Through intermediaries, I then
tracked down the leaders of the clan-
destine Islamic Renaissance Party, or
I.R.P. The I.R.P. calls for the over-
throw of omrriunjsm and the estab-
lishn,e, t of n Islamic republic, but i
eschews religious extremism. Although
a branch of the LR.P. had eventually
been allowed to register as a legal party
in Moscow, it was initially banned by
all five of the conservative Central
Asian republics. llzbeldstan’s leaders
went further they outlawed all reli-
gious parties and any attempt by the
clergy to run for parliament. Police
raided an I.R.P. constitutional confer-
ence held in early 1991, and the lead-
ership has remained underground ever
since.
Abdullah tJtayev, the I.R.P.’s po-
litical chairman—not to be con-
fused with its spiritual leader,
the real power in the Party—
is a plump Uzbek with a small
goatee who works for a pub-
lishing company. His first
deputy, an affable man named
Abdulish Yusuf, is a teacher.
Yusuf did most of the talking, with
Utayev nodding throughout. “When
Western people write about Islam,
they talk about in being fanatic, and
they use the term ‘fundamentalist,”
Yusuf said, leaning forward and speak-
ing intensely. “I’d like to emphasise
one thing: we cannot draw a parallel
with Iranian soacty. There is a great
difference between the Shia and the
Sunni. The spiritual leader who will
be a chief of state here should not only
beamemberof the clergy. Hehasto
know the secular sciences as well.
Pakistan is a more suitable modeL.” He
hastened to add that Pakistan ’s system
was not exactly what his party had in
mind, either. Pakistan is an Islamic
republic, but it is headed by a secular
leader, and Sharia is only one—not the
only—source of in laws. Saudi Arabia,
where Sharia is the law but the clergy
are only advisers to the monarchy, and
where no one votes, is also not a
model, he said. “We have our own,
different ideas. What we really want
is an Islamic democracy, although all
the elements of democracy are in Is-
lam, so we don’t need to add the
word.”
How did their party define an Is-
lamic democracy
“With our people, the notion of
democracy means no restrictions,”
Yusuf said. It would not be a one-
party state; the franchise would be
universal; the rights of ethnic and
religious minorities would be protected;
and private property would be hon-
ored. But the l.R.P.’s Islamic democ-
racy would in fact have some restric-
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5S
tions. “Anti—Islamic” practices, [ or
example, would be forbidden. “This
means that all those things which are
no good for humanity—drugs, drink,
prostitution—must not be allowed,” he
said. Nor would tolerance be univer-
sal, even toward Muslims. “All the
people appointed to Muslim posts in
past years had to get the permission
from the state,” Yusuf said. “Not all
are legitimate members of the clergy.
All who work for the Directorate will
have to go.”
And how long would it be before
this Islamic state took rood
“Only Allah knows,” Yusuf an-
swered, shaking his head. “But man-
kind is moving so fas t We didn’tthink
the events of the past six years could
take place even in fifty years.”
HE Gur-Asnir Mausoleum is the
L highlight.of Samarkand, Uzbeki-
Stan’s oldest cry. Sarnarkand first be-
came a crossroads between East and
West under Alexander the Great, a
role it retained for almost two thou-
sand years—until ships replaced Land
caravans for international trade. The
mausoleum—a towering complex sur-
rounding a courtyard which contains
a mosque, a madra.sah, and nuarters
for the ascetic dervishes—waa bui.& in
the fifteenth century, at the time of
Sa.xnarkand’s greatest glory.
I arrived at the mausoleum early
one morning, before it had opened, a
young Uzbek miliuaman in an ill-
fitting gray uniform was still prepanng
for the first tourists. When I pressed
k lan with questions that a brief history
on the front wall, in Russian, did not
answer, he invited me inside for a look
before the crowds came. The centuries
have done their damage to the shrine’s
exterior, but the interior has been
restored to its original splendor. Sun-
light shines through arched windows
and reflects from high walls decorated
with intricate blue-and-gilt mouics
the light inside seems golden.
On the floor were six sarcophagi,
five of light marble surrounding one of
greenish-black jade. The one in the
middle marks the o cial resting place
of the fourteenth-century warrior-king
Timur the Lame, so called because of
a limp, who is better known in the.
West as Tamerlarie. Next to him rest
two sons, at his head a beloved teacher.
The militiaman, who introduced him-
self as Zayniddin, talked at some
length of Timur’s expansion of old
Turkestan hr0Ugh conquests in Iran,
Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
southern Russia, Syria, Turkey, and
India—and of the development of
Sarnarkand, hiS exotic capital. Then,
looking at the sarcophagi, he sheep-
ishly confessed, These are only mod-
els. They were put here at the time of
Timur’s death. He ordered it done that
way.” After a pause, he asked, “ vVould
you like to see the real ones?”
We went outside and made our way
around the building to an innocuous
little door in the rear. Zayniddin un-
fastened a padlock at the top and led
me into a small underground crypt.
The unadorned brick vault also con-
tained six sarcophagi, which were
positioned exactly like those in the
room above, but were of simpler white
stone. The top of Tunur’s real tomb
was engraved with his autobiography.
At the bottom, Tianur had added a
warning that anyone who opened his
grave would start a major war. Despite
local protests, Zayniddin told me, the
sarcophagus was opened by Soviet au-
thorities in June, 1941. Four days
later, he added solemnly, Hider’s armies
attacked .
Although Tianur is known to the
outside world for his ruthless miliury
tactics, his rule is regarded by many in
Central Asia as a period of greatness,
not only for the prosperous empire he
built but for the achievements of Is-
lamic culture, particularly science and
the arts. After Zayniddin relocked the
crypt, he stood still for a few moments
before returning to his duties. “What
we need is a new Timur to build a new
Turkestan,” he said. “I dream that a
day will come when our republics
unite and renew the ancient name. It
would be good for Central Asia. It may
be our only hope of survival.”
CROSS from the Hotel Uzbekisun
is a bright-yellow building with
classical white columns which looks a
little like a giant doll house and serves
as the headquarters of the Writers’
Union. I went there to meet Abdul-
rahim Pulatov, who is the leader of
Birlik, a populist pro-democracy move-
ment that was founded in 1988. Like
the I.R.P., Birlik, which means Unirv,
is outlawed in Uzbekistan. I asked
Pulatov, a physicist, about the pros-
pects of reuniting Turkestan— 6 rs n
Central Asia, and then to its old bo i-
aries across the continent. “Er .i
hundred and thirty-five years.
-------
been a colony, and now we’ve got
independence,” he said. “Detnocacy
is the first step, but what comes after
that is a big question. Here people have
approximately the same culture and
language. Joint economic and envi-
ronmental problems also unite us. So
working together is both logical and
efficient. Our movement is not against
ties with Russia. Every, normal and
sane politician thinks that turning only
to Asia is impossible, because, espe-
daily in the dues, Europe has had an
impact. But we have to think about
which ties will be most profitable, which
are most naturaL We will broaden our
contact with Islanic and Asian coun-
tries. We have t 1 .. communicate with
neighbors from whom we’ve been
separated for seventy years. This is the
future.” As for the re-treation of old
Turkeztan, Puiatov added, “Doubt-
less, in my lifetime there will be a
Turkesran that extends beyond Cen-
tral Asia.”
Turkestan, however, takes various
shapez in the minds of Birlik!s mem-
bers and sympathizers. Some see it as
a tightly knit state with a central set
of laws and a central administration;
others see it as a loose confederation.
Jamal K2mai , who is the most famous
tJzbek writer and has translated nine
Shakespearean plays into Uzbek, later
told me, “Turkestan will not be one
solid, united state. Uzbekistan, Tajik-
istan, and the others will continue.
Each will still have its own name.
Turkestan will be more like a cultural
and economic federation. Maybe only
after many years it will be one state.”
Birlik officials agreed that they have
no aggressive agenda and no desire to
forcibly weld together pans or all of
other states. They also stressed that
their version of Turkestan is not an
Islamic state. “The model is Turkey,”
Pulatov said. “The sure is secular and
has modern industry and connections
with both Europe and Asia. But the
power of religion is much stronger
here than in Turkey. There are people
who believe that the best model is Iran
or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or Al-
ghanistan, although most of them only
have a superficial knowledge of how
any of those countries are run. People
simply haven’t had any information
about those places in seventy years.
The ones who do know something
turn to Turkey.”
Birlik is not and-Islamic. Indeed,
Birlik and the “unofficial” Islamists
regularly consult and work together
against the Communist government
in Tashkent, and many Islamists
share the goal of restoring the old
state. “Turkesun is also our dream,”
Abdullah Yusuf, the deputy LR..P.
chairman, had told me. “Islam does
not have a notion of nationality. Islam
knows only a believer and a non-
believer. Now we face the hot that
Europe will be one state, with no
borders. Turkestan, as we see it, will
be like the European Community. It
says in Islam that peàple have to unite
and have no wars between them.” And
Birlik officials, assuming their own
victory in any new election, suggested
tha’ IsLamists would be induded in an
opposition government. But in the long
term Pulatov and others in Birik are
wary of the Islamic tide. “The longer
the Communists try to block democ-
racy, the greater are the prospe for
an Islamic takeover,” Pulatov said.
