Saving Iceland

Mines Minerals and PEOPLE Excellent news section.

Photos from everyday life and resistance in Kashipur

www.kashipur.info

Geothermal waterfall at Klambragil in Reykjadal, Hengill area

Saving Iceland
8 November 2007

A new national record in criticizing a power plant has been set.

Following negative reports from environmental engineers, objections to the Bitru and Hverahlíð geothermal power plant expansion have grown to over 678. Residents, scientists and town authorities are concerned with how close the power plant is planned to be to the town of Hveragerði. They are also afraid that it will harm future tourism, and obstruct land for outdoor activities. Read More

photo by Tom Olliver

Saving Iceland
7 November 2007

Only two days after the glorious inauguration of the turbines at Kárahnjúkar dam, further structural problems are already emerging.

Icelandic paper Morgunbladid revealed today that severe leakages in the tunnels leading to the turbines are releasing 200 litres of water per second onto the ground surface, forming a swamp currently about a third of a hectare in size. When asked to comment on the situation, Kárahnjúkarvirkjun spokesperson Sigurdur Arnalds said the water loss was of no consequence.

Regardless of whether or not we should believe Arnalds, the revelation that tunnel water is reaching the ground water breaches one of Siv Fridleifsdottir’s [ex-Minister of Environment who pushed through the project] fundamental stipulations (no. 14):
That Kárahnjúkarvirkjun should NOT interfere with ground water levels. Read More

 

At Saving Iceland we are very aware that our presence in Iceland is surrounded by mystery, rumours, spectacle and a general otherness. We feel like we are as weird and wonderful as anyone else but we recognise that being interpreted by the TV and bloggers means that we can seem quite strange.

For this reason we decided to hold monthly old fashioned coffee evenings in Reykjavik where you can meet some of us, meet each other, meet other people who have opinions about dam, aluminium, heavy industry, etc. Read More

Dettifoss

In an interview on the radio program ‘Spegillinn’ on 23 October geophysicist Páll Einarsson said that an eruption in Upptyppingar would probably disrupt the flow of the immense glacial river Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Upptyppingar volcano lies on the bank of Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Einarsson said that the first effects of the eruption would be that the river would evaporate from the heat of the lava. Running lava would block the course of the river so that when the river would materialize again it would collect in a lake that would then overflow with unknown consequences.

This flood could pose a great danger to the surrounding farming communities and hikers, who will be almost untraceable in the great wilderness. Eight hours notice would not be enough time to warn people and secure the wilderness say rescue services.

So, it turns out that the Kárahnjukar project, which so far has entailed the complete destruction of two of Iceland’s major glacial rivers, Jökulá á Brú and Jökulsá á Fljótsdal, just to run an aluminium smelter owned by arms manufacturer ALCOA, is in fact likely to destroy the third major glacial river, the magnificent Jökulsá á Fjöllum.

Members of parliament have repeatedly claimed that they wanted to protect the whole of Jökulsá á Fjöllum, even ALCOA have paid lip service to the proposal.

Jökulsá á Fjöllum hosts Europe’s most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss. The river runs through the protected canyon of Jökulsárgljúfur National Park and past the magical area of Hljóðaklettar, much loved by tourists. All this is now threatened by the man-made eruption.

Some would say that this is vandalism of catastrophic proportions.

See also: >Imminent Man-Made Volcanic Eruption Courtesy of ALCOA and Icelandic Government

Saving Iceland
17 October 2007

The Directorate of Immigration has decided that they will not grant the request of the Icelandic police and deport SI activist Miriam Rose.

The Directorate confirmed this tonight speaking to the Icelandic National TV news program Kastljos.

So far we are not aware of any legal reasoning for the decision. But it was clear already some time ago that the police had lost the propaganda war almost from the beginning. The “…serious threat to the fundamental values of society” claim, in the letter requesting that Miriam Rose was to be deported, was for example something that the Icelandic public was just not going to swallow so easily. Instead the deportation request caused great alarm with the public about the state of civil rights and democracy in Icelandic society, not without reason.

It has not passed unnoticed here in Iceland that even if the police are used to getting away with all sorts of power abuse most of the time, they have frequently got so carried away in the heat of the moment that they have repeatedly shot themselves badly in the foot. This website has reported a considerable number of such instances when it comes to SI protests.

Now that the police have finally exhausted the bogus threat of deporting environmental protesters they should maybe pause for some reflection.

Instead of constantly making fools of themselves with thuggish persecution and illconceived plots, perhaps the time has come that they do something sensible for a change. Like turning their attention to the corruption that is ripe in the Icelandic energy companies and not least the multinational corporate criminals they have tried so hard to protect from legitimate protest.

