By Miriam Rose

The economic issues currently causing mass demonstrations in Iceland have a less publicised ecological cousin, and one which the IMF has recently identified as part of the economic collapse. In 1995 the Ministry of Industry and Landsvirkjun, the national power company, began to advertise Iceland’s huge hydropower and geothermal energy potential. In a brochure titled “Lowest energy prices!!” they offered the cheapest, most hard working and healthiest labour force in the world, the cleanest air and purest water – as well as the cheapest energy and “a minimum of environmental red tape” to some of the world’s most well known polluting industries and corporations (such as Rio Tinto and Alcoa). This campaigning has led to the development of an ‘Energy Master Plan’ aimed at damming almost all of the major glacial rivers in Iceland, and exploiting all of the geothermal energy, for the power intensive aluminium industry. The loans taken by the Icelandic state to build large scale energy projects, and the minimal payback they have received from the industry, has been a considerable contributing factor to the economic crisis, while at the same time creating a European ecological crisis that is little heard of.

The Largest Wilderness in Europe
I first visited Iceland in 2006 and spent a week with activists from the environmental campaign Saving Iceland, a network of individuals from around Europe and Iceland who decry the fragmentation of Europe’s largest wilderness in favour of heavy industry. From these informed and passionate folk I learned of the 690 MW Kárahnjúkar dam complex being built in the untouched Eastern Central Highlands to power one Alcoa aluminium smelter in a small fishing village called Reydarfjörður. The dams formed the largest hydro-power complex in Europe, and were set to drown 57 km² of beautiful and virtually unstudied wilderness, the most fertile area in the surrounding highlands. Ultimately it would affect 3% of Iceland’s landmass with soil erosion and river silt deprivation. They also explained how materials in the glacial silt transported to the oceans bonds with atmospheric CO₂, sinking carbon. The damming of Iceland’s glacial rivers not only decreases food supply for fish stocks in the North Atlantic, but also negatively impacts oceanic carbon absorption, a significant climatic effect. After taking part in demonstrations at the construction site of the Alcoa smelter (being built by famous Iraq war profiteers Bechtel), I went to see the area for myself.

Travelling alone on foot in this vast and threatening landscape was one of the most incredible and spiritual experiences of my life. I walked along the deep canyon of the crashing glacial river set to be dammed, as ravens soared above me and a sound like falling rocks echoed from distant mountains. I slept in grassy valleys and bathed in a warm waterfall which ran from a nearby hot spring as reindeer galloped in the distance. The midnight sun showed me the way to Snæfell mountain, from the top of which I could see from the Vatnajokull ice cap all the way to the dam construction site; across wetlands, black sand deserts and shadowy mountains. By the next year the dam’s reservoir would stretch across this whole area. I felt small and vulnerable and had a sense of the immense power of nature, and the even greater power of mankind to choose whether to preserve or to irreversibly destroy it.

Since then critiques of the completed Kárahnjúkar project have made it increasingly unpopular with the Icelandic public, who have become sceptical about the secretive nature of energy deals and the damage to nature. As a result, Landsvírkjun and the heavy industry lobby are now focussing on geothermal power which has a more benign reputation. Ultimately, it is proposed that all of the economically feasible hot spring areas in Iceland will be exploited for industrial use, including a number of sites located in Iceland’s central highlands, the beautiful heart of Iceland’s undisturbed wilderness. Landsvirkjun, without any irony, has termed Iceland ‘the Kuwait of the North’.

The following section challenges some of the myths about ‘green’ geothermal energy.

Renewable
Geothermal energy is created when boreholes are drilled into hot subsurface rock areas or aquifers, and turbines are powered by the emitted steam. They only have a sustainable production level if the surface discharge of heat is balanced by heat and fluid recharge within the reservoir (as occurs at undisturbed hot springs), but this is generally not sufficient for exploiting economically. The Geyser hot springs at Calistoga, USA experienced a 150% decrease in production over ten years, due to rapid exploitation to meet economic requirements, and there have been many similar cases. Geothermal boreholes in Iceland are usually modelled for only 30 years of productionⁱ.

Carbon-neutral
The concentration of carbon dioxide present in geothermal steam is a reflection of the chemical make up of the underground reservoir and is distinct to each area. The 400 MW of boreholes planned for another Alcoa smelter in the north of Iceland will release 1300 tonnes CO₂ per MWⁱⁱ. An average gas powered plant would produce only slightly more, 1595 tonne per MWⁱⁱⁱ. The total of 520,000 tonnes CO₂ for these fields alone is almost as much as what is produced by all of road transport in Iceland^iv.

Minimal environmental impact
Geothermal power accounts for 79% of Iceland’s H₂S and SO₂ emissions^v. In 2008, sulphur pollution from the Hellisheiði power station, 30 km away, was reported to be turning lamposts and jewelry in Reykjavík black, as a record number of objections was filed to two more large geothermal plants in the same area, which would have produced more sulphur and carbon emissions than the planned smelter they were supposed to power, and plans were put on hold.
Geothermal areas such as Hellisheiði are globally rare, very beautiful and scientifically interesting. Icelandic geothermal areas are characterised by colourful striking landscapes, hot springs, lavas and glaciers, and are biologically and geologically endemic to the country. Irreversible disturbance to these wild areas for power plants includes roads, powerlines, heavy lorries and loud drilling equipment.

Wishful green thinking?
In the desperate search for plausible alternatives to our fossil fuel economy, a number of well known British greens have been advocating a ‘European Grid’ energy future, in which Icelandic large scale hydro and geothermal power, and Saharan solar, are transferred by underwater cable to Britain and Europe^vi. It is quite understandable that such schemes look appealing, but it is also essential to have a realistic analysis of the impacts caused by these so-called sustainable technologies before we accept them as a panacea to our fossil fuel sickness.

The technological or pragmatic environmentalism in favour of super grids comes down to a proposal to sacrifice unique ecological areas for the greater good of living a resource-intensive life style ‘sustainably’. In contrast, for anyone who identifies with a natural area, it is easy to understand why it has a value of its own. This value can be seen as far greater than that of any of our possessions; it is in a sense, invaluable.

What can perhaps be concluded from this Icelandic green energy case study is that application of a technology that has been thought of as renewable, climate-friendly and low-impact, on the large scale that is associated with fossil fuels, makes it a lot like the technology it was supposed to replace. It has certainly been argued that technological systems tend to reproduce themselves independent of the specific technologies^{vii viii}. Simply applying a different technology to address issues that are not entirely technological, is not addressing the problem of our consumptive lifestyles. But it can irrevocably end the existence of a place that is not like any other.

References:

i E.g. VGK (2005), Environmental Impact Assesment for Helisheidarvirkjun [online]. URL http://www.vgk.is/hs/Skjol/UES/SH_matsskyrsla.pdf [Accessed August 15, 2007].
ii Sigurðardóttir, R. Unpublished. Energy good and green. In: Bæ bæ Ísland (bye bye Iceland), to be published by the University of Akureyri and Akureyri Art Museum.
The data in this study is arrived at by calculation of the figures in site surveys for the Krafla, Bjarnarflag and Þeistareykir geothermal plants.
Sigurðardóttir has experienced threats and harassment by Landsvirkjun, the national power company, since 2000. In that year, she concluded the formal environmental impact assessment for a proposed large dam, Þjórsárver, a Ramsar treaty area, by stating there were significant, irreversible environmental impacts. The national power company did not pay her and refused to publish the report. Since then Sigurðardóttir has been refused all Icelandic government commissions. Since then, practically all EIAs for geothermal and hydro plants and smelters have been commissioned to the companies HRV and VGK, construction engineers rather than ecological consultancies and “the leading project management and consulting engineering companies within the primary aluminum production sector” (HRV. 2008. Primary aluminium production [online]. URL http://www.hrv.is/hrv/Info/PrimaryAluminumProduction/ [Accessed 13-12-2008]).
iii US Govt. Energy Information Administration. 2008. Voluntary reporting of greenhouse gases program. [online]. URL http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/coefficients.html [Accessed 13-12-2008].
iv Ministry of the Environment, Iceland (2006). Iceland’s Fourth National Communication on Climate Change. http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/islnc4.pdf [Accessed August 15, 2007].
v Statistics Iceland. 2007. Emission of sulphur dioxides (SO2) by source 1990-2006 [online]. URL http://www.statice.is/Statistics/Geography-and-environment/Gas-emission [Accessed 12/12/2008]
vi E.g. Monbiot, G. (2008). Build a Europe-wide ‘super grid’ [online]. URL http://e-day.org.uk/solutions/charities/14536/george-monbiot–build-a-europewide-super-grid.thtml [Accessed 13-12-2008].
vii E.g. Mander, J. 1992. In the absence of the sacred. Sierra Club, San Francisco, CA.
viii Krater, J. 2007. Duurzame technologie, een contradictie? Buiten de Orde, zomer 2007.

