Saving Iceland

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.

The Sidney Morning Herald
August 6, 2007

US environmental campaigner Erin Brockovich has joined West Australian residents to examine the merits of a court case against mining giant Alcoa.

About 160 Yarloop residents have complained of respiratory problems, skin irritation, sore throats and eyes, extreme fatigue, mental dysfunction, stomach upset, blood noses, cancers and organ failure in the last 11 years.

They claim emissions from Alcoa’s Wagerup refinery are causing the ill effects. Read More

START ART – Laugavegi 12b, Reykjavik

Over a dozen major Icelandic artists have donated their work for an exhibition and auction in Start Art, Artists House in support of this weekend’s Saving Iceland conference.
The exhibition is open 3-5 July at 3pm-7pm, both days, and concludes with an auction of the artworks on Thursday 5 July at 5pm. The works and the artists will be introduced an hour before the bidding begins. Birna Þórðardóttir will act as auctioneer.

The following artists have donated their works:

Áslaug Thorlacius, Birgir Andrésson, Eggert Pétursson, Erling Klingenberg, Eygló Harðardóttir, Gaga Skorrdal, Haraldur Jónsson, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Kristinn G. Harðarson, Kristinn E. Hrafnsson, Kristín Reynisdóttir, Magdalena Kjartansdóttir, Magnús Pálsson, Ólafur Lárusson, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, Sigrid Valtingojer og Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir.

This is a golden opportunity to acquire a beautiful work of art at the same time that you can support a democratic debate about an issue that concerns all of us – children of Earth.

Iceland Review
31 July 2007

Icelandic investment company Geysir Green Energy has acquired one fifth of the shares in the Canadian geothermal company Western GeoPower Corporation. Geysir Green Energy, which specializes in investments in the geothermal energy sector, paid ISK 600 million (USD 9.79 million) for the 40 million shares it bought.

Ásgeir Margeirsson, CEO of Geysir Green Energy, will become a member of the board of WGP. In an interview with Fréttabladid daily, he declared that the acquisition was a part of Geysir’s strategy to become an influential player in the American energy sector. WGP is constructing a geothermal plant in Sonoma County in California. The capital that Geysir has provided will be used to complete the construction.

Geysir Green Energy is owned by FL Group, Glitnir Bank and VGK-Hönnun. It is the biggest shareholder in the energy company Enex which has also undertaken projects in the US. “Therefore, we have a twofold connection to the US energy market,” says Margeirsson.

31 July 2007

Twenty three year old British Saving Iceland activist Miriam R. has been arrested by the Icelandic police. She was protesting against the Icelandic government’s support for heavy industry, in particular Rio Tinto Alcan’s Straumsvik smelter in South-West Iceland. Reports suggest she is still being held by the police. (1)

Dr. Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker, said: “Although Rio Tinto have been making the headlines for their recent purchase of the Canadian aluminium group Alcan for 38.1bn dollars (18.7bn pounds), it is the environmental degradation and damage that goes hand in hand with most of their projects that should be drawing the spotlight.

“Iceland is the largest remaining wilderness in Europe. Activists such as Mirian R., most of whom belong to the Saving Iceland campaign group, are protesting against plans to turn it into the heavy industry capital of Europe – with companies such as Rio Tinto reaping in the profits. Read More

7 August 2007

Today lovers of nature almost danced on the graves of ALCOA, ALCAN, Century and Elkem when a mysterious power “thump” in the national grid managed to knock out power to all their factories!

At around 3pm today a power surge which originated from around the Hvalfjordur region (where Century and Elkem run their aluminium-cancer and alloys factories), created such a surge that all power to the west, north and east of Iceland was brought down, even Reykjavik’s for a split second. Energy was not restored to the heavy industry factories for a number of hours. Unfortunately, whilst we were counting the minutes these factories were offline, we are told that the pots of molten aluminium did not cool down enough to destroy them entirely.
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30 July 2007

The Earth Liberation Front sent Saving Iceland the following statement:

“In the early hours of 30/07/07, saboteurs struck at Smurfit Kappa, a plastics factory owned by Rio Tinto Alcan in Chelmsford, Essex. The gates were locked shut, office doors and loading bays were sabotaged with glue and a message left painted on the wall. Vehicles belonging to Rio Tinto were also sabotaged…”
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