Environmental impact quality requirements for peat

Environmental impact quality requirements for peat are in accordance with The Provisional Specifications to Geological Surveyand Forecasting Environmental Impact of Mineral Deposit Prospecting and Development (1990) and Method Instructions of EnvironmentalImpact Statement Quality Requirements for Minerals (1995). In the geo-ecological evaluation of peat fields, ecological factorssignificantly affect the following issues: 1. Determining the reserves category - peat reserves in previous prospected peat deposits couldnow only be considered as assured resources in all the target nature-conservative areas. These peat deposits are located within ecologicallimited areas, such as national parks and wildlife reserves, properties under state and private protection, water fenced-off areas, includingrivers, streams, lakes and other water bodies, sanitary protection zones of various industrial and agricultural enterprises. At the sametime such peat deposits regulate the hydrological regimes and the water inflow, and are critical in their resource protection, research andrecreation importance. Based on the analysis of all ecological criteria, in-place peat reserves should be re-estimated as outbalance reserves.2. Evaluating the consumer quality of peat and associated minerals - in determining the consumer peat and associated mineralquality, the following factors should be included: micro-element composition, anthropogenic contamination level, radiation safety andsanitary conditions. In determining the peat application potential, content level and distribution behaviour of ecological hazardous components,such as heavy metals, natural and artificial radionuclides, toxic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, pathogens and others shouldbe considered. Such naturally accumulated components result in the technogenic contamination of peat deposits. 3. Estimating the allowablenatural resource tax limit - a limiting factor in the development of a peat field is often the natural resource tax (i.e. land tax anddeforestation tax). Economically, peat production is non-profitable on agricultural lands. 4. Restoring depleted peat deposits - significantinfluence on the profits of a peat enterprise are those restoration expenses due to wide-scale areal depletion. Utilization of depleteddeposit-fields for forestation and other agricultural purposes ( for example, pastures, meadows, arable land) is unpractical because of thelow fertility and contamination of residual peat layers by heavy metal, as well as peat soil degeneration due to erosion and secondaryswamping . Nowadays, the most effective method is secondary swamping and the biological restoration of disturbed peat swamps. 5.Burying ecological dangerous waste disposals in peat swamps is rather perspective, including wastes and drainage water from petroleumindustries.

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