Activists Attilah Springer (left) and Lerato Maria
Maregele (center). SI conference July ’07.

Mimi Sheller is a visiting associate professor in the sociology and anthropology department at Swarthmore College. She attended the Saving Iceland conference in 2007.

I grew up in an aluminum-sided suburban house. I carried a colorful aluminum lunchbox to school, with a sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil. Like everyone I know, I drink from aluminum cans, travel in cars, planes, and bikes full of aluminum parts, and cook in aluminum pots and pans. This versatile, ubiquitous material is all around us, all the time, but seems almost invisible because it has become, literally, part of the furniture (even the kitchen sink). The surprising story of this mercurial metallic fabric of everyday life – in our homes, skyscrapers, cars, airplanes, utensils, fasteners, cosmetics, space ships, and bombs – encapsulates the making of global modernity, the creation of multinational corporations, the rise of the U.S. as a world power, the modernization of warfare, and the invention of suburbia, science-fiction futurism, and the American Dream.

Aluminum is produced from an ore called bauxite, one of the major exports of three Caribbean countries – Suriname, Guyana, and Jamaica. As a sociologist of the Caribbean, my concerns over the environmental impacts of bauxite mining led me earlier this year to the glacier-encrusted volcanoes of Iceland – a striking island of black lava flows, sparkling ice-caps, and lush green summer pastures full of shaggy horses. In Reykjavik, I attended the conference Saving Iceland: Global Perspectives on Heavy Industry and Large Dams, and observed the direct action protests organized by the group Saving Iceland. With support from a Swarthmore Faculty research grant, I have now begun work on a new book called The Age of Aluminum, which will examine the untold epic story of this magical metal, how it transformed the 20th century, and continues to shape the world today.

In my work and in my courses like “Food, Bodies, and Power” and “Producing and Consuming the Caribbean,” I try to think about the ways in which our way of life is connected to people’s lives in poorer parts of the world and how our material goods depend on other people’s labor and struggles for freedom. The story of aluminum also turns out to be a global story about Third World development and national sovereignty, the unleashing and reining in of corporate power, the pollution of the earth, and the battle to save it. From the steaming tropics of Guinea, Guyana, and Orissa to the frozen highlands of Iceland and hot deserts of Australia, the industry stands accused of polluting air, displacing indigenous communities, flooding wilderness areas, and leaving toxic lakes of red bauxite mud. What price are we paying for the smelting of shining silvery aluminum from the earth’s russet rich ores? What price do we pay for the taken-for-granted conveniences of modern life?

My journey to Iceland was the beginning of a quest to understand pressing global questions concerning the ethics of patents, monopolies, and cartels; the power of big business; and the regulation of transnational corporations. I learned that one of the most compelling conflicts between economic development and wilderness preservation is presently taking place in the remote sub-arctic highlands of Iceland, considered one of the most unspoiled places in the developed world.

In 2004, the American corporation Alcoa broke ground on one of the world’s largest aluminum smelters just outside of the tiny former fishing village of Reydarfjördur (pop. 650) in Iceland’s remote East Fjords regions. Built by Bechtel for $1.25 billion dollars, it is a colossal industrial plant plunked down in an area with a total population of only 5,522 people, in a country of only 300,000 people spread over 39,800 square miles.

Aluminum has been dubbed “solidified electricity” because smelting demands so much power. The Icelandic government undertook construction of a $3 billion hydroelectric power plant in a remote upland region where two of the country’s most awesome rivers flow north from Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajokull. While largely uninhabitable by humans, this stunning region is the home of wild reindeer, nesting pink-footed geese, gyrfalcons, snowy owls and ptarmigan.

The controversial Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Project involved the rerouting of two glacial rivers through 45 miles of tunnels and a series of nine dams, the largest of which has already flooded a dramatic canyon and pristine highland wilderness area with a 22-square mile reservoir. A further 32 miles of overland transmission lines have been built to carry electricity to the mile-long Alcoa smelter, built on the edge of a beautiful fjord.

When I saw the natural beauty of Iceland, it was hard to believe that anyone would think of spoiling it. On the other hand, as I spoke to local people, I saw that the government is trying to create jobs and build a new basis for the economy, which has suffered from the imposition of fishing quotas.

The inspiring speakers at the conference included Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnasun, filmmaker and environmentalist Omar Ragnarssen, Trinidadian journalist and activist Attilah Springer, South African activist Lerato Maria Maregele, and Cirineu da Rocha, a Brazilian activist in the Movement of Dam-affected People. The event kicked off the 2007 “Summer of Protest,” which followed previous actions in 2005 and 2006 to try to stop Kárahnjúkar and other planned industrial projects. Direct actions this summer included protest camps, invasions of corporate offices to hang protest banners, “rave against the machine” street parades, and human blockades of the roads leading to smelters. I was a bit out of place amongst the young but seasoned activists, many covered in tattoos, nose-rings, and baggy black and khaki clothing, but they freely shared their vegan meals and their passion. Many of the actions have carnivalesque elements, with costumes, parades, and music, but the intent is always very serious.

“This Smelter Ting is All ‘o Us Bizness”

With dreadlocks running down her back and a winning smile, Attilah Springer is a striking spokesperson for the Rights Action Group in Trinidad. She told the Saving Iceland Conference the story of the small settlement of Union Village in southwestern Trinidad, which awoke one day in 2005 to the rumbling sound of heavy machinery. Seldom seen animals from the surrounding forest started running through yards and streets – fleeing some unseen danger behind the trees. Out of nowhere, dozens of bulldozers had begun leveling the forest, encroaching from every direction. It was the time of year when all of the forest animals were carrying young. As the machines indiscriminately uprooted everything in their path, just one band of monkeys was left in the middle, clinging to their trees with babies and pregnant bellies. Finally the workers started clubbing the defenseless animals to death. The terrified monkeys fled helter-skelter into people’s yards and houses, trying to find shelter anywhere. The people of Union Village were in shock. Even grown men had tears in their eyes. Attilah’s voice broke and her audience, too, had tears in their eyes – especially me, then five months pregnant!

In contrast to Iceland, Trinidad is a 1,864 sq. mile island with 550 people per square mile, one of the world’s highest population densities. I spent time there a few years ago, birdwatching on the Caroni swamp, hiking through the beautiful rainforests of Tobago, marveling at a multitude of hummingbirds, and enjoying the spicy food. But here, too, is a country struggling to improve its economic prospects. The 800 acres cleared near Union Village were part of the government’s “Vision 2020″ plan for Trinidad and Tobago to reach developed status by 2020, including the building of three aluminum smelters in South Western Trinidad, plus other gas-based and chemical industries.

At Trinidad’s 2006 Carnival, five bands had anti-smelter calypsos like “Helter Smelter,” children put on school plays about industrial pollution with names like “Smelly,” and people paraded effigies of Alcoa. Under growing pressure, the Prime Minister finally announced in 2006 that the plans for the Alcoa smelter were cancelled. For Springer, this struggle became an example to the country of how people can stop powerful corporations in their path – “we don’t always have to give way” – and an inspiration to people around the world facing similar debacles.

