Rosprirodnadzor said the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill next to the world's largest fresh water body has also committed itself to tackling the consequences of underground water pollution caused by waste storage.
The company must submit a planned set of measures to reduce pollution of underground aquifers by April 28 and a draft plan of waste disposal without incineration by June 28.
The authorities of the Irkutsk Region, where the plant is based, have assumed obligations to put into operation waste treatment facilities in the town of Baikalsk, for which the pulp mill is a local economic mainstay.
The commitments have been fixed in a protocol signed during a meeting in Rosprirodnadzor.
Rosprirodnadzor said in late January that contamination of Lake Baikal by the pulp mill would cost Russia 2 billion rubles ($83.9 million) per month.
Rosprirodnadzor imposed in early December 2007 a five-day ban on the dumping of waste into Lake Baikal from the mill, and filed a lawsuit against the company for damages of over 475 million rubles ($19.9 million). The watchdog eventually increased the size of the legal claim to 4.2 billion rubles ($176 million).
The Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill produces 200,000 metric tons of pulp and 12,000 metric tons of paper per year. The mill is owned by the timber industrial company Continental Management (51%) and the State Property Committee of Russia (49%).
