Slantsy is a town and the administrative center of Slantsevsky District

Slantsevsky District

Slantsevsky District is an administrative district , one of the 17 in Leningrad Oblast, Russia....

 of Leningrad Oblast

Leningrad Oblast

Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on August 1, 1927, although it was not until 1946 that the oblast's borders had been mostly settled in their present position...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, situated on the Plyussa River

Plyussa River

The Plyussa , is a river in Pskov Oblast and Leningrad Oblast of Russia, a right tributary of the Narva. It joins the Narva at the southern bay of the Narva Reservoir...

, 192 kilometres (119.3 mi) west of St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. Population: .

The creation of a settlement was proposed in 1930 by Sergey Kirov

Sergey Kirov

Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...

; construction began in 1932. The main street was named after Kirov. Official town status was granted in 1949.

The town's name is the Russian word for shale

Oil shale

Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...

. The town was largely sustained by shale mining, as depicted on its coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, and the resulting fuel

Shale gas

Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in the rest of the world...

 was used to light the streets of St. Petersburg in the 19th century. The mines are now largely closed due to decrease in local demand and disagreements over contracts with nearby Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

. This has resulted in large-scale local unemployment. Furthermore, the disused mines present a serious ecological

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

threat to water supplies in the region.