Today, the aluminum industry is in the midst of a massive global restructuring with a flurry of mergers and acquisitions. With metals prices soaring on the commodity exchanges and predictions of growing demand, especially in China and India, corporate giants are vying to control existing bauxite mines and cheaper power sources across the globe. The latest twists in the plot make aluminum central to new technologies ranging from automobile design and wind turbines to fantastical dreams of an endless energy supply in an aluminum-hydrogen economy.

This year I conducted research in the Alcoa company archives in Pittsburgh and next summer I will tour the bauxite mines of Jamaica. My interests in Caribbean sustainability have led me into a much bigger but little-known global story, and I am excited about writing a book that will publicize it to many more people.

Mimi Sheller, a visiting associate professor in the sociology and anthropology department, came to Swarthmore in 2005 from Lancaster University in England, where she co-founded and remains a senior research fellow in the Centre for Mobilities Research. She is co-editor of the journal Mobilities and the author of Democracy After Slavery (2000), Consuming the Caribbean (2003), and Citizenship from Below, forthcoming from Duke University Press. Write to her at mshelle1[at swarthmore.edu.

Hálslón, Kárahnjúkar, October 2006

A summer of International dissent and action against Heavy Industry – swarming around Iceland from the 6th of July 2007

Updated July 10th. The campaign to defend Europe’s vastest remaining wilderness continues. After the direct action camps in Iceland’s mountain highlands in the summers of 2005 and 2006 against the Kárahnjúkar dam and ALCOA’s Reydarfjordur aluminium smelter, the Saving Iceland campaign moves on to bring Iceland’s aluminium Heavy Industrialisation to a halt.

New plans for dams, power plants, aluminium smelters and other forms of heavy industry need to be stopped. The culprits include corporations such as ALCOA, ALCAN, Century Aluminum, Hydro, Rusal, Impregilo, Bechtel, Barclays, Mott McDonald, etc… Iceland, with it’s vast geothermal and megahydro possibilities, is a new frontier for cheap energy craving industrial moguls who see nothing worth saving in Iceland’s legendary wilderness.

This camp will bring together activists from all over the world, including activists from social movements in India, South America, Africa, Europe and North America. Stopping the industrialisation and ecological destruction of the last unspoilt country in the west would be a major victory for the green movement and a new incentive for a global movement against industrialisation and ecocide. Join us.

Camp phone for new arrivals: (+354) 857 0709
Press (fjölmiðlar): Phone (+354) 663 7653 or (+354) 843 0629

The Camp and Conference:

The camp will start on the 6 July in Olfus, about half an hour by car from Reykjavik. It will begin with a major conference on the Global Consequences of Heavy Industry between the 7-8 July. Academics, activists and other people affected by the aluminium industry, dams and environmental destruction will come together to discuss their experiences and think about how to build up stronger local and global resistance.

As a background to the conference and camp, Saving Iceland has published the magazine ‘Voice of the Wilderness’ (download pdf, about 2,8 MB). This includes the conference and camp program, an overview of trainings and workshops and articles on the issues in Iceland, and in other countries under threat from heavy industry. The Voice is also made available on paper in many public locations.

Immediately after the conference, a protest camp will be set up. It will be a space in which creative and direct opposition to heavy industry can be mounted. There will be workshops, discussions, films and concerts during this period. There will be a large amount of all kinds of training related to protests and actions (check out the Voice for an overview).

There will be a strong focus around direct action, as in previous camps. For example, at the past two camps there were a number of actions whereby protestors got into dam and smelter construction sites, sometimes chaining themselves to machinery, sometimes not. People of all experiences of this kind of protest are extreemely welcome.

There will also be public actions in Reykjavik. On Tuesday the 10th of July, you are invited to join a unique ceremony to excorcise the evil of heavy industry from Iceland led by the amazing Reverend Billy and Saviti D from the Church of Stop Shopping (check their website – highly recommended!).

On Saturday July 14th, the ‘Bastille-day’ of the French revolution, we will gather in Reykjavik’s Bastille, Öskjuhlíð, at the hot pool beside Perlan, for a streetparty, a Rave against Heavy Industry – party and protest!

Location:

There will be a meeting point in both Reykjavík and Egilsstadir from which you will be guided to the camp location. Email us to reserve a lift from these otherwise, you will need to make your own way to the camp.

Reykjavík: Kaffi Hljómalind – Laugavegur 21. The workers in Iceland’s only cooperative, organic, fairtrade, vegetarian/vegan, Zapatista bean using coffe house will have information for you about the camp when you arrive and there are also plenty copies of The Voice of the Wilderness. Laugavegur is Reykjaviks main shopping street, so any local will be able to point you in the correct direction.

Egilsstadir, Thursday’s 1pm: outside Egilsstadir’s Tourist Information Centre (next to the Shell garage). Please note, the workers in the tourist information centre won’t have information about the camp, so dont bother asking them. If you are sailing to Seyðisfjörður then you will need to travel west along its only outbound road, which leads to Egilsstadir. It is a 30 Minute drive. If you don’t have a car try to hitchike to Egilsstadir, or if this fails catch the bus there (leaving Seydisfjordur on Thursdays at 8:20am, 12:20pm and 16:20pm).
Please make sure to email us so we know how much transport to arrange from Egilsstadir.

Food:

Vegan meals will be provided throughout the camp by a new Icelandic mobile field kitchen, the Veggie Viking Brigade, supported by the famous-on-the continent Dutch kitchen Rampenplan. Food will again be free to long term campers or anyone who has come from overseas (or has become poor for other reasons…) Otherwise food will be served on a donation basis, and we also welcome donations in the form of (vegetarian) food.

If you are interested in joining the cooking crew and becoming a fully trained to cook for hundreds of people, please email us: resources [at] savingiceland.org or knock on the kitchen tent’s door.

Money:

Iceland is a famously expensive place to visit but at the camp you will not need to spend any money. Also, if you hitch-hike, use a tent and shop well at stores like Bónus you can live cheaply. When entering Iceland you legally must be able to prove that you have enough money to fund your stay, otherwise the border cops might not let you enter the country. For this you can either point to some cash on you or just show a credit/debit card. This shouldn’t be a problem, dont worry.

Travelling to Iceland:

Boat:

Smyril Line sails from Denmark (Hanstholm), Norway (Bergen) and Scotland (Lerwick/Scrabster) to Iceland (Seyðisfjörður, in the East of Iceland) from about €320 return in July (High Season.) If you stay until mid-August you can get a Mid Season return fare which is cheaper. If you remind Smyril Line that you are a “student” then you will get a good discount. You can usually easily change your ticket without any extra cost. Paying in Euros (€) is usually cheaper than Pounds (£). Smyril Line often quotes different prices in each of their departments so call around. Whilst sailing look out for whales and dolphins…
Smyril-line – Ferry from Scotland, Denmark and Norway to Seydisfjordur.

Plane:

International flights usually land in Iceland’s main airport, Keflavik. An airport transfer bus service (called the FlyBus) runs between the airport and Reykjavik bus terminal via various hotels (1100 Kr [1200Kr from 01 Jan 07], 45 minutes). A return is 300 Kr cheaper than 2 singles.

Iceland Express – Flights from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and UK – This is usually the cheapest airline to Iceland.

IcelandAir

British Airways – Flights from the UK

SAS Scandinavian Airlines – Flights from Oslo

Travelling inside Iceland:

We will of course aim to coordinate any necessary camp related transport but there may be times when this is logistically impossible. Also, you may want to travel apart from the camp within Iceland. Like other Nordic countries you can legally pitch your tent on any patch of land that is not fenced off and is not in sight of someones house, for one night, apart from around Myvatn. Many villages have campsites you can pay to pitch at, and you can also stay at mountain huts and emergency shelters which are spread across the country (for info on these check a map). Check the weather report here or in the tourist information centre before you leave on a big journey

Commercial Transport:

Iceland’s long distance bus system is slow and extremely expensive, so you might want to consider other means of travelling.
Internal flights are cheaper than buses but they obviously produce huge amounts of planet killing fumes [Air Iceland – Internal flights]

Renting a car is also very expensive for extended periods of time.

