To add to that, environmental opposition to a Soviet mining project was actually a key trigger for the Baltic independence movement (hence, in part, the dissolution of the USSR),

- "The Phosphorite War (Estonian: Fosforiidisõda) is the name given to a late-1980s environmental campaign in the then-Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, against the opening of large phosphorite mines in the Virumaa region[...] In Estonia it is regarded as a catalyst that led to the destabilization and dissolution of the Soviet government in Estonia.[3]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorite_War

(I'm surprised this has never appeared on HN before in any context,

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Fosforiidisõda&type=comment

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=phosphorite%20war&type=comment