“We need to avoid the rise of the
Islamic movement in Turkestan.”
At the moment, however, Turkestán
is little more than a dream, albeit one
with a lot of potential. As the crow
flies, Tashkent is only about two hun-
dred miles from the Afghan border,
three hundred miles from the Chinese
border, and some five hundred and
fifty miles from the Iranian border.
Although Turkestan once indude i parts
of all three countries, major ‘ort
links between Central Asia its
neighbors are still routed via:
Thus, to get to any neighbor ite
in the south a Tashkend h fly
almost seventeen hundred miles north-
west, through three time zones, to
Moscow, and then fly back over the
same territory on an international
carrier. Since 1989, the border has
become a bit more porous for buses
and trucks—most notably between
Turkrnenisran and Iran, and between
Kyrgyzstan and China—but the job of
re-ueating Turkestan would require a
physical as well as a political ov hauL
A bigger obstacle may be
sented by the tall brown cottc
and their bulbous white bloorr
dominate the Central Asian L 1 -c.
On a Sunday afternoon ‘at th .. of
the harvest, I caught up witn Crew
No. 6—thirty men, women, and chil-
dren responsible for seventy hectares—
in the vast fields surrounding Tashkenr.
Wearing a white bandanna over his
head to ward off ‘the sun, a picker
named Ravshan Sagdibayev deftly
pulled off the soft cotton puffs and
drqpped them in a deep sack. “You can
tell when they’re about to blossom by
these little spots,” he explained, point-
‘ing out half a dozen brownish pimples
on a bud.’ “We’ll get this one at the
next picking, but even if you plucked
it off now’ it’d still bloom.”
The original supply of seed for Cen-
tral Asian cotton came from the United
• States in the eighteen-sixties, Sagdibayev
told me. “These were only small t e1ds
before. Now there is little else.” .‘\fter
the American Civil \,Var cut o t T Sup-
plies of cotton, Russia turned ti its
I I
-------
62
ANUL G. 1992
newly conquered colony in the south,
which had the requisite fair climate
bund.ant water. Later, under Soviet
the kolkhozes and the sovkhozes,
or state farms, in all five Asian repub—
lica increasingly turned to cotton pro-
duction. By the early nineteen-eighties,
the cotton crop of Uzbckista.n alone
almost matched the entire American
yield, and cotton had become a major
Soviet export to some thirty countries.
The high productivity came at a
cost. Cotton, the Uzbeks like to say, is
a monoculture dictatorship. It is esti-
mated to account for forty per cent of
the labor force of Uzbekistan and to
consume sixty per cent of all its re-
sources. To meet ever-increasing quo-
tas, other crops—mainly fruits and
vegetables—and livestock grazing have
been abandoned or cut back. The Soviet
regime also stopped rotating cotton
crops with alfalfa, and thereby de-
pleted the soil’s nuthents pestiades
were overused, and local rivers were
drained for irrigaaon. Pressure for
higher yields eventually resulted in the
so-called Cotton Scandal of the early
nineteen-eighties, when dozens of
Uzbek officials were arrested and tried
for falsifying yields to match rising
production quotas that thcy could not
meet.
The over-all result has been an
ecological and health disaster. The
Aral Sea, which was once the world’s
fourth-Largest inland lake, has shrunk
to sixty per cent of its former size,
because the two rivers that flowed into
it were diverted for cotton-field irriga-
don. The former port city of Araisk is
now more than twenty-five miles from
its shoreline. People are faring no
better than the environment. Hun-
dreds of thousands of cotton pickers
have been exposed to poisonous insec-
uddes and to defoliants, which, studies
have shown, make them up to sixty per
cent more likely to suffer from nervous
and intestinal disorders and jaundice.
The cotton monoculture has been
an economic disaster as welL For n,
as for agricultural produce and raw
materials from all fifteen republics,
Moscow paid artificially low prices.
Then it converted the cotton into cloth
and other consumer goods at factories
in the industrial Russian heartland
and sold them back—or abroad—for
top ruble. Little of the profit was used
to develop the Central Asian republics,
and they were left With few resources
and limited goods to trade with their
Asian neighbors. Figures for 1989 show
the Central Asian republics to have
been the poorest; the annual per—capita
income in (Jzbekistan was less than
half of Russia’s. Now, with production
and crop yields declining, and short-
ages of equipment and of spare parts
for antiquated machines growing
throughout the Commonwealth, sim-
ply maintainir g the old standard of
living everywhere will be tough.
Uzbckistan does have food. The
outdoor stalls an the bazaars in Old
Tashkent and Samarkand were Laden
with fruit and vegetables. Old women
and young men hawked pomegran-
ate; lemons, red and green peppers,
huge tomatoes, eggplants, scallions,
fat carrots, ra4ishes, a wide assorttnent
of nuts, the mainstay potato, mounds
of fresh spices, and dozens of other
fresh foods. Corners of parking lots
were filled with piles of watermelons
and cantaloupes. My interpreter, a
nineteen-year-old student from M os-
cow State University who revelled in
the foods unavailable at home, bought
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4 at so muc1 that he was violendy
k the next day. In a tWGltOl7 Ifl
or market at the Tashkent b2 r ,
e only lines were for frozen chickens
nd pigs feet, the Latter a RussLan
elicacy that infuriates local Mu clm .
here, o, long sausages hung neatly
rorn a and butchers with big axes
hopped beef sides and horse meat into
il lets.
But food is expensive. Sagdibayer,
:.. picker, earns about twenty-
eight rubles a daj—the equivalent of
less than a dollar—and must support
a family of five. “And prices in the
shops are growing even faster,” he
added. The cost of a single lemon was
four rubles on the day I visited Tash-
kent’s baaaar, and I watched an el-
derly Russian couple buy thirty-five
pounds of poctoes, as much as the two
could carry, far fear the price would
soon rise again. Yet, according to some
local analysts, the economies of Uzbdd-
stan and Kazakhsran are the only two
in Central Asia that have even a dis-
tant hope of becoming viable on their
own; in mountainous Tajikistan, ninety-
five per cent of the land i øt arabic.
Together, however 1 the five Central
Asian republics are willing to gamble
that they have a chance. Last August,
a week before the Moscow pucsch, they
held a summit in Tashkent and solidi-
fied the framework of a Central Asian
common market. The pact reduces
trade barriers and opens the way for
barter deals among the republic. In
efect, it created a new economic bloc,
bringing together fifty million people
in a region stretching from the Caspian
Sea to the C .-’ -se ,ct’der.
Thea, this February, four of the
five—Kazakhstan is still an observer—
joined Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan in
a broader Economic Co iperacion Or-
ganization, nicknamed the Islamic
Cornr”v Marker. The new Asian states
are slowly but steadily moving away
from the Commonwealth’s European
republics. If the pace continues, one of
the new frontiers between Europe and
Asia may run right throughout the
Commonwealth.
HE center of AJma-Azz, the capi-
.L tal of Kazakhscan (or “Land of
the Kazakhs”), is dominated by a leafy
park dedicated to Russian war heroes,
including those who settled Central
Asia, in the center is a giant house of
pastel pink with white columns and
white . trim, copped by four gold Cu
las, which was built during the Roma-
nov era as a Russian Orthodox cathe-
draL The feel of urban Kazakhstan, in
its design and its symbols, is pure
Russian.
Czarist Russia first entered Central
Asia through Kazakhstan, and it is the
only southern republic with which
Russia shares a border. The legendary
cossack light cavalry beat back the
vestiges of the Great, Middle, and
Small Hordes in the eighteenth cen-
tury; Russian authorities moved in to
colonize the territory and replace the
princely kiwis in the mid-nineteenth
century. In the twentieth century, Stalin
strengthened Russian rule by for ng
millions to reseule in the south, (Only
recently have the Kazakhs, with forty
per cent of the population, again be-
come the largest ethnic group in their
own land; Russians are down to thirty-
eight per cent.) Under the aars, all
personal names were Russified. In the
nineteen-twenties, Moscow ordered that
the Latin alphabet replace Arabic script,
which had been used since Central
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Asians embraced Islam, in the eighth
cencuzy in the nineteen-forties, it re-
placed the Latin alphabet with the
Slavic Cyri]Jic alphabet The effect
to limit the use ci Kazakh to
es and the streets, making the
Kazakhs functionally illiterate in their
own language. Russian colonial au-
thorities and settlers also replaced tra-
ditiossal tribal and clan leaders in
Kaz.akhstan’s grassy steppes, where its
noxnads had grazed livestock for cen-
tunes. Although various Communist
leaders eventually brought Kazakhs
into the Party and their into top lead-
ership positions—the criterion often
being compliance rather than compe-
tence—Russians always ran the show,
either from sCcondary positions inside
the republic or from on high in Mos-
cow. Thanks to greater literacy levels
and better training, Russians also
dominated the skilled professions. Only
in 1989 did the balance of power begin
to change significantly. Besides the
freedom-of-conscience law, which
reconnected the republic to the roots
of Central Asian culture, another new
law allowed them to use their own
languages again. Now Ka akh, Uzbek
Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Turkinen are all
pdually neplathng..Russian as the
T ciai government languages; in
Kaza.khstan, certain jobs are restricted
to speakers of Kazaith.
