The Azerbaijan Report 2: Absheron Peninsula

We drove north and east from Baku yesterday, taking a trip to the Absheron Peninsula.

Oil has been noted here for over a thousand years.

There were many oil and gas seeps. Most of these are are gone, but some still seep and a few burn. The peninsula also has some unusual mud volcanoes. Azerbaijan has more of these than any other country. They also occur under the Caspian Sea.

The Absheron Peninsula is also one of the world's most polluted places, according to the Blacksmith Institute (ranked number 1 in 2007). The culprit is the oil and chemical industry, centered around the town of Sumgayit (also spelled 'Sumqayit'), which was established as an 'industrial city' in the Soviet era to produce chemicals from the seemingly (at that time) ubiquitous oil wells, which are still evident today.

Heavy metals and untreated sewage are also problems. You name it, it's probably here. 

Unfortunately, the Soviets did not have environmental protection high on their priority list, so the place, is, in technical terms, a friggin' mess. Makes New Jersey's Linden-Elizabeth area of my youth look like Amazonia. This picture is from the Blacksmith Institute site.

It's not uncommon to find pools of oil and God-knows what else lying around, along with rusted machinery, including oil pumps. 

Here is a picture from neweurasia, Yes , that's oil (and other stuff mixed in, no doubt) pooled in the foreground.

I saw scenes like this. As you might surmise, the cancer rates in the Sumgayit area are way above (up to 50% higher) the rest of the country's. According to the Blacksmith Institute, a high percentage of babies are born premature, stillborn, and with genetic defects like Downs syndrome, anencephaly, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, bone disease, and mutations such as club feet, cleft palate, and additional digits.

The Azerbaijanis realize the place is a mess and are working to clean it up, along with help from international groups. They want to make the northern part of the peninsula into a resort area, but they have a long way to go: 20% of the Soviet-era factories are still operating, and it was not clear to me whether the remaining plants will continue to operate.

Untreated sewage is still dumped. Probably lots of 'nine-eyed carp' (or sturgeon) in the Caspian Sea here.

Read Nick and Kristy's exerro travel blog for more information about the Absheron Peninsula.

The day ended with a wonderful dinner at Lena and Bahruz's home, with their three amazing children - two boys (6th and 10th grades) and a daughter, who is studying for her MBA. Their English is extraordinary. Their daughter has her own Web-creation business, and she hires the younger son, who is an IT whiz. The older son wants to be a chemist.

Quite a fascinating day, one not soon forgotten.

"Shameful is not the one who doesn't know, but the one who doesn't ask." -- Azerbaijani proverb