Hitch-hiking:

It is generally safe to hitch-hike and this kind of travel has lead to lots of exciting road-trips. Iceland has only one highway, Route 1, and it circles the island. Whether you should head along the North or South Route 1 is a matter of raging opinion which will never be settled. Hitching from Egilstadir to Reykjavik will usually take anything between one and four days. Make sure you stock up on supplies before you set off on a long journey, as you will not pass many shops. Try to travel in pairs if possible and be prepared to be unlucky and not get a ride for possibly a day or two. Make sure you have a tent if you hitch-hike.

By Bike:

Many people cycle around Iceland. It is 800km from Seydisfjordur to Reykjavik along the south route of Route 1, and it is mostly flat with a few insane hills. You should judge for yourself how long this will take you but we estimate that it will take you about 10 days to cross the country. The north Route of Route 1 is longer and crosses through the mountaneous interior highlands of Iceland. There are not many opportunities to buy food along the way so make sure you are well stocked and equiped.

Icebike.net – Very Useful general information of cycling in Iceland

By Car:

Cars of all kinds are extreemly useful: 4x4s, mini buses and vans especially, though small cars that don’t use much fuel are too. The cheapest way to travel on the Smyril-Line Norona ship is to fill your car up with people. If you email us in advance, we may be able to subsidise your car fare and organise people to share your seats and cost.

You can circle the country in the summer in a usual road car without a problem. But, entering the central-highlands in something other than a 4×4 can be highly problematic. Most of the Central-Highlands roads are just mud tracks, meaning that they are extremely potholed and can have rivers running through them. We say this as a caution, but many people do take these sorts of vehicles through 4×4 tracks… The higher your vehicle is off the ground the better. Most mountain roads and roads in the interior of Iceland have a surface of loose gravel. The same applies to large sections of the national highway, but which also has long stretches of asphalt. The surface on the gravel roads is often loose, especially along the sides of the roads, so one should drive carefully and slow down whenever approaching an oncoming car. Always observe speed limits, they are there for very valid reasons. The mountain roads are also often very narrow, and are not made for speeding. The same goes for bridges, most are only wide enough for one car at a time. In addition to not having an asphalt surface, the mountain roads are often very windy. Journeys therefore often take longer than might be expected.
For information on road conditions, Tel.: +354-1777, daily 8:00-16:00. or clickhere

According to the law everyone must drive with their headlights on, even in daytime. The general speed limit is 50 km/h in urban areas, 80 km/h on gravel roads in rural areas, and 90 km/h on asphalt roads. Always slow greatly down before approaching a bridge. Even relatively smooth roads have nasty potholes on either side of bridges. Asphalt roads tend to change suddenly and even without warning into gravel roads. That can be very dangerous if you are not driving at a sensible speed and has often caused terrible accidents. Traffic sign posting in Iceland is to put it mildly, sloppy. Don’t trust maps just because they show drivable tracks. Mountain tracks can suddenly vanish or become unusable. Be extreemly cautious when crossing rivers. Small streams tend to swell into forcefull rivers in the afternoons, so are best crossed early in the morning. Always make sure another vehicle is present when crossing a river. Expect roaming herds of sheep and cows on roads when driving anywhere in the countryside, and if you knock a sheep over then you legally have to contact the relevant farmer immediately. Petrol stations are few and far between around Iceland and are non-existent in the highlands, so make sure you always fill up when possible,and have spare cans. STICK ONLY TO THE ROADS AS OFF-ROAD DRIVING in the summer IS VERY DESTRUCTIVE TO THE FRAGILE SUB-ARCTIC ICELANDIC VEGETATION, and is also illegal.

What to Bring:

Essentials:

* Waterproof clothing (Coat and trousers), it can rain horrendously.
* Good hiking shoes (trainers can be very dangerous in the highlands.)
* Thermal underwear (it can get very cold!)
* Other warm clothing (eg wool jumpers, gloves, etc.)
* Some summertime clothing – it’s not always cold!
* Double skinned tent (or find someone to share with.)
* At least a two season sleeping bag, three season highly recommended but not essential.

Useful but not-essential:

* Camera / video-camera. Especially digital equipment (these are invaluable at the camp). Lots of DV tapes are also very useful.
* Your own cutlery (knife/fork/spoon),
* Plate or bowl and a cup
* Camping cooking equipment (especially if you go travelling on your own)
* Torch
* Compass
* GPS
* Medical equipment
* If you are sensitive to light when trying to sleep then you should bring an eye mask because the sun will be in the sky until very late and early
* Cars of all kinds, 4x4s, mini buses and vans especially, though small cars that don’t use much fuel are also useful. These are incredibly useful for the camp functioning. The cheapest way to travel on the Smyril-Line Norona ship is to fill your car up with people. If you email us in advance, we may be able to subsidise your car fare and organise people to share your seats.
* Mobile phones, especially NMT phones that are more useful the highlands.

For actions:

(The police might try to confiscate these when you enter, think of a reason why you might need them that’s not connected to the camp)
* Climbing harness
* Climbing clips
* Bicycle locks
* Paints and brushes.
* Banner material (Bed sheets, etc.)

For the camp:

* Your driving licence, so you can drive a camp car.
* Food for the camp kitchen. In particular please bring special vegan products. This is a country whose biggest supermarket puts milk into its HUMOUS!!
* Is there an environmental/social struggle in your area? Why not bring some fliers?

Other

* You can legally bring in 2 liters of alcohol. Alcohol is famously expensive in Iceland.

Other links

Icelandic Diplomatic Missions

Icelandic Directorate of Immigration – VISAS etc.

Underestimating Mother Nature May Cost Your Life – Article in Grapevine about the dangers of traveling in the Icelandic highlands without the necessary precautions.

Icetourist

LonelyPlanet

The National Land Survey of Iceland

The Icelandic Meteorological office

REYDARFJORDAR, Iceland (Reuters) – Iceland’s biggest and newest aluminium smelter, Alcoa Fjardaal, pumped out its first hot metal at the weekend, riling critics who fear it will damage the environment.

The balance between environmental and economic tradeoffs for Iceland’s three existing and three planned smelters have become a major issue in the lead-up to May 12 elections.

On one side are those who fear unchecked industrial growth will harm the land and economy.

On the other are those who say Iceland must bring in such projects to make use of its abundant but unexportable power-generating resources, such as its geothermal and hydroelectric potential.

The issue has given rise to a new green party, the Iceland Movement, whose platform has a single plank: big industry development must stop for five years until the effects of projects like Alcoa’s Fjardaal are clear.

Author Andri Snaer Magnason said the construction of smelters like Alcoa’s, and the geothermal and hydroelectric plants that power them, has created a “heroin economy.”

“For this company, (we are) diverting the whole ecosystem of the east,” he said. “The Icelandic government is taking a billion-dollar loan to raise the dam to supply power to Alcoa that is sold at a very low price.”

Prime Minister Geir Haarde dismisses the idea that Iceland is addicted to aluminium.

“Quite clearly there is a boom in connection with the construction of a big facility like this. But that is not why these things are important,” he said.

“The claim that we are selling electricity … at absurdly low prices is not the case.”

There are signs the public is heeding the smelter opponents.

Residents of Hafnarfjordur, south of Reykjavik, this month rejected Alcan Inc.’s plan to expand its plant to 460,000 tons a year, although by a margin of just 88 votes.

“FRIGHTENED NATION”

Magnason’s “Dreamland: A Self-Help Book for a Frightened Nation,” which takes on the smelter industry, sold 20,000 copies in Icelandic, staggering in a nation of fewer than 300,000.

Still, Fjardaal has support in Iceland’s east, and some in the village of Reydarfjordar say it has created a boom.