AU five republica also
have plans to revert
eventually to either the
Latin or the Arabic
alphabet
• The effects of the
new language law were
apparent at a school I
visited on the outskirts
of Alusa-Aza where the
thy begins to rise to-
ward the snowcapped
lien Shan Mountains.
The facility, built of
concrete, is in fact two
schools, each’ for all
ages:SchoolNo. 145 is
for Kazakh students;
No. 45 is for Russians
and twenty minorities.
“After the language
law was passed 1 some
Kazakh parents’ asked
for a separate school, so
their children wouldn’t
lose their language,”
Alcksandr Baraskev ch,
ci ’nct
er with a blond walrus mustache, told
me. “Frankly, the initial demand-was
to remove all Russian kids from the
school and to give itto the Kazakhs.”
Alter heated debate, a compromise was
worked ouc until a new school could
be built acr the street for the Kazakhs,
the two student bodies would be physi-
cally separated in the existing schooL
rn September, 1990, when the fall
term began, a heavy steel-mesh fence
was erected on the first floor to segre-
gate the ethnic groups. A white bust of
Lenin and a red flag went to the
Russian side. A few weeks later, an
explosive device went off under one of
the school enuyways a few feet from
the fence, set off by persons still uni-
dencifled. The next day, the headmas-
ter took the fence down. But it was no
longer needed; the division had been
established.
Long before the disintegration of
the Soviet Union, the language law
had begun to change the sodal land-
scape of Central Asia. ‘Fhe emphasis
now is on roots, tradition,” Baraskevich
said. “History classes in both schools
deal with Kazakhstan’s independent
histniyuweiluwiththe Soviet era.
Russian students also now have to take
Kazakh language classes. And there’
a special privilege for Kazakh kids:
they do Russian as a foreign Ian-
guage.” More than ninety per cent ol
the Russians in all five Ce trai Asian
republics never learned the local lan-
guage, whereas the Asians had to know
Russian in order to function in society.
Segregation, however, may not be the
right alternative, Baraskevich told me.
“It’s not good to separate kids,” he
said. “If they are physically separated,
then psychological barriers will come
next. Over a generation, this could
have a major impact. Frankly, most of
the students don’t understand why the
decision was taken.”
Teachers in the K.azakh half of the
school told a somewhat different story.
“For our pity, the Kazakh children
haven’t known their language,” Dma
Begezhanova, a dark-haired young
Ka.zakh teacher, told me as we sat in
a small o cc filled with children’s
desks. “They haven’t known the his-
tory of our nationality. They are hun-
giy for their own identity and to be
proud of who they Things are
slowly improving. Now there are about
thirty Kazakh schools. Btst still there
are problems. One of the biggest is
boo ks. There are no Kazakh texts for
chemistry, engineering, or English.
Classei one through three have no
books at all in K zakh, so they still use
Russian books, which teachers must
translate into Kazakh. One of the
problems is just find-
ingwaystoprintthings
in Kazakh. It’s a real
problem, you know,
finding a Kazakh type-
writer.”
The end result is a
gradual transformation:
the once dominant Rus-
sians and the second-
class Asians are begin-
ning to swap positions.
Unless the Russians
learn Kazakh, they will
become the function-
ally illiterate. Their
reaction includes both
fear and anger. Vitaly,
my Russian taxi-driver,
whose grandparents had
been exiled to K.azakh-
stan from Saratov, it,
southern Russia, in
1922, reflected on the
changes. “Before pcrc-
sgroika, everything was
fine. No one talked
about nationalitics. l
was so ca!m nd p : .’-
,n’, . /ke’ , ,‘iitorL’, and Evat: u n,ore like cahl ’. “
-------
THE t’4€W YOP KER
fu ,” he t ild me oi ie day as we drove
around Alma-Au in his cab, a twelve-
year-old red Chigaly with a cracked
windshield and a tarantula, encased in
plastic, in the gearshift knob. “But
after erertroika people began to say
to Russians, ‘Go home, go back to
Russia’—.even to old people on buses.
Before eraaroika, there were no
Kazakhs working in the stores. Now
they’re all over the place. You don’t
know what will happen next. We’re
4iclg on a powder keg here. We’ll be
refugees, that’s for sure. If there were
anyplace else for us, I would have
gone by now. But there’s no place else
for us.” Indeed, unlike the colonis of
other abandoned European empires,
Russian colonists cannot just pack
up a.nd go home. With huge housing
shortages and the prospect of mass
layoffs in the conversion to a free-
market economy, Russia cannot absorb
its oops returning from Eastern
Europe, much less the roughly twenty-
five million Russians dispersed through-
out the Cornznonwea.lth. Some Russian
dties are officially “closed,” because s f
overpopulation or limited housing, and
in others gesting housing requires wealth
or highly marketable skills.
Vitaly, a tall, lumber ag man &io
favored a denim jacket and a blue cap,
• had no inhibitions about expressing his
feelings toward Kazakhs. As we drove
on a rural road one day, two shepherd
dogs helping a young Kazakh herder
on horseback corral his cattle stayed
into the road. When I urged V i t aly to
be careful not to hit the dogs, he
responded, “Don’t worry. Those dogs
are smarter than any Kazakh.” An-
other time, he told me, “Like everyone
with slant eyes, the Kazakhs are not
capable of doing anything for them-
selves. If they drive all the other nations’
away, they’ll begin losing and they’ll
go back to living in yurrs.” Although
on the surface Alma-Ata is a distinctly
quiet and peaceful place, 1 /italy pulled
out an icepick that he said he had
recently begun keeping under the floor
mat of his car. “Don’t go out after
nine,” he warned me. “You’ll come
back naked. Gangs of Kazakh kids
attack you in the dark and leave you
with nothing.”
I had heard similar tales in Uzbeki ..e
Stan, whose population of twenty mu-
lion includes one and a half million
Russians; Russians account for eight
per cern of the population in Tajikistan,
,nint pcr c’nt ii Turkmenistan, and
twenty-two per cent i Kyrgyzsun.
On a Sunday at Tashkent’s tJpensky
Orthodox Cathedral, parishioners buy-
ing thin brown candles before morn-
ing services crowded around to talk.
“Russians don’t have any future here.
We’re waiting for the massacre by the
nationalists to break out any day,” a
middle-aged Russian named Alexandra
Kozlova told me. Another woman,
Varvara Zhakova, a frail eigh6ve-
year-old who had come from Siberia
with her parents, told rae, ‘We’ve
seen everything. My mother, ray fa-
ther ‘were whipped by Stalin’s people.
In the past, if you weren’t with the
Comnasunist Party ft was hard to get a
job ‘or a promodoa. Now you can’t get
ahead unless you’re with the Iizbeks.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “My
daughter has her doctorate, but they
don’t want to give her a job because
she’s Russian.”
Vladimir Razuznov, a forty-two-year-
old Aerofiot pilot, was less emotional
but no less worried. “I was born here
and my children were born here, so
rm not eager to leave. I like Uzbcks,
and I don’t feel persealtion. But things
have changed. At the beginning of
1991, there was a big argurrient. The
boss said that ti’ :re should be no more
Russian supervisors—that Uzbeks
should replace theta. Others said su-
pervisors should rise by merit, not
nationality. Now is policy to make
more tlzbeks into pilots,” he told me.
R.azunsov has started reading 4vsa on
Week in search of a job with a foreign
airline. “Who’s waiting for me in
Russial No one. And there’s no place
to live,” he said. “The only hope for
a lot of Russians in these republics is
to go abroad, because Uzbekistan is
very unstable for us. I fear we’ll be
either expelled or forced to go.”
HE Kazakhs see things differ-
J endy, of course. Bakllyrzhan
Khasanov, a big, burly man with white
hair, who looks like a Kazakh version
of Lorne Greene, is a social linguist
at Alma-Aza’s Institute of Philosophy
and Law and one of the authors of the
republic’s language law. “This is rub—
‘ish,” he said of Russians’ fears. “If
:e were going to ask the Russians to
leave, we’d do it openly. So far, we
have no con icts with the Russian
population. In fact, Kazakhstan is the
calmest republic.” Any disturbances,
including a recent incident between
Kazakhs and the cossacks, ws re insti-
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gated by Russians. In that incident,
which occurred in mid-September in
northern Uralsk, minor dashes broke
out between Kazakh nationalists and
cossacks brandishing Russian flags who
were celebrating four hundred years of
allegiance to Russia. No one was killed,
but the seriousness of the episode was
reflected when the Kazakh President,
Nursultan Nazarbayev, told Boris
Yeltsin that the Russian rnilitaiy com-
memoration on Kazakh Land demon-
strated “open disrespect” for his
republic’s sovereignty. The message
itself was a serious event. The Presi-
dents of the two largest republics had
collaborated to foil the August coup
and are considered the cornerstones of
cooperation within the new Common-
wealth.
