The Ukraine participated in this meeting only as an observer and did not commit itself to any legislation. Ukraine suffered as a result of Soviet planning and subsequent ecological problems. While Ukraine accounted for just 3 percent of the total territory of the former Soviet Union, it had such a heavy concentration of chemical plants and had been so intensively industrialized that it provided 25 percent of the Soviet gross national product. The coal industry alone has accounted for the ruination of 260,000 hectares, most of which cannot be returned to agricultural production. Close to 246,000 acres of the famous Ukrainian black soil have been contaminated by radioactive isotopes.
Ukrainian air is no better off than the land.
Air pollution in 102 Ukrainian cities is at least ten times higher than officially permitted rates, threatening more than 50 million people. For comparison, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that each year U.S. industry emits 2.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into the air. Ukraine alone, however, discharged 22 billion pounds of toxic substances into the atmosphere during 1988. The 800 million pounds of toxic waste released into the air by a single Ukrainian city, Zaporizhzhya, equals about one-third of total U.S. emissions. Ukrainian waterways, its rivers and seas, are in desperate trouble.