Saving Iceland

Updated 1 October 2007

Icelandic geologists have now confirmed that the earthquakes at Upptyppingar were caused by the inundation of Halslon at Karahnjukar. Now that the inundation of the Karahnjukar area is completed the earthquakes have subsided, but only for the time being. The water levels of Halslon will be constantly fluctuating while the reservoir is operational.

This proves that the warnings of geologists like Grimur Bjornsson and Gudmundur Sigvaldason were very valid. The Kárahnjúkar dams are situated on a cluster of active geological fissures. The government withheld geological reports from parliament when voting on the dams took place.
The suppression of these reports, the official gagging order placed on Grimur Bjornsson and the general defamation that the concerned scientists experienced from government ministers, power companies and other State institutions was criminal. Those responsible should be made to answer for this.
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ALCOAs web in the northeast. Click for larger.

Just some of the important issues that are missing from the IR report below are for example the large scale destruction of all the geothermal areas in the northeast and the incredible net of electric pylons that the project entails. It should also be noted that once the smelters are built demands for enlargements always surface. The smelter capacity usually aimed for by aluminium companies is around 500.000 tonns. Once ALCOA have exhausted the geothermal energy of the northeast they will be going for the remaining glacial rivers of all of the north of Iceland. For more information see: A letter to ALCOA from Dr. Ragnhildur Sigurdardóttir and Gudmundur Páll Ólafsson
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30th August 2007
From Mines and Communities

The world’s second-highest capitalised mining company has made a giant leap forward (some might think, backwards [sic]) by agreeing a friendly acquisition of Alcan, Canada’s premier integrated aluminium producer. Only an extraordinary shareholders meeting, scheduled for September 14th, stands in the company’s way of becoming the world’s major player in this field: the outcome is virtually certain.

Underwriting the deal’s syndicated US40 billion loan – claimed by Rio Tinto as the largest ever raised in the UK and fourth biggest in the world – are three major investment banks, RBS (UK), Deutsche Bank (Germany) and Credit Suisse (Switzerland). Read More

The 12th of September has been called as a day of international action against heavy industry.

In the 2007 Saving Iceland protest camp, people from five continents explored the similarities between their fights against common enemies, in particular the aluminium industry, and were empowered by the enormous strength of the global movement they were creating. From there, this global day of action was decided upon.

We call on activists from all over the world to join in with creating a locally based yet global movement for planet and people that kicks heavy industrial corporate greed off this earth! Read More

Saving Iceland
27 July 2007

Today we wrapped our protest camp at Bringur, Mosfellsheidi, but we are not through with this summers actions.

This means that if you are planning to join us in our fight against heavy industry in Iceland you are not too late. We have plenty of energy left and loads of targets to protest at.

Write to us at savingiceland@riseup.net if you want to find us.

Trouw (daily), Netherlands, 21 January 2007

Large dams have dramatic consequences. Ecosystems are destroyed and numerous people are made homeless, often without adequate resettlement. But it is yet little known that large-scale hydro-electricity is a major contributor to global warming. The reservoirs could, despite their clean image, be even more devastating for our climate than fossil fuel plants.

A few years ago, I spent a month in the valley of the Narmada River, to support tribal activists who have been resisting the Sardar Sarovar dam in central India for decades. These indigenous inhabitants, or adivasis, are desperate. In their struggle, inspired by Gandhi, they attempt to drown themselves when their villages are flooded. Death seems preferable to being forced to move from their valley to tin houses on infertile, barren soil. If they’re lucky, they can live on land that nobody else wants, the only available in the densely populated India. This forced resettlement, made necessary by ´progress´, is not unsimilar to what befell American Indians or the Aborigines in Australia. The consequences of mega hydro: cultures die and alcoholism, depression and violence remains. Read More

The local council in the westfjords yesterday gave their permission to build an oil refinery in the area, to “save the community from disintegrating since people are moving away.” They hope that a factory like this would interest young people in moving back to the area.
The likeliest place for the refinery would be Arnarfjordur, a place of tremendous beauty as most places in the westfjords are.
Scientists have pointed out that oceanic iceblocks may make the sailing route to the area unsafe for bigger ships. Also, a refinery of this size would pump one million tons of C02 into the atmosphere per year, which more than exhausts Iceland´s quota according to the Kyoto agreement.
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“The hurt many of us feel towards the developments in eastern Iceland is so great that we will never accept another aluminum smelter to be built in Iceland. We would not be surprised if the environmental NGO’s and grass root organizations would consider the proposed developments in Northern Iceland to be a serious provocation on the behalf of Alcoa.”
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Rio targets being top player in aluminium
By Nigel Wilson

August 08, 2007 06:00am
Article from: The Australian

RIO TINTO aims to be the world’s biggest aluminium producer – with the help of some of the world’s cheapest energy – before the end of the decade.

Rio Tinto Aluminium chief executive Oscar Groeneveld said yesterday that the possibility of a new aluminium smelter in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, coupled with closer links with Abu Dhabi once the Rio Tinto/Alcan merger was completed, would create a leading world player in the aluminium business. Read More

What this news item fails to mention is that the majority of the Icelandic reindeer population live in the highlands around Karahnjukar. A third of the population calve in the “protected” area of Kringilsarrani, now devastated by the Halslon reservoir.

Iceland Review
7 August 2007

Two reindeer, a female and her offspring, have been spotted in Arnarvatnsheidi in west of Iceland this summer.

The Icelandic reindeer population is confined to the east part of the country so this unusual sighting has generated speculation as to whether the animals are migrating westwards. That might increase the risk of animal diseases being transmitted between the different regions of Iceland.

In an interview with the national radio RÚV, Halldór Runólfsson, Chief Veterinary Officer, expressed his worries over such a migration but doubted that these two reindeer were indicative of that. Therefore he didn’t think it was necessary to kill these two far-traveled animals.