At the still-unfinished plant that sits alongside a fjord like a giant’s toy, workers from Alcoa and contractor Bechtel are bringing Fjardaal to life.

Most of Bechtel’s construction crew are foreign but Alcoa says Fjardaal will be run by Icelanders. At full capacity it will produce 346,000 tons of aluminium a year and employ 400 people.

Iceland Movement leader Omar Ragnarsson says this is a small gain given how much government-owned power provider Landsvirkjun has plunged into the Karahnjukar plant Alcoa will use.

“It is like a gold rush. It’s a power rush,” said scientist Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir, who may run for the Iceland Movement.

She said central bank efforts to tame the smelter-stoked economy, including record interest rates of 14.25 percent, have hit the average Icelander hard.

Haarde said the economy is beginning to cool. “That’s why it would be a good idea to get a new project started before we go too far down into this cooling period,” he said.

Nor did the prime minister see a need for a hiatus.

“I think the referendum at Hafnarfjordur will inevitably push things back in time and the other projects that have been discussed are anyway a few years on,” he told Reuters.

Whether Iceland is selling power to industry at deep discounts is hard to judge since Landsvirkjun does not disclose prices, saying secrecy is essential for negotiations.

Spokesman Thorsteinn Hilmarsson said producers like Alcoa, whose contracts are pegged to aluminium prices, are paying “above the average price” for power to smelters.

Asked if prices were lower in Iceland than elsewhere, Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said only: “They are very competitive.”

Smelter backers say Iceland would be foolish not to use its abundant energy resources and urge a global view on pollution.

“These smelters are not polluting in a global sense, if you were producing here what you would be producing by gas or coal somewhere else,” Haarde said.

They are “minimally” polluting for Iceland, he said.

Haarde is unworried about Ragnarsson’s anti-smelter party, noting polls give it less than the 5 percent needed for seats in parliament.

But the smelter-opposing Left Green Party is polling well. And the Social Democrats have shifted their platform greenwards.

Magnason said this means if the Iceland Movement wins 5 percent, the country could well end up with a green government and a rethink of its smelter growth.

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…

 

Just in case…
Ó-L-Ö-G-L-E-G-T
V-I-N-N-U-S-V-Æ-Ð-I!

 

From Iceland Review
08/16/2006

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. Others have chained themselves to machinery. At the time of posting, actions were still ongoing. Police are on the scene and have arrested a few of the group. There are windy conditions in the area and the actions are thought to pose a safety risk, Morgunbladid online reports.

Most of the protesters involved are thought to be foreigners. A press release from a group that calls itself Saving Iceland states that the protesters are a group of environmentalists whose goal is to call attention to the threat that Iceland’s nature, cultural heritage and democracy are under as a result of Alcoa’s operations and that the factory was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court of Iceland in June 2005. Aluminum giant Alcoa is behind the smelter currently under construction.

According to Morgunbladid, two protesters were sitting by the side of the road this morning, watching their comrades up on the building crane, when a car pulled up and poured a two-liter bottle of coca-cola over them before driving away. Clashes between protesters and the general public have escalated in the area over the past few days. (sic) On Monday, protesters stormed an engineering firm in Reydarfjördur, Hönnun, but left when the company staff became violent.

In Alicante, Spain, where Alcoa owns an aluminium factory, signs denouncing Alcoa’s presence in Iceland have appeared.  Graffiti and banners on the walls of Alcoa’s factory and all over Alicante have been appearing. All over the world people have risen up against the heavy industrial violence against the Icelandic wildernesses.

On the 30th of September there was a public action with people concentrating at the doors of the factory and a hand out of information in the center of Alicante.

 

La sensibilización con la problemática que sufre Islandia va en aumento en
distintas partes del estado Español. Denuncias contra Bechtel y Alcoa se
hacen ver, sobre todo en Alicante, donde Alcoa tiene una planta de
aluminio. Graffitis y pancartas han aparecido en la fábrica y por toda la
ciudad. La última acción pública ha sido el día 30 de Septiembre, como
respuesta al reciente llenado del pantano de Kárahnjúkar Se convocó una
concentración a las puertas de la fábrica para después ir al centro de la
ciudad y colgar una pancarta mientras se repartía información.

Además de estas acciones todavía se necesita mucho apoyo en el estado
Español. Crear debate, difundir la informacióny formar grupos de apoyo,
son tareas esenciales para romper el silencio sobre este ecocidio así como
muestras valiosísimas de solidaridad para l@s compañer@s que participan
en la lucha tanto en Islandia como en otras partes del mundo. Si quieres
ponerte en contacto con algún/a compañer@ del estado Español que haya
estado en Islandia para organizar una charla en tu pueblo o ciudad
contacta en el correo electrónico:  alcoapurtu at riseup.net

 

 

“What you got…..we don’t want,
what you’re selling…..we ain’t buying!
So no matter, how hard you’re trying,
we want no industrial wasteland in our yard”
(Anti-Smelter Warriors Anthem, chorus)

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.

The $US1.5 billion project slated for the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville area envisions a 341,000 metric-tons-per-year aluminum smelter, an anode plant, and a cast house. Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of aluminum, is promoting the project as a boon to local employment and other community benefits.

Alumina, a material from which aluminum is derived, will come from Alcoa refineries in Jamaica, Surinam, and Northern Brazil. Alcoa’s Director of Public Strategy Wade Hughes, said that the government of Trinidad and Tobago had invited Alcoa to build a smelter, citing the islands’ advantages: competitive energy prices, local economic needs, and “strategic positioning for manufacturing in close proximity to the large markets of North and South America and Europe.”

Cedros Peninsula United, a local organization opposing Alcoa’s proposed smelter, charges that the project will hurt villages along the peninsular: It will displace 100 families, release emissions harmful to health and the environment, pose occupational safety hazards, and diminish bio-diversity. The group has also raised fears that the smelters will create electromagnetic fields (EMF). EMF have proven controversial at China’s state-run aluminum smelters in Nanshan and Shandong, and at a facility that Alcoa operates in Sao Luis, Brazil.

“There is very little evidence for health risks related to chronic direct current [DC] EMF exposures at the levels currently found in aluminum potrooms,” said Hughes.

But Cedros Peninsula United is concerned about the effects of EMF on plants and people. They cite a 1994 legal action in which a sick worker at Kaiser Aluminum, another U.S. company operating smelters, blamed EMF for the cancer that killed eight of 90 aluminum potroom workers. The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries ruled in his favor, but failed to find a direct link to EMF. Instead it determined that the response of Kaiser’s medical claims processors to the illnesses was inadequate, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Whether on not EMF from DC current causes cancer, other harmful emissions from aluminum smelters are clearly dangerous. Studies in Australia found that hydrogen fluoride, inspirable dust, and sulphur dioxide from aluminum smelters caused respiratory problems such as asthma, wheezing, and chest tightness in workers. A 30-year study by the University of Calgari found in 2004 that aluminum smelter workers in Sardinia, Italy, exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were between 2.4 and 5 times more likely to die of pancreatic cancer. In Norway, the Department of Horticulture and Crop Sciences studied three aluminum smelters and concluded that even low emissions of fluoride caused serious damage to nearby vegetation.

Another Alcoa smelter under production in east Iceland has led to similar protests over the health and environmental effects.

Despite these concerns, Alcoa is moving ahead. In March, it applied to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) for a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC). Permission was granted in July for Alcoa to undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Communities of the Southwest Peninsula

The city of San Fernando lies at the mouth of the large cove where Trinidad’s Cedros Peninsula begins its reach into the turquoise Caribbean. Its 62,000 Indo and Afro-Trini residents reflect the mixed roots of indentureship and slavery through which Trinidad came into being. The city’s main promenade features statues of the icons of resistance in the African and Indian diaspora: Pan-African nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and the Indian nationalist leader and architect of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi.