The real problem, Khasanov told
me, was not Kazakh attitudes toward
Russians but Russian intentions in
Kazakhs5an-eSPeCiallY the growing
talk of aeating an autonomous Rus-
sian region, or even of seceding. “Nowa-
days, there are many separatists among
the Ruuians,” he said. “They would
like to annex several eastern regions
of Kazakhstan to Russia, because Rus-
sians are the majority there. They
don’t want to stay in Kazakhstan. They
don’t . ant o learn the Kazakh lan-
guage. So they want to take the land
back with them to Russia. It’ll never
happen. Whose are most of the graves
of those who fought for this land,
Russian or Kazakh? Whose songs have
the lore of this land, Russian orKxzakh?
We want some lands back, too, from
Russia. The first Kazakh capital was
in Orenburg, in the nineteen-twenties.
Now it’s Russian territory. Saratov,
Astrakhan, Orenburg—these are all
cities of Kazakhstan now under the
Russian flag. We aren’t going to listen
to cossack nationalists anymore.”
I pressed him about the possibility
of open conflict between Russians and
Central Asians. The last bloodshed in
Aima-Ata, in 1986, involved Kazakh-
Russian clashes over the replacement
of the Kazakh Communist Party chief
by a Russian leader. Since the Soviet
demise, Presidents Nazarbayev and
Yeltsin have, in theory, preempted
potential border disputes by agreeing to
the current frontiers; few of eitherthe
Russians or the Kazakhs I interviewed,
however, believed that the agreement
would hold.
“1 believe that ethnic conflict will go
on, but in a concealed way, not vividly
manifested,” Khasanov predicted. “But,
i it should come into the open, it will
lead to a catastrophe.”
S the empire breaks the rede-
A I fining of the relationship between
the colon ed Central Asians and their
former Russian masters, now shorn of
their Soviet cover and might, will play
a major role in shaping the longer-
term status of both. Russians still widely
view the Russian presence as a civi-
lizing influence on Central Asia; Cen-
tra.l Asians now openly express the
view that Russians usurped their rich
and ancient civilization. Even if all the
Russians in K.azakhstan were to “go
home,” not all the potential problems
would disappear. Unlike the colonies
of other empires, which were conti-
nents away, Russia’s former territories
would be on its borders—most notably
the strategic three-thousand-mile bor-
der with Kazakhstan.
In. the new Commonwealth, the
Asian republlm can no longer be con-
sidered less important than the Euro-
pean ones. In area, Kazakhstan, which
is larger than Western Europe, is also
larger than the thirteen other non-’
Russian republics combined, and it has
* nuclear arsenal and substantial oil
and mineral wealth. Uzbekistan, with
its twenty million people, has the third-
largest population of the republics (it
is surpassed by Russia and Uki aine);
Kazakhstan, with almost seventeen
million, is fourth. And the growth has
not stopped. Between 1960 and 1980,
the Asian populations of the Soviet
Union grew almost four times as fast
as the Russian population.
The bitterness between nationalities
and the widening population imbal-
ance between them are among the
most explosive flash points in Central
Asia. Both are exacerbated by a dete-
riorating economy, which is expected
to get much worse before it gets better.
Unemployment is already estimated to
have reached at least ten per cent
throughout Central Asia. In some rural
areas, where high birth rates have
produced a large corps of poor, un-
trained youth, unemployment is as high
as thirty per cent. The implicit promise
of economic growth from free markets
may go unmet, because of the strain on
resources, such as water, from incr aS
ing populations.
Indeed, since 1989 virtually all rh..
Central Asian violence that is u’.rih-
uted to ethnic differences has r:: llv
-------
Tl-1 NEW YORKER
come down to rivalries over resources.
Riots erupted in Tajikistan in 1990
when rumors swept the republic that
Armenian refugees were to be given
preference in housing over families
who had been on waiting lists for
decades. After twenty people were Iduled,
Moscow dispatched troops to end the
fighting. In the densely populated
Fergana Valley, which spills over from
LJzbekistan into Kyrgyzstan, at least
two hundred and fifty were killed in
dashes that same year, when a Kyrgyz
Party boss transferred land from an
tlzbek-populazed koflchoz to sonic land-
less Kyrg z. A year earlier, in another
part of the valley, Uzbeks had attacked
Meskhecian Turks—Muslims who had
been deported from Georgia by Stalin—
over allegations that they were getting
preference in jobs. sewhere, Kyrgyz
and Tajilcs have clashed over rights to
limited Land and dwindling water
supplies. In the past, Russians were
largely immune, since they were pro-
te ed by the threat that Moscow would
dispatch Soviet troops in the event of
and-Russian unrest. But with the col-
lapse of the center, and decades of
pent-up hostility now coming into the
open, Russians feel, whatever the re-
ality, that they are now “pri nary r..r-
gets.” As Vitaly put it, “it’s just $
matter of time.”
N American official visiting FmW 1 -
stan in September described Presi-
dent Nazarbayev as “way ahead of
anybody else” in Central Asia. A shep-
herd’s son and former steelworker, he
had long been an advocate of power
sharing between Moscow and the
republics. He tried to help Gorbachev
save face after the August coup by
introducing the idea of transferring
power from the Kremlin to a council
made up of the republics’ leaders—
over which Gorbachev would preside.
And after the coup he quit the Com-
munist Party. When the Kazakh Com-
munists reconstituted themselves as the
Socialist Party, Nazarbayev declared
he would run as an independent in the
December Presidential elections. (To
no one’s surprise, since there were no
ocher candidates, he won.) And, with
the help of a Korean-American ad-
viser, he has also been at the forefroné
of economic reform.
Yet, (or all the current acclaim,
Nazarbayev is, at best, a political cen—
tris t; his enthusiasm for a market
‘ui Otfl n t ii:uched by an enthu—
siasm for promoting democratic re-
forms. Despite OppOsition demands, he
has riOt broken former Communist
Party ofilcials’ hold on the local K.G. B.,
the military, or the judicial system.
Although publicopinion polls indicate
that less than twenty per cent of the
population, including its Russians,
supports the Party, Communists still
oocupy all but twenty of three hundred
and fifty-eight seats in parliament. A
host of opposition parties have been
legalized, but Nazarbayev has not moved
to form one of his own or to support
any of the others, as Yeltsin supported
Russia’s Democratic Party. The result
has been political stagnation; the former
Communists remain the single domi-
nant force.
Nazarbayev is not solely respon-
sible; the disparate opposition groups
are fledgling. In contrast to the situ-
ation in Uzbekiscan, the populace has
not as yet been impassioned by any
fiery cause, which was evident one day
at an outdoor shopping mail in Alma-
Ata. In the middle were two giant
yurts, surrounded by a small crowd
listening to a succession of speakers—
a scene more reminiscent of the soap-
box speakers at Hyde Park than of the
ma s opposition rallies in Prague be-
fore the velvet revolution. Outside one
of the yurts, which was flying a green
flag with a silver moon, I met Rashid
Beis, chairman of the executive coun-
di of Mash, an Islamic nationalist
movement in Kazakhstzn. Bela, a big,
bearded Kazakh in a suit jacket, in-
vited me into what he referred to as
the movement’s mobile headquarterr,
ft had been setup on September 5th,
he said—two days after a Kazakh law
allowing opposition parties was passed.
The handful of proselything Alash
politicians regularly preached on Alma-
Ma’s streets from 9 AM. until two the
next morning, Beis told me; then they
bedded down inside the yurt, which
was furnished with a gas stove and a
dining area.
Mash, named after the mythical
ancestor of the Kazakh peopi.., has a
tange of demands. “The minimum is
tee Kazakhstan. The maximum is
tree republic of Turkestan,” Bela
said as we sat cross-legged on the
yurt’s elevated floor. “At present, w
agree to secular power. At present, we
understand we can’t have purely Is-
lamic power. But if we have secular
leaders who are also Muslims, then
the laws passed won’t. conflict with
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68.
Islamic law. In the future, an IsLamic
state of Turkic-speaking people, with
the clergy as rulers, is our ideal.”
l nr..afl the passion and eloquence of
th speakers who were carrying
on aut aIe the yurt, the Islamic move-
ment in Kazakhstan is comparatively
tame. Mosques are proliferating, and
new religious schools are opening
throughout the republic, but the turn-
out at Friday prayers during my visit
was no more impressive than the
size of the congregations at Russian
Orthodox churches. As is true through-
out Central Asia, Islamic feelings run
touch deeper in rural areas, but so far
the people there Lack leadership or
links with other villages that might
turn Islam into a national force. I
remarked to Beis that the crowd out-
side his headquarters was small, and
he conceded that his tJzbek counter-
parta had made deeper inroads. “Those
who support us are numerous, but
we don’t have a membership, because
the population is poorly politicized,”
he explained. “We have no mass
media to reach the people’s hearts and
minds.”
