Minister of Industry Össur Skarphédinsson said at the Althingi (parliament) yesterday that experimental drilling in the geothermal area in northeast Iceland for the planned Alcoa aluminum smelter at Bakki near Húsavík should begin despite environmental assessment. Minister of the Environment Thórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir previously stated that Alcoa’s planned smelter at Bakki and the geothermal drilling that would power it need to be assessed as a whole. That may delay construction of the smelter. All of this is being discussed while there is already test drilling going on in Krafla ant Þeistareykir, which is proving highly destructive, as Saving Iceland reported earlier.That statement is at odds with what Minister of the Environment Thórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir had concluded, that the entire Bakki power plant and smelter project should undergo a joint environmental impact assessment before further operations were undertaken, which would probably delay the project by one year, Fréttabladid reports.
“I do not see any laws against experimental drilling -which people say are bound to be postponed- taking their usual course despite an overall environmental impact assessment,” says Skarphédinsson in Frettabladid.
“An overall assessment will take place as well, but part of that is researching the area and estimating the possibilities at hand,” Skarphédinsson said.”An overall assessment will take place as well, but part of that is researching the area and estimating the possibilities at hand,” Skarphédinsson said.
Skarphédinsson restated his opinion that it is logical for experimental drilling for geothermal energy to begin before the environmental impact assessment is completed in fall 2009 because such drilling will reveal how much geothermal energy is available in northeast Iceland.
In reality a large amount of damage is done by test drilling, where a vast number of boreholes are created, for which the ground needs to be levelled and roads constructed. After the test drilling is already done, building a power plant and laying pipes in the area will not be of that much further impact as the damage is already done. This makes the test drilling highly controversial. Also unexpected results occur, such as the large sulphur-arsenic lagoon at Þeistareykir.