Following the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the British in 1962, middle class political parties such as the black-led People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Indo-Trinidadian United National Congress (UNC) have attempted to mobilize and divide the population along ethnic lines for political gain.

The prospect of the smelter, however is proving a unifying force as the ethnically diverse but tight-knit communities of the peninsula organize to protect their environment and their way of life. The mostly poor, rural, black and brown communities of the peninsula have formed alliances and organizations such as the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville Environmental Protection Group, Cedros Peninsula United, and the Rights Action Group.

Religious groups wield particular influence on the island, which is largely Catholic and Hindu. The national organization Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) has joined the battle to defeat the proposed plant. On a local level, Hindu, Muslim, and Presbyterian communities have also offered support.

On August 10, the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association began an eight-day march from the peninsula to the capital, Port-of Spain, some 90 kilometers away. The proposed smelter was a key concern. The president of the association and former attorney general, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, called on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to make public his plan for dealing with waste from the smelter.

In addition to protests and marches, the Civil Rights Association together with the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville Environmental Protection Group are pursuing legal channels to stop the construction. Maharaj, the lawyer on the case, is preparing to file public interest litigation to prevent the government from taking any further steps until it puts in place proper regulations.

Maharaj charges that the government signed the agreement with Alcoa without first obtaining the approval of the relevant regulatory bodies, in this case, the Environmental Management Agency. Moreover, in 1984 the parliament had designated the entire Cedros Peninsula, including the proposed smelter site, as agricultural and forest land. The government, therefore, must seek parliamentary approval before allowing industrial use. Also, according to Maharaj, the smelter will violate draft pollution rules that are before the parliament. Maharaj told Corpwatch that, “Alcoa has admitted in their application that the smelter would discharge hazardous substances and dangerous vapors, and they have not demonstrated how these substances will be disposed off.”

If the local courts side with the government and Alcoa, activists may appeal the ruling in the Privy Council in London. Although nominally independent, the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago still retains the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London as the highest court of appeal.

“The government is resolved to accommodate Alcoa in its desire to build its smelter plant at Chatham/Cap-de-Ville,” said local environmental activist Ishmael Samad. “And the judiciary, which is supposed to be independent, could well be influenced to render a judgement in favour of the government. Therefore the Privy Council in England, our final court of appeal, is our only hope.”

Alcoa’s Strategy in Trinidad

Faced with mounting opposition, Alcoa has spearheaded a public relations campaign to win over the populace with pledges of good jobs and a clean environment. The company, which earned $26.2 billion in 2005, according to its website, is buying full page ads in local newspapers. A March ad promised “750 to 800 long-term jobs to Trinidad” and touted the smelter as part of Alcoa’s “community partnerships.” An April ad in the Trinidad Express read, “Alcoa’s smelter in the Park. Progress–in harmony with Community and Culture” and another claimed, “Alcoa–investing in communities. Our social investment policies are followed by social action.” In a May ad in a weekend edition of the Trinidad Express, Alcoa described itself and the project environmentally friendly: “Alcoa–Longtime steward of the environment.”

Fitzroy Beache, president of the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville Environmental Protection Group, was not convinced. “Alcoa does this everywhere there go; they are doing this in Iceland to stop the protest and buy out everybody. Now they try to come to the community saying they’ll build parks and football fields. But we don’t want that, we don’t even want Alcoa in our community right now.”

The Chatham/Cap-de-Ville Environmental Protection Group demanded to meet with company representatives, and after all-night vigils outside the prime minister’s office, protest marches, and rallies, Alcoa agreed. On July 5 and 14, Adesh Surajnath, a technical engineer hired by Alcoa to do preliminary drilling, attended public meetings at the Chatham Community Center and answered questions. Chatham is the site of the industrial estate where Alcoa proposes to build the smelter.

Community leaders and residents alike expressed anger and distrust. One of the more than 300 attendees demanded to know how much compensation he would receive for the loss of the farming land that supports his family. Others in the small, crowded hall raised health and environmental issues.

When Surajnath said he was unable to answer the questions, furious residents demanded an audience with ministers who could–including Minister of Energy and Petroleum Lenny Saith. According to Beache, the government should make its plans clear and initiate meaningful fora where the public can voice its concerns.

Alcoa’s Wade Hughes told Corpwatch that the company will work with the government to ensure relocation of families living on the industrial estate, and will give “fair and prompt compensation” to displaced farmers.

The company’s reassurances–vague and not legally binding–are not appeasing residents who fear losing land that is both home and livelihood. On its website, Cedros Peninsula United points out that although Alcoa’s environmental application is supposed to list the names and addresses of adjoining property owners, it omits the hundred families that the smelter will displace.

Despite Alcoa’s reassurances that it will be a good citizen and an environmental steward, the company has a history of environmental violations. The US Department of Commerce released a statement that Alcoa had violated more than 100 regulations on the export of potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride between 1991 and 1995. According to the New York Times, Alcoa’s New York state Massena aluminum smelter was fined $7.5 million in 1991, the largest criminal penalty at the time for hazardous waste violations. The US Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency released a statement in March 2000, reporting that Alcoa paid out an $8.8 million settlement after complaints that the company illegally expelled waste into the Ohio River from its Warrick County, Indiana plant; that the waste was highly toxic to fish; and that the smoke, dust, and ash expelled from furnaces exceeded Clean Air Act limits.

The problems of toxic waste and pollution are also foremost for Trinidad’s activists. Alcoa’s CEC application estimates that the proposed smelter would have an annual output of 600 metric tons of domestic solid waste as well as 50 cubic meters of waste water per day.

The most voluminous solid waste is spent potlining (SPL), the corroded material removed from the steel shells or “pots” that hold molten aluminum. According to the Alcoa website, SPL has been classified as hazardous waste because of its toxicity and explosive nature. Asked what Alcoa plans to do with Trinidad’s SPL, Hughes replied that it “will be shipped to our processing facility in Gum Springs, Arkansas.” Yet shipping potlining is a violation of the Basel Convention, an international agreement administered by the United Nations.

***
A recent flow of Pentagon contracts to the Pittsburgh-based corporation is fueling Alcoa’s search for increased capacity and, like many US corporations, it is outsourcing manufacturing to countries with relatively lax environmental laws.

In 2004 Alcoa won an initial $1.2 million contract from the US Army. The next year the US Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command signed a $12.5 million deal with Alcoa for ground combat and tactical vehicles. That same December 2005, Alcoa also signed a five-year, $30 million contract with Klune Industries to manufacture aluminum structural castings for the US Navy’s Tactical Tomahawk Missile Program.

On July 22, Alcoa chose Bechtel as its primary partner in conducting feasibility studies for the proposed smelter. Bechtel, a private company with close ties to the Bush administration and the Republican party, was awarded a $680 million contract in Iraq through a process of secretive biddings in April 2003, with the possibility of contracts worth billions of dollars.

One of the leaders of the campaign against the smelter is a small, young Indo-Trinidadian mother of two.

“The issue is preserving ourselves,” she said, sitting on the verandah of her two-storey house in Chatham. “We are aware of the health problems, the cancer, the asthma. We’ve seen the destruction of our coastlines with the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plants. People don’t catch fish here now, you know? People don’t get chip-chip or catch-e-come anymore.” Over the last six years, the government of Trinidad and Tobago has worked with Bechtel to construct four LNG plants in Point Fortin to liquefy natural gas for export. Since the arrival of the plants, local fishermen have noted that fish such as chip-chip and catch-e-come, also known as sea tattoo, are becoming scarcer.

