A Polluted Village in Kazakhstan
Citizens of Berezovka battle health harms from the Karachaganak Oil Field
Introduction
The 1,300 residents of Berezovka live a mere three miles from the Karachaganak Oil Field, one of the largest in the world. Karachaganak is owned and operated by an international consortium of oil companies. Once Karachaganak became active, the health of this traditional agricultural community began to decline precipitously, causing the villagers to question whether pollution from the oil field was responsible for these health harms. A group of committed villagers created the Berezovka Initiative Group to discover why the health of this community was deteriorating, and to seek justice.
Berezovka is the only home that most of the villagers have ever known. While they are not eager to pull up their roots, residents have come to the painful decision that they must resettle to a safe and environmentally sound location to ensure the health of future generations. They are also fighting for compensation for the harms that they believe are caused by Karachaganak.
The villagers are being helped by U.S.- based Crude Accountability, whose assistance includes independent air monitoring, environmental 
EDLC team in Berezovka health training, and human rights workshops; and by Green Salvation, one of the most respected and influential groups in Kazakhstan, which is providing legal consultation and support, and pursuing a variety of legal strategies in the Kazakhstani court system.
Gas flaring at Karachaganak
A substantial amount of gas is flared at Karachaganak, resulting in the discharge of toxic substances into the air, especially hydrogen sulfides. Villagers have reported dark clouds accompanied by the smell of rotten eggs following flaring. The operators’ license was suspended in 2005 by the Kazakhstan government due to exceedance of permissible emission levels, and villagers believe that there were significant periods of time in earlier years when emissions levels were impermissibly high. In 2008, the consortium was found to have exceeded the allowable emissions and waste storage limits established for the project. The government of Kazakhstan fined the company $27 million.
While the consortium has apparently made significant efforts in recent years to reduce flaring and toxic emissions, a recent report nonetheless recommended relocation of the entire population of the village well away from Karachaganak.
How close is too close?
Because Kazakhstani law requires a five-kilometer “Sanitary Protection Zone” (SPZ) around the Karachaganak Field, the villagers should have been relocated upon the start of field operations. 
However, in 2003, the consortium convinced the government to reduce the SPZ to three kilometers, claiming that “superior technology” had been introduced at the field. The SPZ was reduced without a state environmental assessment, without notice to local residents, and without public participation in the decision-making process.
In 2006, following three years of public protests, Kazakhstan’s Public Prosecutor found the earlier decision to reduce the SPZ to be illegal, and the five-kilometer SPZ was reinstated. However, neither the consortium nor the government has made reparations to the villagers for the years of violations of their rights, nor have they relocated the village.
-Svetlana Anossova, community organizer and founder of the Berezovka Initiative Group