But even a small following ippar-
entlu rporesented a threat. In March,
se e.ubez, of Alash were arrested
fo ziting” Nazarbayev and hold-
ing unauthor ed rallies. They were
the first political prisoners detained
since Kazakhstan became indepen-
dent.
In the yurt nest door was Zheltcks n,
or the December Party, named after
the December, 1986, clashes over the
firing of the Kazakh Communist Party
chief, Dinmukhamed Kunayev—the
only Kazakit ever to serve on the
Politburo. Barry Kuda ergenov, a wuy
little man, literally pulled me inside to
talk; by then, there was no one outside
to listen to him. The December Party,
he explained, had six demands. “We
want an independent Kazakh state.
We want to have a national republic
army, and not continue contributing to
one under Soviet control. We want a
new law allowing the three million
Kazakhs living outside the republic to
come home. We also want freedom for
two political prisoners held since 1986,
an explanation for the three hundred
since then, and the trial of
fo’ ur officials who were respon-
sible for ordering troops to act against
the people in 1986.” Throughout
Central Asia, the recurrent theme, in
different forms and on diverse s ues.
is the past it has to be dealt with or
incorporated before the future can be
defined. Suppressing it or ignoring it
will not work.
The December Party is not the only
secular opposition. Several other EC r ik t
parties have declared themselves since
the August coup attempt—among them
a Republican Party, a Social Demo-
cratic Party, and a National Indepen-
dence Party—but few are visible, in
part because there is no opposition
press to provide coverage. Indeed, after
my interpreter and I left the December
Party’s rift Kudaibergenov ran after
us to give me his address. “Please send
me anything you write,” he said. “The
foreign press is the only publicity we
get.” As we walked away, my inter-
preter quietly drew my attention to two
hulking light-haired men in tracksuus
who had been at the edge of the crowd
since shortly after we arrived. They
were distinctly Slavic, and did not
appear to be among the politically
curious. “K.G.B., definitely,” my in-
terpreter concluded.
The sante American official who
lauded Nazarbayev conceded that Ka-
zakhstan was “not a hotbed of reform-
in thinking.” In interviews with for-
eign and loca.l reporters, Nazarbaye’v
has talked about democracy in terms of
an eventual “awakening.” It is, at best,
a go—slow approach, which he ju. fiei
as the result of the region’s authorf tar-
ian past. Nazarbayev prefers to em-
phasize the economic reforms. Last
fall, on a visit to Moscow, he reeled
off “the statistics of success” to a re-
porter from the New York T 7 mec
Meat supplies had quadrupled since he
opened the way for private ownership
of castle. Thirty per cent of Kazakhstan’s
agricultural produce was grown on the
one per cent of Land owned by inde-.
pendent farmers. And private housing
was spreading across Kazakhstan. He
also said that he had overcome public
reluctance to privatizadon by helping
A RJL (3, 992
to open a private café i tt ea ch major
Kazakh city. He told his interviewer,
“I wanted them to see that though it
was twenty per cent more expensive,
they would soon be standing in line to
get in, because the service was better,
they were not being barked at, they
were being invited to come back. It
worked. In our conditions, we need
examples.”
When I sought out the model café
in Alina-Aia, however, I found not a
café but a fast-food joinq it was not
privathed from former government
ownership, I learned, but was a new
Korean franchise, run by managers
brought in from SeouL Except for pink
and black furniture, the place was
empcy only two of a half-dozen out-
door tables had diners. Several girls
behind the counter—attired in red-
and-white iped shirts, black ties,
red skirts, and little fast-food caps—
talked idly among themselves. Above
them was a neon menu with pictures
of hamburgers, shakes, French fries,
sandwiches, and something called ice
flakes. My ever-hungry interpreter
offered to sample the food. There were
no French fries, though, “because the
potatoes here are too small and low
so they wGn’t go througi’ the
machine,” one of the girls told us.
There were no shakes, either, “be-
cause there’s no ice.” And, unlike the
picture on the menu of a fat patty of
beef with a thick slab of cheese and
relishes, the hamburger was a thin
slice of ham—anathema to Muslims—
accented with a bit of shredded cab-
bage. The “burge? and a paper cup
of warm cider cost an exorbitant thir-
teen rubles.
13 OR snore than a thousand years,
an epic legend has been handed
down through generations of Kyrg7z
tribes. Its million lines tell of the fa-
mou warrior Manas, who conquered
lands from Central Asia to Beijing,
and whose descendants carried on the
family name and established traditions
still honored among the Kyrgyz. During
centuries of khan rule ‘in Central Asia,
Kyrgyz poets could spin out the tale of
Manas into, weeks, even months, ol
narrative episodes of adventure, con-
quest, and romance. “The Iliad and
the Odyssey are tiny in comparison.”
Abdu Icadyr Vorosbayev, a gray- ha i r 1
Kyrgyz linguist and scholar weaHn z
a blue—and—white baseball cap and
denim jacket, told me as wc taR:
-------
ENEWYORi(ER
iinly’dt liar in Bishkelc, the capital capitals, BIShICek, a place of i ac wooded
yrgyzstan. “There was a period in parks and wide boulevards, is a quiet,
nineteen-fifties, sixties, and seven- and even quaint, city. On a Sunday,
when the story was not allowed, the most exciting things to do were to
it stayed alive among the people. visit the outdoor puppy market in the
didren heard it from their parents. woods behind the bazaar and to chat
e still have poets who sing the with the cavalry cops patrolling the
aiias legend. It’s timeless, and its streets.
iversality touches all things inipor- Kyi g n is even more distinctive,
it to the human spirit. It’s about however, for its “silk revolution,” which
:e, honor, courage, and th’ impor- culminated after the abortive August
ice of family. It’s about the basic idea coup in Moscow. The silk revolution
unification of the na- never had the vibrancy of
‘ii and the creation of a Czechoslovakia’s velvet
itral ed state. Most of revoluuon, and was lit-
I, ft’s about Manas, who tie noticed by the outside
as a Kyrgyz. His story world, but it did set a
.eak to the tenacity of precedent in Central Asia
ir people.” which the neighboring re-
For the Kyrgyz, Voros- publica cannot ignore. It
iyev told we, the Manas started in June, 1990, wi
ga was a bonding force ethnic riots in 0th, the
mong diverse nomadic republic’s second-Largest
tans, who roamed the city, over the transfer of
tountains and valleys breeding horses, land between ethnic groups. At least
attic, and ya for more than a mil- two hundred and fifty Kyrgyz and
nnium. Unu] the late nineteenth Uzbelts were killed; sonic unofficial
enrury, the Kyrgyz had no permanent rn e put the death toll over a thou-
ettlements, other than regularly used sand. Angry young demonstrators then
places of hibernation” during the besieged the headquarters of the Cow-
itter winters. “Formally, the KyrgjrL munist Party, which was blamed for
elong to the Muslim family, but ‘misr..anzging the crisis and ausing
(slam as a religion doesn’t have tight needless bloodshed. Unlike the epi-
oou here,” Vorosbayev explained. sodic unrest in ocher Asian republica,
t Reiigion is like culture, but it’s not the furor did not die down. Hunger.
3UZ spiritual world.. Manas is wore rikes and a campaign by a new Demo-
important in understanding Kyrgyz critic Moveoient, which pulled to-
roots.” gether twenty-two opposition forces,
The people of Kyrgyzstzn—or eventually overwhelmed Communist
Kirghizia, as the little republic on die hard-linen, and parliament was forced
Chinese border was known until ft do- into holding Presidential electons. In
Russifled its name last year—have October, 1990, the Communist Party
always been distinct from the other leader lost the Presidency to a pro-
Central Asian cotnmunities. Although deutocraq physicist named Asker
they were part of old Turke tan, die Akaye’v, a dark horse summoned back
Kyrgyz historically looked more to the from the Soviet parliament in Moscow
Muslims of western China than to to run for the post after no candidate
Turkic-speaking Asians. Vorosbayev won a majority in the Kyrgyz parlia-
told me, “I like to drive a Ford and. went’s first vote.
wear a denim jacket, but most of all During the silk revolution, Kyrgyz-
I don’t want to lose my sense of scan became the first Central Asian
identity.” His son is now at a Beijing republic to break the pattern of ortho-
university, and Vorosbayev helped or- dox Communist dictatorships that still
ganrae an exchange program with held on to power. By the end of 1990,
Chinese from Xinjiang, the province Kyrgyzstan had declared sovereignty
that was once the eastern frontier of and dropped both “Soviet” and “So-
Turkestan. Islam is not yet a visible cialist” from its tide. Pushing slowly,
political force in Kyrgyzstan, though to avoid a backlash from Communists
Muslim observances and mosques have in the Kyrgyz parliament, Akayev prom-
sigrüficanriy increased since the freedom- ised a multiparty system with a free-
of-conscience law was enacted. And, market economy. in a sign of the
compared with the flowering of energy times, the name of the capital was
and emotion in other Central Asian changed from Fn nze, - a Kvrgyz
-
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Russian who became a Soviet military
hero, to the original Bishkek, after the
churning staff that makes fermented
mare’s milk, the national drink.
