The plant has provided steady employment for most of the area's families since that time, but at enormous cost to both the health of the residents and the local environment.

The residents suffer from many health problems, including an inordinately high rate of cancer, and the soil has become heavily contaminated with lead-related by-products.

The Blacksmith Institute consequently declared Rudnaya Pristan, along with Dalnegorsk, one of the ten worst polluted places on earth,[6] although Anatoly Lebedev, leader of the ecological NGO BROK, disputes this inclusion.

[7] Despite its coastal location, Rudnaya Pristan's harbor has remained largely undeveloped, and its climate is harsh, dominated in winter by the vast Siberian high-pressure system and in summer by remnants of the East Asian monsoon.

This combination results in very cold, dry winters with generally high winds, and muggy summers that provide ideal conditions for the breeding of mosquitoes.