Saving Iceland

From Reverend Billy

A year ago we were with you in Iceland, the land of fire and ice and spirits and charms! This year we get news and images on the computers. Congratulations on the Century Aluminum Smelter blockade. You slowed down the output from that day, July 21, 2008. You’re saving lives! Every hour that an F-16 is not yet in the air…

Wandering your website, I remember my sermon last year. I tried to conjure the memory of Crazy Horse and bring his spirit to your struggle for Iceland. Savitri remembers the recurring phrase, “The land is innocent and powerful.” I don’t remember much of the specifics of my talk that afternoon, which was itself an on-the-spot remembering. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the river valley in our windows and simultaneously my boyhood love of the stories of Crazy Horse, from when my family lived in the Dakotas.

And so if you will read this letter, and help us bring back that day in the hotel conference room in Olfus… Writing is an act of memory and by writing this letter to you today — maybe some of your year-ago campaign, and our sermon within it, will resurface in these pages. Read More

Saving Iceland’s fourth action camp is now over but the fight goes on. This year we stayed on Hellisheiði for three weeks, where Reykjavík Energy is expanding their geothermal power plant, first of all to supply energy to aluminium smelters. We enjoyed the summer in this amazing environment which is now in danger because of the construction. This summer we put a special focus on the global impact of aluminium production, how it is does not only effect Iceland, but the whole world; it’s environment, humans and other species. Read More

,,Stop the destruction of Þjórsá for arms production!”

HAFNARFJORDUR, ICELAND – Activists from Saving Iceland have today begun stopping traffic to and from Rio Tinto-Alcan’s aluminium smelter in Straumsvík, Hafnarfjordur, by chaining themselves to the gates of the plant. Saving Iceland is protesting against Rio Tinto-Alcan’s plans to increase their aluminium production capacity on the island, the consequences of which would would be that significant parts of Iceland’s unique environment would have to be destroyed for energy generation. The activists are also protesting against the worlds largest aluminium producer’s involvement with the arms industry.
Rio Tinto-Alcan wants to increase its production in Straumsvík by 40 thousand tons per year without enlarging the smelter building itself. At the same time the company is planning to build a second aluminium smelter in the towns of Keilisnes or Þorlákshöfn (1).
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PROTESTS AGAINST LANDSVIRKJUN’S PLANNED DAMS IN ÞJÓRSÁ RIVER AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN LANDSVIRKJUN AND ALCOA

REYKJAVÍK  – Today 30 activists from the international campaign Saving Iceland have invaded the Landsvirkjun (national power company) building (Háaleitisbraut 68) to disrupt work. Earlier this morning Saving Iceland activists dammed the house of Landsvirkjun director Friðrik Sophusson and nailed an eviction notice to his door.

“We oppose Landsvirkjun’s intentions to build the four Þjórsá and Tungnaá dams for Rio Tinto at Straumsvik (1,2), despite the referendum. They are also negotiating to dam Skjálfandafljót and Jökuslá á Fjöllum for ALCOA’s planned Bakki smelter (3,4). This is on top of the mess they are making of Þeistareykir (5) and the deep drilling into Mount Krafla, right next to the tourist attraction. LV are doing this for a company that is a self-admitted arms dealer (6) and has been in the news again and again for it’s gross abuse of human rights. (7) This company should not be welcomed by Landsvirkjun,” says Jaap Krater from Saving Iceland.

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Last Monday, June 23rd, the district council of Skeiða- and Gnúperjahreppur agreed on a major change in the district plan. The change includes implementing the construction of two of the three dams Landsvirkjun (national energy company) plans to build in the lower Þjórsá River; Holtavirkjun and Hvammsvirkjun. The plan is now being reviewed by the National Planning Agency. The decision to build these dams was taken despite a huge local opposition in the area. Right now one of the landowners is taking the Icelandic state to court, accused of bypassing laws on local democratic agreement to these projects. According Sól á Suðurlandi (a grassroots organization fighting against the dams) more landowners might follow this figurehead.

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Rio Tinto Alcan’s smelter in New Zealand could soon shut down due to the corporations refusal to pay for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their Tiwai Point smelter produces up to 352,976 tonnes of aluminium per year and is New Zealand’s largest single user of electricity. It will be massively affected by the governments proposal to demand that those who contribute to global warming should pay the cost themselves, not foot the bill on the rest of the population. Rio Tinto say the rise in energy cost will make them leave New Zealand. Read More

Very positive sounding news from South Africa. Rio Tinto-Alcan’s plans to construct a smelter 20km away from Port Elizabeth seem to be cracking as the countries largest energy provider, Eskom, announce the need to review their ability to supply Rio Tinto-Alcan with energy. It seems that delaying the project of purposely building Rio Tinto-Alcan a new power station until 2013 and paying them the subsequent breach of contract fines would be cheaper than going ahead with the project now. This following Rio Tinto-Alcan’s investment to date of over $200million in the ‘Coega’ project and their CEO Tom Albanese having stated only two months ago: “To describe the project as having tremendous momentum would be an understatement.” Read More

An IPS/SEEN/TNI report, 2001

This important and lengthy report from the Washington based Sustainable Energy and Economy Network is highly informative about the operational structure of the aluminum industry and the resulting impacts on human rights and the environment.

• See also: IRN Aluminium toolkit – Foiling the Aluminum Industry: A Toolkit for Communities, Activists, Consumers, and Workers
• Frumvinnsla áls – Lýsing á hinni mengandi og orkufreku framleiðslu álbarra. Þýtt úr “Foiling the Aluminum Industry”

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Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Jamaica Bauxite Environmental Organization – Excellent video section showing the horrors of the mining of bauxite…

By Jaap Krater, Miriam Rose and Mark Anslow, The Ecologist, October 2007.

The gates of a geothermal power station are not where you would expect to find environmental activists. But the morning of 26th July 2007 saw the access road to Hellisheidi power station in Hengill, South-West Iceland, blockaded by a group of protestors from the campaign group ‘Saving Iceland’. After a brief demonstration, nine activists were arrested and several now face legal action.

Geothermal power in Iceland is big business. Just five plants generate 3 TWh a year – more than the annual output from all the UK’s wind turbines combined (Orkustofnun 2005; BERR 2006). Geothermal power also provides at least 85 per cent of Iceland’s homes with heat and hot water. This abundance of cheap, largely CO2-free energy has attracted energy-hungry industries to the country like sharks to a carcass. Of these, by far the most energy intensive is the aluminium industry (Krater 2007; Saving Iceland 2007).
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