Central Asia’s oasis of democracy
had a close call during the August coup
attempt in Moscow. Kyrgyzstan was
the only republic where hard-liners—
including many of the Coxnmunis
pushed aside in 1990—attempted a
similar coup of their own. Local K.G.B.
o cia1s came to arrest Akayev while
a commander of the Central Asian
military district attempted to
deploy tanks in the sneets.
To add insult to injury, the
first news flashes about the
coup’s fi .ling in Moscow
reported that the plotters were
trying to escape to Bishkek.
“This false information went
through Aerofloc channels.
But the people ax Aero ot
and others misunderstood the name,”
I was told by Feiks Kuiov, who, as
Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Minister, had to
deal with the internal threat as well as
the possible arrival of the coup ring-
leaders from Moscow. “We learned
later that the coup leaders actually
intended to fly to Belbek, which is on
the Crimea.”
Kulov, an amiable and surprisingly
young man, may be the only Interior
Minister in any republic in Soviet
history to have a popular following.
is widely viewed as a hero whose
boldnesssinglè-handedly made the silk
revolution possible. Ax the Democratic
Movement’s headquarters, Taabaldy
Agemberdiyev, the movement’s ideol-
ogy chief, insisted that I meet Kulov,
and then picked up the phone to ar-
range the meeting. “Thanks to Kulov,
we have democracy here,” Agern-
berdiyev told me. “During the hunger
strike in 1990, when the Communists
were still in power, he was the com-
mandant, the top cop, of the city. But
he didn’t order troops to break it up.
He used his authority to let people
carry out the rally, despite a curfew.
His actions made it possible for us to
stand up to the Communists and then
break their hold on power.” If Kulov
had ordered a crackdown, as his tizhek
counterparts have done repeatedly
against Birlik meetings and prot?sts in
Tashkent, the reaction to the deaths in
Osh would never have grown into the
silk revolution. “Then, during the coup
attempt, Kulov isolated K.G.B. troops
here arid had hem encircled.’’ \gcm—
berdiyev continued. “He disobeyed the
military commanders and dosed down
the airport, in case of an attack. He put
his own life and career at risk during
the coup. Yet throughout the two
crises—the one that first brought Akayev
to power and the one, ten months later,
that insured the new President’s poLiti-
cal survival—Kulov was a member of
the Communist Party’s Central Com-
mittee. Not surprisingly, he quit the
Party in August.
Kyrgyzstan’s silk revolution reflects
the uneven pace and erratic
nature of’ political change in
Central Asia. What has oc-
curred over the past two years
in little Kyrgyz.stan is just
the opposite of what has been
happening in giant neigh-
boring Kazakhstan. In Alma-
Ata, the polls and popular
movements indicate that po-
litical reform is supported at the bottom
but resisted at the top. In Bishkek, the
democratic transformation has been the
product of a few men directing change
from the top. Neither republic has
witnessed the kind of emotional na-
tionwide uprisings that swept Eastern
Europe—and now have the potential
to .Lnseat tjzbekistan’. Communist -
government. Despite the Central Asian
republics’ common heritage of religion
and unity in old Turkestan, and de-
spite their agreement on the need for
regional unity in the future, each re-
public is going through the transi-
tion from centralized Soviet rule in its
own way.
For Kulov, the decision to side with
the pro-democracy forces against his
own party grew out of conscience and
instinct rather than ideology. “I didn’t
jump to the decision. It was a very
di cult process ” he told me as we sat
around the conference table in his oak-
panelled office. “I was a criminolàgisc
byprofession, so I started accumulat-
ing my doubts a long time ago, when
I was told there were no reasons for
crime or problems in the Soviet Union.
I remember being taught that the rea-
sons for crime were unemployment,
private property—all the things asso-
ciated with capitalism. In the past, we
were primitive in the way we handled
crime. We captured and detained “io-
lators and didn’t look for the roots.
Later, I understood that crime i cp. e
logical. There is almost aiwa 5 a re.i-
son for it.” When, as police corvman-
darn, he had to decide wha r.
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€ NEW ‘ OMElk
j un,—er .strikers and the peaceful “1 assume she voted for Akayev, but
.testers at the parliament, he can— I never aslcecL” (Group voting, a corn-
ded that they were not engaged in mon practice during Communist rule,
minal acts. I asked if he had under- was supposed to have been eliminated
34 at the time the potential reper- under the new democratic system.) Ax
sions of his decision. “Not really,” Bishkek’s open-air bazaar, I randomly
said, chuckling. “It was just in— sampled the ideas of fruit and veg-
• cubic venders about their expectations
When we talked, Kulov was ab- of democracy. A young man named
bed in what he called “departyiza- Akhtani, who was in his fifth season
or disentangling the republic’s of selling pomegranates, did not want
urity system from Communist- to talk until my taxi-driver told him,
paratchik controL “We still need to “It’s O.K. for an interview. We’re
t out personnel. That does not nec- democrats now.” Akhtani thought for
arily mean firing people but, rather, a minute, and then said, “We expect
adng a system to avoid involvements peace to prevail so we can work and
political, or even tribal, fights,” trade. We expect to live better.” When
ulov told me. “Several members of I asked if he was living any better yet,
e Interior Ministry are. still involved he replied that he now got anywhere
local political intrigue. There are from eight to twelve rubles per kilo for
en some we call traitors.” his fruit, an increase over the previous
“Should the average person feel safer year. To many in the poorer republics,
wr’ I asked. democracy is anticipated more for the
“I wouldn’t say that he should feel implicit right to prosperity than for the
e same freedom as in Western right to vote.
urope,” Kulov replied. “‘We’re cry- One of the key questions for the
g to set up the most painless system, small and. more obscure republics like
ays ,wx to oppress people. For cx- Kyrgyr.stan, however, is whether they.
nple, we won’t keep dossiers any- can afford independent democracies
ore. And I wouldn’t like to see the over the long term. Kyrgyzstan has
uerior Ministry and the [ local] gold, mercury, and uranium, the last
.G.B. fused, as it was in earler days. fqrmerly ised to develop both the Soviet
anyone has that much power, it will Union’s nuclear arsenal and its power
dangerous. For now, the K.G.B. is stations. But minerals alone will not
ill technically capable of providing pay for Akzyev’s ambitious develop-
formation, following people, and so ment proje , such as an interna-
n. I don’t rule out the possibility that dona.1 airport for flights to and from
e chairman of the local K.G.B. has Europe, the Middle East, and the Far
3ued an order for my telephone to be East, and a new industrial base to
.ppet But I would say that its powers make the Kyrgyz more independent of
re more limited. Our goal now is to Russia.
!ork normally, to enforce laws re- As prices rise for both local and
ardiess of parties and _________
oiiticai figures. This is
he most di cult task.”
Helping democracy take
oot, however, may prove _______________
ust as di cult. While _______________
yrgyzstan is the most ___________
iemocratic Central Asian
epublic in principle, its
*eople are the least politicized. In
Jctober, Kyrgyzstan became the first
iewly independent republic to hold
ree national Presidential elections. The
lections were held both to bring its
more than four million people into the
democratic process and to give the
President a popular mandate. But, to
Akayev’s embarrassment, no one ran
against him. “My wife took (he three
votes from my family and cast them,”
my Kyrgyz taxi-driver and guide said.
L i
Commonwealth goods in
new free-market systems,
Kyrgyaxtiin’s young de-.
mocracy faces the danger
that its people will not be
able to keep up, and that
the absence of develop-
ment cquld spawn dis-
illusionment or political
discontent. Yet the Democratic Move-
ment did not seem in any hurry
when I visited its offices. “A painless
transformation to a market economy
and developing an open relationship
with other countries will take time,”
Agemberdiyev, the ideology chief, told
me. “We’re in a cransitio state. There’s
no way we can mix our ability’ with our
desire.’.’
I asked Agemberdiyev whether the
republic’s new government might need
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72
greater public support, even just height-
ened interest, to insure tolerance dur-
ing the transition.
“Democracy ha.s, so far, done noth-
ing for the roan on the street or the
fruit dealer in the bazaar,” he re-
sponded. “There have been no changes
yet. We haven’t had time. The interest
of the masses in change has grown ,
and I think people believe in democ-
r .cy. But they don’t always k •iow what
democracy really means. 0 ne of our
tasks now is to create local democratic
organisations. We have so many good
slogans, but we must trintlare them
into life.” He said that by the neat
Presidential elexion, in 1996, there
would be a candidate to oppose Akayev.
