{"id":2494,"date":"2023-02-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/cee\/news\/the-story-and-fate-of-estonian-oil-shale-plant\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:13:08","slug":"the-story-and-fate-of-estonian-oil-shale-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/cee\/archive\/the-story-and-fate-of-estonian-oil-shale-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story and Fate of Estonian Oil Shale Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 28 December 2022, GWP Estonia held a <\/span>traditional winter seminar in <\/span>Northeast<\/span> Estonia. Altogether 16 members <\/span>of<\/span> GWP Estonia <\/span>decided to bring to people’s attention the issue of <\/span>the second largest oil <\/span>shale processing plant <\/span>in <\/span>the country<\/span>. The place is usually not open to the public. However, <\/span>it is a place <\/span>where big efforts have been made to get rid of the past pollution of tar, that has settled in the nearby rivers<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> 

<\/span>Discharge of shale-oil production wastewater started in the 20<\/span>-t<\/span>ies of the last century, when the Kivi\u00f5li Oil Shale processing plant was founded and launched. C<\/span>irca<\/span> 1\/10 of the total national oil shale processing takes place in Kivi\u00f5li (Eng.: stoneoil<\/span>). The larger part of the mining and processing happens around the cities Kohtla-J\u00e4rve and Narva. <\/span><\/span> 

<\/span>In 1920, the <\/span>fishermen<\/span> have fought for their livelihoods as salmon stocks disappeared from the river-mouths and coastal sea. Eventually, by 1940, the coastal village inhabitants had to start working in the oil shale mines as the court cases justified the new modern technological progress. This kind of socioeconomic court case where nature protection and economic interests of smaller communities are sacrificed for stronger economic interest groups <\/span>is<\/span> not absent <\/span>even <\/span>today.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

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During the <\/span>Soviet<\/span> period<\/span>,<\/span> the most intensive oil shale processing went on in the <\/span>80<\/span>-t<\/span>ies<\/span>. Today the local mine is <\/span>exhausted,<\/span> and the mined oil-shale is brought to the manufacture from the neighboring quarries with lorries. The latest owner, AS <\/span>Alexela<\/span>, has not made any profit and no new investments have been made either. <\/span>Some<\/span> 550 inhabitants from local settlements are employed in <\/span>12-hour<\/span> shifts, <\/span>and <\/span>a new<\/span> workforce is <\/span>still <\/span>needed<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> 
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To mitigate the pollution, t<\/span>he EU <\/span>LIFECleanEST<\/span> project <\/span>initiated<\/span> cleanup activities, and the Estonian Ministry of Environment <\/span>further support the cause by <\/span>organiz<\/span>ing<\/span> public awareness<\/span> campaign<\/span>.<\/span> GWP Estonia <\/span>supported this as well, with<\/span> <\/span>two slide shows to distribute or publish. One focused on cleaning up of the rivers from past pollution and the other <\/span>on<\/span> monitoring results of the local aquifers, where there is contamination by phenols and Ba found.<\/span><\/span> 

<\/span>The representative of the Ministry of Environment introduced the remediation work, where 14\u202f000 tons of river bottom have been excavated and carried to the nearby waste deposit. The other planned solutions \u2013 transportation of the polluted soil to the Netherlands for special treatment or applying special microorganisms <\/span>that process <\/span>oil products and thus clean the substrate at the actual site, have not been<\/span>very successful<\/span> so far. According to <\/span>a<\/span> member of the board of the production unit, today<\/span>,<\/span> all waste waters are first treated locally and then directed to the central <\/span>wastewater<\/span> treatment plant in Kohtla-<\/span>J\u00e4rve,<\/span> so the rivers <\/span>Purtse<\/span> and Erra have finally got the chance to live again. <\/span>By <\/span>1 October 2023<\/span>,<\/span> the next <\/span>2,4 km (about 14.91 mi)<\/span> of Erra River <\/span>are planned to be<\/span> clean<\/span>ed<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> 

<\/span>The remediation works have happened thanks to the financial support from the European Union Cohesion Fund.

<\/span>In the following figure <\/span>the location<\/span> of the oil-shale deposits is depicted in red color.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Additional<\/span> sources:<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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