10 Days on Sakhalin

So how was Russia you ask.

Let's see, when I was last there in the fall of 2005 it wasn't much different from this time-- the oil barons getting rich, the roads are barely what you could call roads, what remains of government control over the social conditions is fading with the rapid rise in power of the oiligarchs, racism and sexism is alive and well, everyone seems to love Putin because they've swallowed that story that Russia Needs a Strong Leader to Bring Her Out of Chaos (they don't have the access to information that would help them follow the money as it piles offshore into private bank accounts instead of going into the country's infrastructure), and from what I know and have seen in Siberia and the Far East, you pretty much don't ever want to be out if you aren't straight. And while it's not as bad in the western provinces, it's still a sketchy business being out even in the capitals- Moscow and Petersburg. And please to not conduct any "gay-parade" in Moscow. But that's another story.

More specific news from this trip?

OK. In the Seoul / Incheon airport (ICN) I saw a t-shirt - one of many misspelled/ nonsense phrases in English that I saw printed on clothing -

"Heaven almost helpes those who decide jeans."

Another memorable quote-- we were examining important documents on the environmental impacts of the pipeline we were heading out to examine. L., our visiting pipeline expert from Alaska was sitting in the dark scrolling through documents for the third hour in a row and I heard her say -

"I'm not a biologist. Wetlands, shmetlands."

And then later when we were observing the improper storage of antifreeze barrels, which happen to be bright blue, D., the policy director from our org sort of mentioned as an aside -

"Blue is a good color for toxic waste."

There were some nice and strange roadsigns, too. One just had an exclamation mark on it. It was posted near the pipeline corridor. What exactly were we supposed to be alarmed about? I mean, all along the pipeline we saw alarming things, but maybe we were just generally supposed to be alarmed anyway, on account of the fact that we were in Russia and in the remote regions of a remote island whose only high-end export is underneath the source of food for most of the region (fish-rich waters), and non-risk-averse Muscovites and foreign oilies are happy to sacrifice the wellbeing of each and every person living on the island to render that slick of natural resources into piles of cash. The overwhelming overarching feeling I carried on this trip was just plain pity for that island. This is how bad it is with just two oil and gas projects underway. How is it going to be when the planned 13 (!) projects are careering along? And none of the companies sharing any pipelines. Like children who won't share toys. My pipeline! You're touching my pipeline! Stop touching my pipeline! Make him stop touching my pipeline!

One of our 5-person field team was a geomorphologist who works for the local administration. He has worked in construction in the Far East for thirty years. He says - and this is sad - that compared to Russian-run construction sites, the pipeline sites we visited were quite good. He's convinced that it would pretty much be a disaster if these pipelines were to fall under Russian control. As it is they have absentee parents in the form of Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell and their financiers in Europe and Japan. If the state monopolies step in and take control... that's extremely likely and extremely bad news for environmental controls.

It's just insane-- my back is still out from the condition of the roads. They were horrendous. Not just unpaved but slippery soupy clay-mud roads. And these are the roads in moderately bad (for them) condition, roads that wash out completely if there's a real downpour. And in a real downpour and flood conditions the badly-engineered river crossings (over 100 of them) will at some point result in pipeline damage and oil leaks. And that's when those very river crossings will be inaccessible to any and all teams who could control the leaks. It's just a guarantee of oil pollution from the pipeline. The question is only how far-reaching the catastrophe will be. Just the eastern administrative districts, or the shoreline, or the Sea of Okhotsk and the islands of Japan?

On other topics- a high AND low-light of the trip was seeing fresh bear tracks. And then hearing something heavy crashing through the woods following us. Them bears are hungry in the spring. And if they are adolescents, they are extremely disaffected. Freshly disowned by mom, wearing their bear eyeliner and listening to their bear Cure records. We discussed large hydro projects in Turkey that are destroying archeological sites. Loudly.

And on the topic of food- the french fries at Azalea (the restaurant in the back of the town banya) in Smirnykh are - just - heavenly! I've been on a junk food kick since I've been back because of those fries, I think.

The jeep broke down once (lost a steering-related bolt in a stretch of really bad road), the policy director got a brief spell of food poisoning, and the guy who was supposed to conduct the tour of the pipeline went in the hospital with internal bleeding from a ruptured ulcer the morning after we arrived (he's still there). That sums up the real trouble we had on the trip. Other than that I found that I worked hard, slept well, had few complaints about the company of my field team, and got to translate a lot of Russian.

The lowest low-light of the trip was seeing the hospital conditions where our local NGO leader was being treated when we came back from the field. Good lord it's a joke. Please do not get sick if you are in Russia. If you are Russian, that goes double. I'm sure there are lots of things they do very well and very cheaply, what with the socialized medicine and accessible education, but surgery? The surgery ward felt like a prison. There were no visitors and there was nowhere to sit when we visited. There were four men on cots in a bare room without curtains or even a place to put a vase of flowers (if they even would allow flowers, which I doubt). There was no climate control- you opened the window for air. We were harrassed for bringing our bags with us- the nurse said "this is a surgery ward-- leave your bags by the door." Like if we had brought a horrible infection with us on our bags, leaving inside on the floor by the door would save the four souls trapped in that room? Not a scrap of logic in it. And then there's the fact that the surgery ward was on the fourth floor at the back of a large sprawling building - WITH NO ELEVATORS. You better f-n be healthy before you leave, because it's a 20 minute hike in steep dirty stairwells to the front door. And because of his internal bleeding our friend was anemic, which meant that his young wife - while managing all the care of very young (1 year old) son with his own health problems - had to organize not one but TWO blood drives among their friends and family.

And what's more, is I think on the Russian scale of things, that was a pretty good hospital. Certainly the biggest, best one on the island (accessible to Russians).

The oilies probably get airlifted to Seoul.