OREANDA-NEWS. Ilim Group will allocate over RUB 500 million to implement environmental actions in Bratsk in 2015, said Vasily Konovalov, Director Occupational Health, Environmental and Industrial Safety of the Bratsk Mill of Ilim Group, at the regular meeting of the Environmental Committee at the Bratsk City Duma.

Ilim Group plans to build a CTO Plant, upgrade aeration tanks, install an air monitoring station at the edge of the sanitary protection zone, mothball sludge collector 2, and also implement other actions. Moreover, Ilim Group will continue to improve the Mill's sanitary protection zone and replenish fish stock in water bodies of the Irkutsk Oblast by releasing peled baby fish in 2015.

Implementation of the environmental action program in Bratsk has already been started. The Mill took inventory of emissions from the KLB line, supporting equipment, IMPBIN impregnation chamber, as well as other sources of discharge and emission in accordance with applicable legislation. For additional treatment of gas and vapor mixture from the IMPBIN chamber, the fiber line upgrade was completed by installation of a scrubber to serve as a liquor hydraulic gate. Presently, hydraulic tests and commissioning are in progress. Once they are completed the unit will be put into operation.

The environmental program aimed at mitigation of the Company's environmental footprint was presented by Company management to Bratsk Mayor Sergey Serebrennikov and Bratsk City Duma deputies, and approved by the regional authorities in January 2015.

As a reminder, since the upgrade of Ilim's Bratsk Mill there has been a more than two-fold reduction in sulfur-containing gas emissions. The Company continues to make efforts to mitigate its environmental footprint.