Saving Iceland

Brazilian environmental activists are charging that Brazilian environmental authorities and an Alcoa lead consortium planning construction of Barra Grande dam conspired to commit fraud in the awarding of an environmental license for the project. Members of Brazil’s Movement of Dam-Affected People (MAB) and environmentalists blockaded the access road to a stand of virgin forest slated for clearing before the filling of the reservoir. In all, 6,000 hectares of primary forests, including araucaria pines, in one of the richest remaining expanses of the threatened Atlantic Coast rainforest, would be flooded by the dam on the Pelotas river in Southern Brazil. A 2,000 hectare stand of virgin araucaria forests was somehow “omitted” in the project’s environmental studies. Local groups have filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to annul the license awarded to Barra Grande, to require the consortium to carry out new studies evaluating the possibility of operating the reservoir at a lower level to avoid drowning the araucaria forests, and if this is deemed impossible, to order the demolition of the dam structure. Heavily-armed riot police have reportedly been sent to the area to disperse protestors. The consortium building Barra Grande includes the Pittsburgh-based Alcoa aluminum company (which contains Kathy Fuller, President of WWF-USA as a Board Member), MAB leader Soli da Silva says the mobilization will continue indefinitely. “We cannot permit that fraud and a ‘done deal’ become the rule on environmental licensing for hydroelectric projects in our country.” Please support these brave environmentalists at http://forests.org/action/brazil/ .
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Over a dozen protesters of the Reydarfjördur aluminum smelter in east Iceland entered the building site this morning, and two of those have climbed 70-meter high building cranes, on which they have attached banners with slogans. The banner reads “ILLEGAL WORKSITE (ÓLÖGLEGT VINNUSVÆÐI) – referring to the judgment of the Icelandic High Court which was still valid at the time of the action. RUV (Icelandic National Broadcast Service) reported that the banner read ‘Illegal Action’. Some would say there was quite a difference there. This was never corrected in spite of promises to do so. How convenient for ALCOA…

 

Montreal Mirror
Nov 20-26.2003
Vol. 19 No. 23

Impoverished Indians fight ALCAN’s bid to open a mine in their backyard. Since this article was written the repression has been stepped up.
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by Sujatha Fernandes, CorpWatch September 6th, 2006

The roads that wander through the southwestern peninsula of Trinidad pass small fishing villages, mangrove swamps, and coconut plantations; they skirt herds of buffalypso and reveal sheltered beach coves. This February, Alcoa signed an agreement in principle with the Trinidad and Tobago Government that threatens to fundamentally alter this gentle landscape. Plans by the Pittsburgh-based manufacturing company to build a large aluminum smelter have sparked criticism from local residents and environmentalists. Read More

Alcoa claim that they are one of the most ethical corporations in the world. Really? Below is a message sent to us from our friends fighting Alcoa in Trinidad and Tobago”, where Alcoa wishes to cut down pristine rainforests and displace houndreds of people in order to mine the bauxite (aluminium ore) and build gas powered smelters. As in Iceland, there is a popular opposition to Alcoa in Trinidad and Tobago, yet the government welcomes Alcoa’s supposed ‘business.’  Read More

27/9/2006

A historical amount of Icelanders today marched in four different cities against the damming of Kárahnjúkar. Following a call from retiring television reporter and nature enthusiast Ómar Ragnarsson to march on the day before the dam is scheduled to be flooded, up to 15,000 people in total walked the streets in the Reykjavik, Akureyri, Egilsstaðir and Ísafjörður. ”

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One of Iceland’s best-known television and entertainment personalities, Ómar Ragnarsson, called a press conference yesterday to formally announce his opposition to the Kárahnjúkavirkjun dam project in east Iceland.

He also announced that he will be publishing an eight-page supplement to be distributed with Morgunbladid on Sunday, addressing with the dam project and environmental issues in general. This is reported in all the main media. Read More

The governing committee of the Left-Green party in Iceland has sent forth a resolution in which it voices grave concerns about the alleged harsh actions by police against protestors of the Kárahnjúkavirkjun dam project, travellers and nature lovers passing through the Kárahnjúkar area. The resolution reads: “The governing committee of the Left-Green party would like to reiterate that freedom of expression and opinion are among the cornerstones of a just and democratic society. This includes the right to voice one’s opinion and to protest, if done in a peaceful and appropriate manner.

“The governing committee of the Left-Green party demands an immediate investigation into the conduct and alleged harshness of police that have included the unecessary and even illegal blocking of people’s movement through the highlands. An investigation must also be conducted into the enduring rumor that police has undertaken extensive unwarranted and unauthorized collection of personal data, filmed individuals, and taken other actions that violate the sanctity of personal freedom and movement. The description that have appeared in the media by people on site of harsh treatment by police fully warrant an immediate and objective investigation. … Should it transpire that police have gone too far, or are guilty of illegal activities, actions must immediately be taken so that this does not happen again, and those responsible must be judged in a court of law.” Read More

Former Minister of Commerce and Industry Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir refused to meet Left-Green Party leader Steingrímur J. Sigfússon on the Kastljós news program on Wednesday evening, to discuss why she had failed to disclose details of a report concerning the Kárahnjúkavirkjun dam project to parliament. This was revealed in a letter by the director of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation (RÚV), which broadcasts the program. Previously Sigfússon had publicly criticized the fact. Read More

Árni Finnsson, chairman of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association, accuses former Minister of Industry and Commerce Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir of corruption, for failing to reveal details of a report showing that the area on which the Kárahnjúkavirkjun dam is being built has active faults in the earth. This was reported by all the main media this weekend and is reported by RÚV online today.

Geophysicist Grímur Björnsson recently revealed on television news programme Kastljós that a report he had prepared, criticizing the placement of the Kárahnjúkar dam, had been stamped as confidential by his superior at the time. Minister of Industry Sverrisdóttir had subsequently failed to reveal the details of the report to parliament, as she was obliged to do.

Sverrisdóttir rejects all accusations, claiming the current controversy is a last-ditch effort on behalf of the opposition to delay the flooding of the Hálsalón reservoir. The flooding of the reservoir, which is set to take place at the end of September, will submerge a large section of the Icelandic highlands. Read More