Nevertheless, he admi d, the process
of transforming demoaunc slogans into
reality would be arduous. “If we reach
that goal in fifty years, of reaching the
bottom of sodety , we will be fortu-
nate,” he said. “Everything his to be
changed.- educadon the economy, the
role of the individual This will take
a generation or two. People are still at
a tribal level of thinking.”
HE poverty in Dushanbe, the
.L capital of Tajikistan, hangs thick
in the air. The street-sweepers. water
at night to clear away the dust, but by
midday the city is again covered with
pollution from cement, brick, and aiu-
minum works, and clouds of carbon
monoxide gust from the tail pipes of
trucks, buses, and cars. As darkness
descends, the city has an eerie feeling
few Street lights or car headlights are
turned.on, and only sparse and dim
building lights indicate direction. Tajiki-
stan’s per-capita ncon e in 1989 was
the lowest of all the Soviet republics’.
Now, as the value of the ruble shrinks,
income is probably only a fraction of
what it was then—and it Shows.
The smallest of the Central Asian
republica and the most distant from
Moscow, Tajikisran suffers from short
ages that are even worse than Russia’s.
On the day Istopped in at Dushanbe’,
Central Department Store, the shelves
offered an odd assortment of goods
brown powesy jugs, orange plastic stools,
a few embroidered tableclothi of dull-
gray fabric—whatever had been made ,
shipped, or left over recently,.it seemed.
One whole wall was empty except for
a pile of forty-watt light bu.lbs the only
busy corner was a queue for crude
rubber boots. Ar Dushanbe’s bazaar,
the supply of Central Asian produce
was comparatively skimpy, and the
prices were much higher than they
were eliewbere in the region; dozens
of people were lined up for bread.
Throughout the capital, bottled drink-
ing water was scarce, new housing
was basically nonexistent, and tans
were so sparse that my interpreter and
1 had to commandeer a car belonging
to an unemployed civil servant on the
street for transport. Dushanbe—which
lacks the energy of Tashkent, the
cosmopolitan feel of Alma-Ata, and
the sense of hope in Bishkek—can best
be described as desperate.
• After the failed August coup in
Moscow, Tajikistan went through its
own upheaval—and three Presidents
in less than a month. Angered by the
T jik President’s failure to condemn
the coup, a new coalition—of nation-
APIUL G. 9 )2
alists, work ts and Islam isu—
took to the streets to protest.
The President resigned. A new
acung President then agreed to
comply with Mos ow’g iristruc-
tions to suspend Communist
Party activities, and did noth-
ing when jubiLant crowds pulled
down the towering bronze statue
of Lenin across from the par-
liament. The second President
was abruptly fired by the Com-
munist-dominated parliament.
0 n September 23rd, the Tajik
legislators appointed Rakhman
NAbiyev, a former Party boss
during the Brezhnev era, as
the third President. They also
unbanned the Party, declared
emergency rule, and posted
troops around the dty’s remain-
ing socialist symbols. Communist rule
was o cialiy back.
But the tit-for-cat turmoil between
the old Party and the new democrats
was riot over. The opposition coalition
mobilized a round-the-dock vigil at
the newly renamed Liberty Square,
across from the parliasnenq protesters
pledged not to leave until democracy
was restored. In one of those flukes of
history, it ‘. en began to am, unsea-.
sori .ably, in Dushanbe. The largest
challenge ever to Communist rule. in
Tajikisran responded with unprec-
edented organization. Literally over-
night, more than five dozen giant rents,
provided by the central mosque, were
set up. Tent City, as it was nicknamed,
soon had supply lines of food and
water. Barricades were erected to pro-
rect against a possible crackdown. Tajik
veterans of the Afghan war, including
many who were permanently maimed,
set up a tent to vent their wrath at a
system that had forced them to fig ,_
their brethren in Afghanistan. Hunger
strikers set up another tent. And Is-
lamists, many sporting newly fashion-
a le beards, organized the five daily
j fayers and a host of speakers.
Each day, hundreds more Tajiks
turned out to expand the human block-
ade around the parliament. Across the
republic, stare farms and factories threat-
cried to strike. “We said if N biy v
didn’t resign, we’d replace the t iitc
with a building,” one of the lsl mkt
protesters told me. “ A 1 e had alr : iv
prepared a hundred thousand ‘r
Support was not just from tiu
Even the Soviet military ref ‘i
intervene.” The sou&hernrr..,’i -
I: there—was there—a Father Goose?’
a •
-------
IE NEW YOME1
, o ce irt aally cut off from foreign
ew, was suddenly besieged by the
)viet media and the international press.
or ten days, tens of thousands of
rocesters sat it out. Unaccustomed to
iticism and to the limelight, the
arliament finally called an extraordi-
aq session. “I cannot understand
iar’ Nabiyev shouted from the pa-
ium. “You voted for me! Yet in the
ourse of seven days you change your
,sindr’ On October 6th, he abruptly
esigned. With Presidential elections
cheduled in less than a month, the
leputies decided not to name a fourth
President. Tajikistan, which had also
‘ust declared independence, was left
vithouc a chief of state.
I arrived in Dushanbe as the elec-
tion campaign was in full swing. Sev-
eral Tajil suggested that I meet Davlat
Khudonxzarov, chairman of the Soviet
Association of Filmmakers and a
member of the former Soviet parlia-
men; because he personified the direc-
tion of change in Dushanbe. A widely
acclaimed director and the dosest thing
the Tajiks have to a heartthrob, Khu-
dcnazarov recalled how deeply Com-
munism had engulfed his life. “Until
this year, the most dramatic moment
in my We was in 1956, di’ .ing the
Twentieth Congress of the Commu-
nist Pasty, when Stalin was disgraced,”
he told me. “I was a teen-ager, and
it was a very hard moment for me. I
believed in Stalin. I was brought up in
the Tajik Mountains, the son of peas-
ants, living the life of a shepherd. Up
in those mountains, Stalin was a god.
All of a sudden, he turned out to
be bad .”
This year, Khudonazarov switched
sides. During the August coup he was
among the first national figures to
rush to Russian Federation headquar-
ters, known as the White House, to
support Boris Yeltsin. After the coup
was defeated, he quit the Communist
Party. During the September crisis
in Dushanbe, he was among the early
speaken at Liberty Square urging on
the demonstrators. After the crisis
ended, he formally joined the opposi-
tion coalition. When we talked, he was
running for the Presidency on the
Democratic Party ticket against Nabiyev,
his former colleague. His campaign
slogan was “The future against thi
past.”
“Decolonization will take ten or
fifteen years,” Khudonazarov told me.
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74
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e 4 ifficult. On the one hand we have
the forces of renewal, and on th.e other
the hanging on of the feudal and
,somenklagura regime. The battle won’t
end with the election; they won’t give
up so easily. Tajikistan is also in ter-
rible straits. Well need something like
the Marshail Plan to revive this repub-
lic and to eventually achieve teal in-
dependence. If we gain economic free-
dom, then politial freedom will follow.”
As in all the Central Asian republics,
economict takes precedence over poli-
tics, whether the spealcer is a new
democrat, a reformed Communist, or
an unrepentant hard-liner.
I asked Khudortazarov, who began
wórldng in film a x the age of fourteen,
wt at would happen if he were direct-
ing the Tajik political crisis as a movie.
“I would make a movie that had no
bloodshed. Each republic has its own
way to democracy, but the main task
for each is to undo the years of tension
that Communism has imposed on us
and to organize an orderly transition,
so the republict don’t unravel under
conflicting pressures. Our goal during
the transition has to be dvii peace. But
thaes difficult to come by, in real life
or in the movies.”
In the subsequent election, Khudo
nazarov, who Liter claimed widespread
polling violadons, including the di ,-
tribucion of pre-marked baiioes, re-
ceived thirty per c nc of the vote, to
Nabiyev’s fifty-seven. Tajikistan be-
came the first republic to witness a
comeback by a Communist—not just
once but twice.
One of the few opposition leaders
who conceded the possibility of a
Communist victory was, ironically,
Davlat tJsmon, the young deputy
chairman of Taji1dstan’ Islamic Re-
naissance Party. I met Usmon as he
and his colleagues were setting up the
new ER.?. headquarters in a down-
town Dushanbe apartment. After years
of being banned, the Islamists had
finally been allowed to register as a
legal party. “We had a deep and thor-
ough conspiracy,” Usmon said of the
local LR.P.’s years underground. “We
met clandestinely throughout this pe-
riod. Only a few of our members were
picked up by the K.G.B. In 1982, we
started an underground newspaper
called I s /ama Pravda, or Islamic Truth.
By 1989, we were issuing underground
brochures and leaflets calling for the
liquiditiori of ch Communist and atheist
regime uid dent nding democratic
state. We were active in many places.
in many ways, and the authorities
couldn’t stop us.” The LR.P.’s coat-
dination showed at Liberty Square. By
everyone s account, its members were
the most active and visible organizers
at the protest.