Miriam Rose is a co-author of ‘Aluminium Tyrants’, an article published this month in The Ecologist. /?p=1021

The decision of the DI finally spurred the Kastljos editors to transmit an interview they recorded three weeks ago with Miriam Rose. This had obviously been kept off the air in order not to further Miriam’s cause:
http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/sjonvarpid/?file=4365527/3

About the deportation case(s) see also:

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Saturday March 3, 2007
The Guardian Unlimited
John Vidal, environment editor

Carbon dioxide emissions from ships do not come under the Kyoto agreement or any proposed European legislation and few studies have been made of them, even though they are set to increase.
Aviation carbon dioxide emissions, estimated to be about 2% of the global total, have been at the forefront of the climate change debate because of the sharp increase in cheap flights, whereas shipping emissions have risen nearly as fast in the past 20 years but have been ignored by governments and environmental groups. Shipping is responsible for transporting 90% of world trade which has doubled in 25 years. Read More

ShiftShapers
Guerilla News Network
13 Aug 2006

An International Action Camp in Iceland’s Eastern Highlands against the destruction of this last great European wilderness for a series of giant hydro-power dams for the aluminium industry has been ongoing since 21st July.

I just got back from Iceland yesterday. Here is the latest news as i understand it…
Read More

Iceland Review
10/05/2007

Reykjavík City Council Quarrels about REI-GGE Merger

Members within the Independence Party of Reykjavík City Council are in a hefty debate about the merger between Reykjavík Energy Invest and Geysir Green Energy, announced Wednesday. Reykjavík City holds a share in REI.

REI was founded in March as the daughter company of Reykjavík Energy (OR) and the board of OR and their shareholders agreed on the merger at a meeting on Wednesday, ruv.is reports.

During the meeting it became evident that the attendees had very different opinions on the role and policy of OR and whether OR, a public company, should participate in such risky private business investments, which is where REI seems to be headed.

Some of the Independence Party members who hold a seat in the City Council said the merger happened too quickly and that their opinions, as representatives voted by Reykjavík residents to protect the city’s interests, had been ignored.

Independence Party council members approached by ruv.is would not comment on the record. One member, Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, only said the case was “sensitive” and that he needed to discuss it further with his colleagues before making any comments.

According to ruv.is, the merger will have certain consequences for the OR board—city councilmen who have a seat there may have to leave the board, including Reykjavík Mayor Vilhjálmur Th. Vilhjálmsson.

Following the debate, Vilhjálmsson requested last night that Bjarni Ármannsson, chairman of REI’s board, allow all OR employees to have the same preemptive rights to purchase shares in REI after the merger, Fréttabladid reports.

Gudmundur Thóroddsson, who is on leave from his position as OR’s CEO and the CEO of REI, was permitted to purchase shares with a par value of ISK 23 million (USD 373,000, EUR 264,000) at the currency rate of 1.3.

Three geologists, two engineers and one economist were permitted to purchase shares with a par value of 7.8 million (USD 127,000, EUR 90,000) at the 1.3 currency rate, but other OR employees were only allowed to purchase shares with a par value of up to ISK 300,000 (USD 4,900, EUR 3,400).

Ármannsson said REI’s board would review the mayor’s request.

Iceland Review
10/04/2007

REI and GGE to Merge and Become Energy Giant

Reykjavík Energy Invest (REI) and Geysir Green Energy (GGE) announced at a press conference yesterday that the companies would merge under the REI name. After the merger, the company will be worth ISK 65 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 748 million).

“The merger is a way to achieve rapid growth. Size matters, because the companies we will compete with and be in competition with are huge energy companies,” Hannes Smárason, chairman of GGE’s board and CEO of FL Group, told Morgunbladid.

“With an increase in size we will have a larger say as well as access to more funding and thus take on larger projects, which are the most profitable and exciting projects in this business,” Smárason added.

“I am convinced that a merger will bring many opportunities and that there is a bright future ahead,” said Bjarni Ármannsson, who will serve as chairman of the new company’s board.

“But it depends of course on who is holding the cards. It is the responsibility of those in charge to create value. It is far from being within reach, but one could say that time is on our side and the wind is at our backs,” Ármannsson concluded.

Smárason and Ármannsson will introduce the merger at an FL Group investor meeting in London today.

See also:

Geysir Green Energy acquires shares in WGP
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Are ALCOA to be given Landsvirkjun on a silver plate?
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2 October 2007

Protest Outside Iceland’s London Embassy

Today a protest against Iceland’s current persecution of environmental activists was held outside London’s Icelandic Embassy in Sloane Square. The protestors handed in a letter [below] to Sverrir Haukur Gunnlaugsson, Iceland’s ambassador to the UK, which condemns Iceland’s current attempt to deport Miriam Rose, a British citizen. They held a banner which read: Iceland: Police State. Read More