Saving Iceland

Of course the governmental opposition parties and their usual gang of industrial lobbyists are furious over the ruling, and critisice it heavily, displaying reactions the environmental minister described as being similar to allergic reactions. Amongst other things they accuse her of hindering those who are trying to build up work in the energy and industry sectors and blocking the creation of new jobs in a country they claim is ravaged by unemployment (approximately 8,6% at last count).

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In September 2009, the Ministry of Environment overruled the Planning Agency’s verdic which stated that no joint Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is needed for the S-West Power Grid and the industry that it’s going to be providing for. The case was sent back to the Planning Agency for a more substansial treatment.

This ruling caused uproar amongst pro-indistrialists, who went so far as to claiming that Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the minister of environment, was guilty of both treason and terrorism against the people og Reykjanes, especially all the unemployed. All the medias jumped on the wagon with the industrialists, citing union bosses worrying about the unemployment rate, economists painting a bleak picture of a bankrupt future and interviews with unemplyed people worrying about their mortages. And all of it was Svandís’s fault.

Yesterday the Ministry of Environment confirmed the Planning Agency’s second verdict. The verdict’s the same, no joint EIA is needed for the projects on the SW peninsular. This means that all the balls are in the industrialists court now and the media is backing them up with quotes and interviews with indistrial workers and union bosses dreaming of a better future now that the way has been paved for projects like the enlargement of the Reykjanes Power Plant, Bitra Power Plant, Hverahlíða Power Plant, various data storages and an aluminium smelter and a silicon factory in Helguvík.

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The professional environmental saboteur, Friðrik Sophusson, former president of Landsvirkjun (Icelandic National Energy Company) and before that the financial minister under the Independent Party’s reign of terror, has now become head of the board of directors of Íslandsbanki, one of the government owned banks since the collapse of the bank system in 2008. The bank is now mostly in the hands of it’s creditors and the board of directors, which has been expanded to 7 members, are now mostly foreign experts in the financial sector.

Íslandsbanki also owns majority in the geothermal energy company Geysir Green Energy and controls all of it’s board members. Geysir Green Energy, in return, owns a majority stake in HS Orka (Southern Peninsula Geothermal Energy Company), or 57,4% stock after acquiring 34% stock from the municipality of Reykjanes Town and selling 8,6% to the Canadian Magma Energy Corp.

So Sophussons years in meddling with Icelands resources and energy companies are obviously far from over, and now he’s got his dirty fingers down in the money jar as well, where he can apply the needed pressure on these companies, owned by his bank, to further his dream of a totally harnessed Iceland.

Al Jazeera has obtained the first footage of a massive bauxite mining project in central Vietnam which has created one of the biggest civil protest movements the country has ever seen. Vietnamese media have been banned from reporting on the proposed mine, which critics say will create major environmental damage, for little economic benefit.

Vietnam holds the third largest bauxite reserves worldwide and is increasingly subject to China’s growing desire for natural resources through its controlling diplomatic relationship with Vietnam. The $460 million project, which has already begun, is being carried out by Chinalco, a chinese aluminium company who own 10% shares in Rio Tinto, and Vinacomin, the Vietnamese partner.

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As Greenland awakes from over 700 years of colonisation and heavy subsidisation by Denmark, it’s home rule government are promoting the development of huge hydro-power for aluminium smelters, and all the country’s other mineral and energy resources as a desperate measure to sustain their economy. The language of fear and imminent economic collapse used in the Prime Minister’s plan (below) is strongly reminiscent of the pro heavy-industry strategy in Iceland in the run up to the Kárahnjúkar dam, and right up to today.

‘We have before us a wonderful opportunity to deliver mutual benefit to the people of Greenland and to Alcoa as we continue to work toward our common objective of building a world-class, sustainable aluminum smelter, powered by renewable hydroelectric energy in Greenland.’

Early in the morning of Wednesday the 16th of december the Icelandic embassy in Copenhagen was attacked. A security camera was disabled with spray paint, the Icelandic coat of arms was defaced in the same way, green paint was splashed on the front of the house and on the front door, in large letters, “Green energy – pure lies” and “Nature Killers” was sprayed amongst other thing’s.

The Icelandic government boasts of it’s prowess in the production of “green” energy but there is no such thing as green energy, especially if it is then used for heavy industry. “Green” energy production is just as destructive to our environment as other energy production, the effects are just better hidden. The earth’s ecosystems are suffering because of mankinds actions, this must end.

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Orkuveita Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík Energy Company) has lowered the value of a deed issued when Magma Energy bought the companies stocks in H.S. Orka (geothermal energy company). In a statement from OR it states that a lovering of the deed values was made to be in unison with international acounting standards.

Sigrún Elsa Smáradóttir, representative of the Social Democratic Union party in the board of OR announced that the estimated loss because of the stock trade is going to be 4 billion ISKR. There’s reason to believe that the value of the deeds Magma issued is overestimated as well, which will see even further loss come from the sale.

There was huge opposition against the sale from the start and the at the City Council meeting where the voting for the sale took place about 100 people demonstrated and shouted in protest from the balconies. Read more about this here and here.

The majority of the City Council spoke strongly for the sale and the profits that it would reap them, claiming the value to become 6.31 a stock. But the miniorities overlooked critique of the ridiculous loaning agreement has already proven to be true. The 3rd quarter accounts prove this and show that the stock value has fallen to 5.4.

Last Saturday, November 21st, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland’s prime minister and the head of Samfylkingin (social democratic populist party), said that she is completely sure that all hindrances that could possibly stand in the way of the construction of Suðvesturlína (electricity lines) will be removed as soon as possible. Suðvesturlína is supposed to transport energy from the Hellisheiði geothermal powerplant (south of Reykjavík) and other energy sources to the Reykjanes peninsula, e.g. to run Century Aluminum’s new 360 ton smelter, which is currently being built in Helguvík.

At the same opportunity, Sigurðardóttir announced her hopes for that Landsvirkjun (Iceland’s national energy company) could start construction of Búðarhálsvirkjun hydro-dam in Tungná river, early next spring. The energy from there is supposed to run increased aluminium production in Rio Tinto-Alcan’s smelter in Hafnarfjörður. Sigurðardóttir said that employment affairs must be the biggest issue for social democtrats in the upcoming regional elections that will take place in the spring of 2010. She raised her voice for the necessity of increased development with the help of “eco-friendly” energy sources.

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Welcome to SavingIceland.org! If you are new to our site you can begin with having a quick look at the About Us section and then read the S.O.S. and the  Saving Iceland Mobilisation Call-Out. Iceland Under Threat shows the wilderness we need to protect and the corporations bent on ruining it. Make sure to enjoy our video and photo galleries, our in-depth magazine Voices of the Wilderness and follow our Twitter feed to keep up to date. And last but not least get some answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

The damning verdict came after a nine month investigation into a complaint submitted by Survival International against Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mine on the Dongria Kondh’s sacred mountain. The complaint, upheld by the government, was brought under the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises – the key principles for ethical corporate behaviour.

In an unprecedented attack on a major British company, the government ruled that Vedanta, ‘did not respect the rights of the Dongria Kondh’; ‘did not consider the impact of the construction of the mine on the [tribe’s] rights’; and ‘failed to put in place an adequate and timely consultation mechanism’. Devastatingly, it concluded, ‘A change in the company’s behaviour’ is ‘essential’.

Astonishingly, despite repeated requests from the UK government, the company ‘failed to provide any evidence during the examination’. This is the only time a company has refused to participate in an OECD investigation.
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