I asked i .Jsmon about the Tajik
I.R.P.’s agenda, now that it had been
legalized.
“Our main goal now is to prepare
people for the creation of an Islamic
state,” he said. “Becoming legal is very
advantageous. It allows us access to
the masses to educate them. Probably
even the Russian sector of the popu-
lation, which once listened only to the
negative propaganda about Islam, will
change its attitude toward us. Ac present,
the creation of any Islamic state in
Tajikistan is impossible, because sev-
enty years of axheisui shows. The people
are not ready yet. Also, there’s a phrase
in the Koran about not forcing people
to believe in something. Our charter
says we have to use all means possible
except violence, so we’re educating
them gradually about Sharia.” Creat-
ing an Islamic state, he predicted,
could take as long as forty years. In
the meantime, he had no fears of
Communist ru’e. “If Nabiyev wins,
he won’t stay for long—that’s sure.
We’ll work closely with the demo-
critic bloc if there are any manifesta-
don., of oppression. We’ll build more
Tent Cities.”
() F all the Central Asian republics,
Tajikistan is the place where
nationalist and religious forces have
come the dosest together—an unofficial
alliance that could shape any third
attempt to end Communist rule. One
man who may be instrumental in a
future transformation is Tajikisun’s
leading deric, Qazi Hajji Akbar Tura-
dzhonzoda. The Qazi—an Islamic
tex n for “judge” which in some Mus-
lim communities has come to mean
“leader” arid is used with reverence and
affection—welcomed me warmly to his
office suite, at the Hajji Yakub Mosque
in Dushanbe. Dressed in a gray-arid-
white pin-striped jacket, and with a
small, neat beard, the Qazi appeared
anything but a fanatic i t t the mold of
Iran’s early revolutionary leaders. For
a cleric of his rank, he is also a young
man—just thirty-seven. On his desk
were a regular phone, a cellular phone,
and a fax machine; white w talked,
all three were often goin tt
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1 H NEW YO1 KER
time.’ Ht w j just completing arrange-
ments for a trip to Moscow the next
iay, he said. The government had
invited him to participate in talks to
end the Afghan civil war. Although he
denied it, several Tajiks had told me
that the Qazi’s following extends well
into neighboring Afghanistan.
“There is a great deal of unity
here,” he told me. “Our people have
believed in Islam for thirteen hundred
years. And Islaiu is ninety per cent of
our culture and tradition, so you can’t
separate something religious from some-
thing nationaL”
Did that mean he favored an Is-
lamic state?
“Many people ask me that ques-
• don,” he said, smiling. “The answer
is no, for a number of reasons. First,
decades of atheistic practice have not
gone unnoticed. It has had an impact
on the minds of the people. Second,
we’re closely tied to the Slavic repub—
lica economically, and everyone laiows
how frightened the Slays are of the
idea of an Islamic state. Finally, we
don’t want the same thing to happen
to the Islamic revolution that hap-
pened to the Communist revolution.
We don’t want to be isolated. We can’t
find a way out of our economic situ-
ation without foreign investment. And
we know that the international com-
munity, too, wouldn’t react well to the
idea of an Islamic state.” The outside
world should also never expect a rep-
etition of the Iranian revolution in
Tajikistan, he added. “The models of
the state are very different for the. Shia
and the Sunni. And Iran is Shia and
we are Sunni.”
Yet the Qazi did predict an Islamic
role in the shaping of the region’s
transition to post-Soviet rule. “We do
have plans to have dose relations with
Iran and Afghanistan,” he said. “We
are united by niore than a thousand
years of history. We Tajiks favor and
encourage this trend. But that doesn’t
necessarily mean the creation of a new
state.” He also said that he was ada-
rnarnly opposed to the re—creation of
Turkestan. “There are certain Turkic-
speaking fanatics—Uzbeks, K.azakhs,
Azeris, and Turks—who propose this
idea. But I don’t think this way will
get Tajiks anything good. We’ll coop-
erate with then, on economic issues,
but we don’t like the idea of Turkestan.”
He added that Tajikistan did not want
to be liberated from Russian dornina-
9n only to be dk ated to by another
group—an observation I had heard
from many other Tajiks.
D (JPING the seven decades of
Soviet rule, the already diverse
pieces of old Turkestan took on sepa-
rate identities. Each is now a distinctly
individual member of the Common-
wealth. In the short term, the re-
creation of a Turkestan will, at best,
be more of a brotherhood than a state,
based more on economic exigencies
than on united political goals. Indeed,
the greatest threat within the region is
the unwillingness or the inability—
depending on the republic—to deal
with political change. In the new Com-
monwealth, Central Asia is the last
bastion of Communist or one-party
rule. In all but Kyrgyzstan, true demo-
cratic movements are still tightly moni-
tored or denied media exposure or
outlawed altogether. Even the limited,
and now outdated, “new thinking” of
peres ’viAa has yetto take hold. In the
absence of meaningful openings, the
frustration and alienation, the tension,
and the nationalist rivalries are almost
certain to deepen. In that atmosphere,
the one ong and unifying factor—
Islam, which provides a set of laws by
which to rule a ety as well as a s t
of spiritual beliefs—may present tue
only long-term alternative.
Under those circumstances, a new
and more vibrant Islamic Turkesran
might take shape. Even the Qa i said
that Islam must do more than just offer
definition or direction to an incipient
nation; in Central Asia, the concept of
a modern nation-state is considered to
be Western, and alien to Islam’s ori-
gins. “Once people are educated about
Islam—and there are a lot of people,
even believers, who don’t really know
about the religion—and we achieve a
breakthrough in their minds, Islam.
will be a great factor lit uniting people
of the Middle East, Central Asia, and
the Persian Gulf,” the Qazi said. “I
believe Islam will play a great role in
establishing relations throughout the
world. But it takes time.”
—RoBIN WRIGHT
.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AUACHMENT 3
flACHMENT 3: INFORMATION PACKET TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Chemical Emergency and Planning and Preparedness Office provided information to
the Team members to assist in developing a general understanding of the incident and the
Uzbekistan region. The following table of contents summarizes the information provided in the
packets.
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL INCIDENT
INFORMATION PACKET
CONTENTS
I . Formal Request for Assistance from Uzbekistan Government
II Uzbekistan Background Paper .
III Maps
IV Oil Well Background Paper
V Condensed Chronology of Events Surrounding Oil Well
VI EPA Chronology of Events to Date (as of 417/92)
V1I Travel Tips for Soviet Union/Uzbekistan
- Fodor’s Highlights
- State Department Cable on Uzbekistan
- State Department Travel Advisory
- Centers for Disease Control Information Sheet
VU! Contacts List
A3-l
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE ATTACHMENT 3
A3-2
-------
UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AUACHMENT 4
UACHMENT 4: MAPS OF REGION
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE AUACHMENT S
flACHMENT 5: EPA ADMINISTRATOR REILLEY’S AUTHORIZATION TO PROVIDE
ASSISTANCE TO UZBEKISTAN
t UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL. PROTECTION AGENCY
____ WAS14GTON, D.C. 20414
APR 91992
1’ lI4lST AT
SUSJECT: Uzbekistafl Technical Assistance Mission
TO: Jim Z4aJcXi3, Director
Chemical Emergency Preparedness
and Prevention Office
Recently the United States Embassy in Tashkent received a
request from the Government of Uzb.kiatan for assistance in
capping a blown oil well and evaluating the effects of the oil
on the environment and the health of the inhabitants in the
critical area. The Department of Stats consulted with the
Environmental Protection Agency and it was determined that
assistance should be prov.ded to ensure the health in the
region and reduce environmental damage.
EPA las been designated to lead this team which includes
representatives iron EPA, as well as the Department of Health and
Human services, Centers for Disease Control, and ø.S. Coast Guard
National Strike Force. I an appointing you as the Coordinator of
this technical assistance team and Tony Jover, of your office, as
the lead of this interagency technical auiat.&ztCe team mission in
Uzbekistafl. -.
The purpose of the mission is to obtain environmental
(air and water) and human sample data which would be analyzed in
the U.S. tO assess the presence of hydrocarbon and toxic
constituents of the oil in the environment. This information
could b used by Uzbsk Health officials to develop a health
strategy. The t*am is abers would also work with Uzbek officials
to provide technical advice for mitigation of environmental
damage, erwjronmienta1. restoration, and contingencY planning
for the effects of a. possible spill in the syr Darya River.
The technical and logistics support coordination will be
conducted through the EPA Hadquarters National Incident
Coordination Team and the Emergency Operations Center.
AS-I.
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UZBEKISTAN OIL WELL RELEASE
ATrACHMENT S
2
I u.nderstand that the National Response Tea continues to be
involved as well. It is understood that representatives of the
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease
conttol and U.S. Coast Guard will continue their excellent
support of the UzbeKiStafl mission.
Will ia
A5-2
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