“And they tell us that smoking is harmful?”

The thermal power plant in Murmansk discharged black smoke that for several hours covered the city center.

As temperatures in the far northern Russian city this week dropped below minus 20, local authorities were struggling to keep up with the heating of local city blocks. It was only partly successful. On the 18t of December, the Murmansk Thermal Heating Plant No 1 discharged clouds of black smoke that covered parts of the city. At the same time, many city dwellers reported that heating was almost gone in their houses. The thermal power plants in Murmansk are fuelled by mazut, the low-quality heavy fuel oil.

“It would be interesting to know what exactly they are heating with at the moment,” a reader of Telegram channel Murmansk Seichas (Murmansk Now) writes in a comment. “And they even say that smoking is dangerous to your health,” the man sarcastically continues. “Add the exhaust from cars and the particles from the coal, which you constantly are breathing, as well as the cigarette that you just smoked. But this kind of thing you breathe 24/7 without interruption […] Here we are talking oil products with added agents.” The mazut fuel oil has for decades been a major challenge for regional authorities in the Kola Peninsula. The oil is not only highly polluting and harmful to people's health, but also expensive.

The regional government is actively seeking to transform the regional thermal plants to natural gas. Governor Andrei Chibis has for several years promised that energy companies like Gazprom and Novatek will help solve the situation, but an agreement remains to be reached. Paradoxically, the ageing Murmansk Thermal Heating Plant No 1 was recently the site for an anti-terrorism exercise. According to the training scenario, Ukrainian saboteurs had taken control over the plant and threatened to blow up the local heating system. In the exercise the “Ukrainians” refused to lay down their weapons and the Murmansk law enforcers were forced to 'neutralise the criminals,' the Murmansk Ministry of Regional Security informs.

It remains to be seen whether regional authorities are similarly effective in their management of the troublesome local heating.