Legal regulation of subsoil use when placing and constructing facilities for development of subsoil sites

Abstract

Energy Strategy of Russia for the period until 2035 contains a note that Russian Energy Industry is one of the main sources of environmental pollution. More than 50 per cent of polluted matter emissions into the atmosphere, more than 20 per cent of dirty discharge into surface water reservoirs and more than 70 per cent of total emissions of greenhouse gases account for this industry. Issues of environmental safety of the subsoil use are always under consideration in the academic community. However, huge amount of problems concerning this area still remain unresolved. For instance, bankrupt subsoil users often do not satisfy requirements set by the government on mothballing or removing facilities aimed at development or reclamation of used land parcels when the land leasehold is over. This indicates the need to enshrine additional measures in the Russian legislation on ensuring compliance with certain requirements. The authors mention that providing the regeneration of raw material base and its reasonable using for the benefit of current and next generations of nations inhabiting the Russian Federation are among the primary tasks of governmental regulation of relations on the subsoil use. The government should ensure the most efficient and consistent usage of resources obtained from already provided land parcels, complete development of mineral deposits and compliance with appropriate terms of subsoil use.