"The Yamal Peninsula holds what may be the largest natural gas reserves in the world—about 300 trillion cubic feet [8.5 million cubic meters]. (United States reserves are estimated at just over half that.) Working out of Bovanenkovo and other settlements, more than a thousand shift workers are laying the groundwork of a new industry: the towering derricks of exploratory wells, clusters of prefabricated buildings, roads crisscrossing the snowy landscape, and a railroad. "Large-scale production is expected to begin early in [the 21st] century, and some Nenets [people] worry that they'll be left with a despoiled tundra, shrunken grazing lands, and a minimal share of the huge profits expected from gas production."
(Text from "Nenets: Surviving on the Siberian Tundra," March 1998, National Geographic magazine)
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Nenets: Surviving on the Siberian Tundra," March 1998, National Geographic magazine)
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