“They want to convert the entire southwest peninsula into an industrial belt. If we don’t move as a result of Alcoa, it will happen with some other industry,” she said. “I have two little daughters. What is their future? The air they are breathing will be polluted. As a mother and as a parent, how am I supposed to deal with this? Alcoa will break all the rules to see that this proposed smelter goes ahead, but what do we have to benefit? Some temporary employment at minimum wage, but who gains all the profit? The people have nothing to gain from this.”

 http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=…

A bomb threat was received at the Alcoa offices in Reyðarfjörður, east Iceland, just before noon yesterday. According to Erna Indriðadóttir, public relations officer for Alcoa in Iceland, a man called and spoke in English, mentioning a bomb in the premises. Police was called in but nothing was found. No further action was deemed necessary.

 http://www.reykjavik.com/News.aspx?aid=2…

The Icelandic media has reported that within the first few hours of the closing of the dam doors on the morning of 28 September 2006, like a noose being tightened, the water level rose 15 meters. The entire 200m+ flooding depth will not be completed until next summer. Some people turned up to watch the valley be drowned, notably reporter Ómar Ragnarsson who will board a boat on the rising reservoir and film the death of the many waterfalls, valleys, cliffs, and so forth.

Despite two summers of an international protest camp in the Icelandic Highlands which was attended by hundreds of people from all over the world; despite a 15,000 people marching in Reykjavik the day before today, together with 200 from Akureyri, 50 in Ísafjörður, 100 in Egilsstaðir, a turnout which is over five times the size of the previous largest demonstration in the 300,000 person Iceland; despite a disastrous environmental assessment report; despite calls from scientists and nature lovers inside outside and out; despite all the consequences on Iceland’s economy; despite this area now to be known as the Halslon reservoir being of huge cultural significance to Iceland; despite it being the second largest wilderness in Europe: heavy industry has got its way and stolen this wilderness merely for the sake of the production of aluminium.

The fight to save Kárahnjúkar may now be over, but the fight to defend Iceland from further assaults by the pro-heavy-industry patriarchs is just beginning. Alcoa, Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic government and any other corporation profiting from this murder will pay for the death of this great wilderness.

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. ”

 

The following is sited from the Reykjavik Grapevine, 27/9/2006.

Thousands of Icelanders marched in protest last night, in support of retiring television reporter and nature enthusiast Ómar Ragnarsson and his call to the Icelandic government to forego with the Kárahnjúkar dam. Thursday will reportedly see an epoch in the Kárahnjúkar damming process, when water will finally be released to flood the valley behind the already-built dam. In a public address, Ragnarsson called for Icelanders to mightily protest this, stating that when an unjust execution is about to go forth one should continue disputing it until the last day.

Protest walks took place on Laugavegur in Reykjavík, in Akureyri, Egilsstaðir and Ísafjörður. Police and organisers disagreed on exactly how many thousands marched down Laugavegur, although both agreed that the numbers were great. According to Reykjavík police estimates, around 7-8.000 people marched while organisers present decreed it to have contained up to 15.000. Local media reports up to 200 marching in Akureyri, around 100 in Egilsstaðir and 50 people protesting in Ísafjörður.

In conversation with the Grapevine right before the march last night, Ísafjörður organizer and scholar Ólína Þorvarðardóttir reflected public opinion to the latest developments in the dam spectacle. “It was foremost Ómar’s call that sparked our interest in marching here in Ísafjörður. He has been very diligent in calling attention to the impending harm to nature and the environment and people are finally starting to realise that it’s not too late to do something about it. This is why we will answer his call and march, expressing our sorrow over what is happening.”

When asked about the effects the Kárahnjúkar endeavour had on the people of Ísafjörður Ólína replied that the scope and effect of the projects is far greater than anyone envisioned. “In environmental and economical terms, the effects are alarming. Here in the Westfjords, we have experienced drawbacks due to the inflation caused by the dam, where greatly needed projects such as improving our dismal road system have been postponed to accommodate it. On another note, the country belongs to all of us; Easterners do not ‘possess’ the Eastern highlands any more than we possess the Westfjords peninsula. This is our heritage and we have an obligation to pass it on to future generations.”

They must be stopped!

Wherever you are in the world it is likely that there will be a target for you to make your protest felt. Icelandic embassies, consulates or the companies involved in the project, ALCOA, Bechtel, Impregilo… See a list of the companies involved on “The Nature Killers” on our website.

ALCOA worldwide

Icelandic diplomatic missions

TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPE’S LAST GREAT WILDERNESS!

ALCOA OUT OF ICELAND!

The protest camp has relocated to the farm Kollaleira, in Reyðarfjörður. This is the fjord where war profiters Bechtel are building the ALCOA aluminimum smelter.

To join us see the ‘Join the fight’ section for updated info and contact number.

THE FIGHT AGAINST THE DESTROYERS OF NATURE GOES ON!!!

 

As usual Reykjavik Grapevine has regrettable problems with getting some of their facts right, but still worth a read.[Ed.]

A series of dubious tactics by law enforcement officials in the area around the Kárahnjukar dam protests have left protestors and conservationists throughout Iceland screaming “foul”.

Local law enforcement officials began to get involved with the peaceful protest on Monday, August 31 (sic), when the Seyðisfjörður police-force arrested 14 individuals from the protest-camp, accusing them of entering a closed off Kárahnjúkar work area and disturbing the peace there.

Contractors pressed charges against the 14 protestors, who were released later that day, and the Egilsstaðir police are currently in the process of investigating the alleged crimes.

Based on the charges put forward by contractors working on the Kárahnjúkar dam, the Seyðisfjörður sýslumaður, (rural position: something between a sheriff and councilman), Lárus Bjarnason, issued a statement that same day stating that Seyðisfjörður police had successfully removed all protestors from their camp and dissolved it following requests from local landowners.

According to the statement, his decision to close down the camp was made in light of several and continuous alleged illegal activities of the protestors and is grounded in the 15th article of Icelandic police laws, which ensures the police a right to prevent people from dwelling in certain areas in order to ensure public safety and thwart illegal activities.

An NFS report quoted Egilsstaðir senior policeman Óskar Bjartmarz as saying that evacuating the remaining twelve protestors from their camp went smoothly. They were transferred to Egilsstaðir, where their confiscated equipment is was still being kept at the time of writing. He went on record saying that most of the protestors were foreigners and that the police would continue to monitor them in case they decide to return to their protests.

The Iceland Nature Conservation Association in turn issued a press release, harshly criticizing the police force’s recent actions against protestors and other tourists travelling the highlands north of Vatnajökull.

“The association emphasizes that citizens of democratic societies have an unquestionable right to peaceful protest and that officials should treat them with utmost respect.” The association also criticized police advances against people travelling around the area, stating that they’ve repeatedly harassed them, going so far as searching their cars.

“Members of the public have an unquestionable right to travel the area unharassed, as long as they clean up after themselves and stay out of pronounced work areas. The Iceland Nature Conversation Association encourages the government not to let the war on Icelandic nature now taking place at Kárahnjúkar and in the highlands turn into a war on innocent tourists.”

Andrea Ólafsdóttir, spokesperson for the Íslandsvinir group and one of the organizers of the ten day long ‘family camp’ for protestors that took place at the end of July commented to the Grapevine that closing down the protest camp was surely an ill-founded, if not wholly illegal move by the police force.

“The camp was 4 kilometres from any work-area. These actions are comparable to evacuating a village because a few of its inhabitants are suspected of foul play – it doesn’t make sense and isn’t justifiable however you choose to look at it.”

Ólafsdóttir, who left the area by the end of July, also states that she has received reports of police officers using force against the protestors to the point of brutality.

“Among other things, I’ve heard reports that a female protestor was clubbed by a police officer that I sincerely believe. I doubt she has hard evidence to support her story, but hopefully she does. It would be awful to let the police get away with such illegal activities.”

The Grapevine has been unable to maintain contact with any sources at the protest camp, as computers and agents of communication—including, reportedly, GSM phones—have been confiscated.

The Friends of Iceland/Saving Iceland protest camp has been erected at Snaefell close to the dams at Karahnjukar.

On Saturday at least 150 people went on a protest hike into the area to be drowned. The hike ended with a silent protest vigil at the site of the central dam. Anger and sorrow was the predominant feeling.

The atmosphere at the camp is amazing and there is much dynamism in the air and feverish activity. Almost two hundred people are in the camp now. About half the people are Icelandic, the other half English, Scottish, French, Dutch, Belgian, Spanish, Italian, German etc.

 

Ghostigital played a bistering set in the blazing evening sun with waterfalls and mountain ridges in the background. Dean Ferrell played a very inspiring set in the daytime yesterday and Palindrome played in the evening.

 

Both Björk and Sigur Rós are expected to appear soon at the camp.

Usally organisers of demonstations in Iceland are very pleased if 2000 people attend demos. But over 3000! This goes to show the rising tide against the heavy industy policy and corporate invasion of Iceland. Bravo!

 

Saving Iceland and Friends of Iceland (Íslandsvinir) are the organisers of this year’s international protest camp starting 21 July.

 

Barclays Bank
Already fund the notorious Narmada dam project in India – and have played a ‘key role’ in financing the dam by arranging a $400 million loan to Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic power company that will run the dam.

Impregilo

 

Dodgy Italian construction conglomerate, in charge of building most of the dam . One of Impregilo’s consultants has already been found guilty in 2003 of offering bribes to a Lesotho hydro-electric firm, and the company itself will face another hearing before the Lesotho courts in April 2005. Impregilo were also involved in building the Argentina’s Yacyreta dam, which went almost $10 million over budget and was labeled byPresident Carlos Menem ‘a monument to corruption’ . Impregilo were also one of the firms planning to build the infamous Ilisu dam.

Invest In Iceland
Part of the Icelandic Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Promotes investment in Iceland, and seem to be one of the quasi-governmental agencies that has been pushing for the hydro dam.

National Power Company of Iceland (Landsvirkjun)
This is the company that will run the Karahnjukar dam. Initially set up to explore hyro-electric power opportunities, Landsvirkjun now supplies electricity to the whole of Iceland. Owned jointly by theIcelandic State (50%) and the two biggest towns Reykjav í k (45%) and Akureyri (5%). Landsvirkjun also take part in greenwash operations with Alcoa, such as ‘The Alcoa/Landsvirkjun Sustainability Group’, which co-oprdinates projects such as spreading hay to stop soil erosion – which won’t, however, stop the massive erosion caused by the dryung out of dammed river beds. More on greenwash in the Alcoa section. You can track the progress on the dam, day by day, on this part of their website: http://www.karahnjukar.is/en/

Alcoa
The US company that will run the aluminium smelter. Alcoa is the world’s largest producer of aluminium, serves the most industries as well as producing ‘bacofoil’. It is very influential in US as well as Icelandic poltics: Ethical Consumer described Alcoa’s operations as ‘a near textbook example of how to win friends in high places’, counting the US Treasury Secretary, Paul O ’ Neill, as one of its former CEOs. While a major polluter, Alcoa undertakes greenwashing exercises such as the ‘Alcoa forest’ project, which claims to plant ‘ten million trees’. However, in Western Australia Alcoa have simply planted trees on top of the blasted and mined remains of former forest land; the new growth cannot compensate for the loss old eco-system, resulting in substantial erosion of topsoil.

Mott McDonald
The civil engineering company that designed the Newbury Bypass and the destruction of Twyford Down. Mott McDonald have also designed power stations for Indonesian dictator Suharto and airstrips in Iraq under Saddam, and was also involved in the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.

Bechtel

The company that will build the Alcoa aluminium smelter , ‘along with its partner, Icelandic engineering consortium HRV (Honnun, Rafhonnun, VST), with support from K-Home Engineering’. Bechtel is already known as a war profiteer, having been given a $680 million grant to ‘reconstruct’ Iraqi infrastricture, and was also involved in (unsuccessfully) privatising the water supply in Bolivia and building nuclear power stations. A fuller list can be found at http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/boomtime_for_bechtel.htm

Corporate Watch news, December 8th 2004, ‘BOYCOTT BARCLAYS – HERE’S WHY’, http://archive.corporatewatch.org/news/barclays_boycott.htm

‘EXPOSING THE EQUATOR PRINCIPLES’, briefing by International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth January 2004, http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/barclays_karahnjukar.pdf

The Guardian, November 29, 2003,’Power driven ‘, Susan De Muth, IndependentOnline (South Africa) November 14/2004, ‘Italian firms in Lesotho dam corruption case’, Estelle Ellis, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/item.shtml?x=52182

Ilisu Dam Campaign, ‘Company Profile: Impregilo’, http://www.ilisu.org.uk/impregilo.html

‘Energy Resources’, http://www.invest.is/page.asp?Id=603

Landsvirkjun home page: ‘Role and Ownership ‘, http://www.landsvirkjun.com/EN/category.asp?catID=276

‘The Alcoa/Landsvirkjun Sustainability Group’, http://www.karahnjukar.is/EN/xml_display.asp?CatID=398&xml=landsvirkjun

Alcoa website, ‘Fjarðaál: setting a new standard in aluminum production’, http://www.alcoa.com/iceland/en/home.asp

EthicalConsumer , September/October 2002, ‘bacofoil bandits’, http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/magazine/corpwatch/alcoa.htm

Western Australia Forest Alliance, ‘Alcoa Forest Destruction’, (includes pictures) http://www.wafa.org.au/articles/alcoa/alcoa2.html

Earth First Action Update, Spring 1998, http://www.eco-action.org/efau/issues/1998/efau1998_12.html

Bectel home page, ‘March 2004 Milestones’, http://www.bechtel.com/Briefs/0304/Milestones.htm

‘Alcoa taps Bechtel, HRV, to build Iceland smelter’, Reuters via Climate Ark, June 9, 2003 http://www.climateark.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=23391

CorpWatch, ‘Bechtel: Profiting from Destruction’, June 5th, 2003, http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6975

The message was tainted more than little by irony: “We want more pollution, more smelters, more destruction of nature, only jobs in smelters, more Alzheimer, fuck nature, fuck the future”

Suddenly the teenagers sat down on the floor and produced tubs of ‘skyr’ (in symbolic support of the activists who drenched delegates at the 10th International Aluminium Conference with the yoghurt like substance) and proceeded to “eat their own words”.

The staff of the ministry called the police, who were well and truly ignored by the vigorous youngsters, and gave up sowing their usual brand of disorder.

This was a very cheerful protest and a total success. Most of the press and all TV stations turned up for the edifying spectacle and no one was arrested.

The action coincided most conveniently with a news release from the Ministry of Industry about four spanking new aluminium smelters that are to be built or extended (ALCAN and Century) in the south-west and north (ALCOA) of Iceland, promising amongst other horrors, according to scientists, to make the bay of Faxafloi the most heavily polluted area in Northern Europe.

Arms manufacturers ALCOA are deliberating a smelter in the north (possibly in Húsavík) on top of the monster 360.000 tons smelter war-profiteers Bechtel are already building for them in Reydarfjordur in the east of Iceland. Europe’s last great untouched wilderness is to be sacrificed to generate bogus “green” electricity for the ALCOA smelter.

Almost 6,000 people partied in protest against the devastation of Iceland’s wildernesses on January the 7th.

The lineup included KK, Björk and Zeena, Múm, Sigur Rós, Magga Stína, Rass and Dr. Spock, Damien Rice, Mugison, Lisa Hannigan, Hjálmar, Ghostigital, Damon Albarn (from Blur), Ham, and Egó. Performance artists and film-makers were also among the nearly two hundred artists that contributed to the event.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian (13 Feb ’06), Björk had this to say about politics and the dam:

“In elections in Iceland I have always been an abstainer. It seems like politics is such a small bundle of self-important people, who don’t have much to do with things I’m interested in. Or something. But then, obviously, when you get older you realise that they do have a lot to say, right? Maybe I would just like to think there are other angles than that. For example, I got involved in a concert in Iceland a month ago, which protests (against) building huge dams in the country. Environmental (politics) aren’t any more a left, green, hippy thing. It’s something that concerns everyone, cross-politically. I guess I’m more on that page than party politics.” (Added 13 April 2006)

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