Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens - Brasil or Movement of Dam Affected People - Brasil

Western Austalian Forest Alliance - Alcoa Clearing Jarrah Forest for bauxite mining

Community Alliance for Positive Solutions Inc. - A group representing communities whose health has been seriously affected by ALCOA's pollution.

Húsavík

June 29th 2008

Last Thursday, June 26th, Alcoa, the Ministry of Industry and Norðurþing district council signed a research contract for Alcoa's planned aluminium smelter in Húsavík (Bakki), north Iceland. The contract allows for the furthering of research into the efficiency of the smelter construction and into the energy production capability of the geothermal areas in the north. The smelter is supposed to be run on geothermal energy only.

The Þeistareykir blue effluent lagoon, with stream coming from boreholes.

23rd June 2008

A recent exploration of the geothermal drilling sites in the North of Iceland by some members of Saving Iceland, uncovered shocking evidence of pollution and ecological damage at the Þeistareykir geothermal area near to Husavík.

Þeistareykir is one of three sites in the North currently being test drilled and researched to power the upcoming 250,000 tonne ALCOA smelter proposed at Bakki in Husavík. The area is about an hours drive from the main road down a rough track, and is located about half way between Husavík and Krafla (the biggest geothermal zone in the North, where extensive expansion to the current power plant is also taking place). Þeistareykir was first drilled in August and now contains three pods which belch huge quantities of Sulphurous steam and make a sound similar to a jet taking off, which shakes the surrounding ground. Below the two most active pods, and in front of a small sleeping hut for tourists is a huge blue lagoon, the source of which can be easily traced to a steaming outlet pipe from the drill pods. The pool has no outlet stream to drain the water away, and therefore must be continually expanding as more effluent water runs into it. This new lake is not shown on maps, and comparisons to photos taken in 2004 confirm that this is an utterly new phenomenon.

Click here for a video from the demonstration

A letter from our friends in Switzerland
GENEVA 26TH MARCH 2008

Motivated by other actions that have taken place all over Europe against heavy industry and by the inspiring presentations of Saving Iceland made by Icelandic activists this winter in Switzerland, we organised a demonstration, creating a new group of this international campaign in Geneva.

Greetings from the Aluminium Banana Republic

Saving Iceland
7 March 2008

Not that this should be much of a surprise but finally its official that the cost estimates of Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company, were false and that the numerous economists and even the National Planning Agency, who criticized Landsvirkjun for massaging their economic data were dead right.

The Gospel of Corruption?

February 29th 2008

The worlds third biggest Aluminium corporation, ALCOA is being sued for at least $1 Billion by a Bahraini metals company. Alba (the 10th largest Aliminium producer in the world) claims 'massive, outrageous fraud' perpetrated by ALCOA, who bribed officials in an enormous fraudulent scam to overcharge Alba for Alumina by $65 million per year for 15 years.

The case was held in Pittsburgh federal court on the 27th February. Experts claim an out of court settlement is likely as this could be very embarrassing for ALCOA if it is taken to trial. ALCOA has an exceedingly poor track record with environmental disasters, human rights abuses and corruption and will be very keen to keep its vulnerable insides out of the public eye.

Saving Iceland
Brussels
11 February 2008

This text was distributed by activists whilst disrupting this conference.

GREENWASH CONFERENCE OF METALS INDUSTRY

The conference Metals: Energy, Emissions and the Environment (11&12/02/2008 in Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Brussels) is a fine example of pure greenwash.

Saving Iceland
26 October

Dettifoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall

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

This declaration was made in consensus by dozens of people attending the first Saving Iceland conference, 'Global Consequences of Heavy Industry and Large Dams' on July 7-8, 2007. [Video report part 1 | 2]
Photo gallery of the conference.

We are gathered in Olfus, Iceland, we are people from more than fifteen different countries and five continents. We are here to share our experiences of heavy industry, dams, transnational companies and other expressions of globalisation, in Iceland, in Brazil, in South Africa, in Denmark, in Canada, in England, Germany, India, Trinidad and Tobago and many other countries.
We are not professional protestors. Unlike the well-paid corporate lobbyists and spindoctors that try to sell you heavy industry, none of us gets payed to be here. We are ordinary people, we are teachers, nurses, youth workers, students, shopworkers, fathers, mothers. We are here because we care. The Icelandic wilderness is unique. It is the largest in Europe and one of the few wild places left on this continent. It’s beauty and uniqueness and fire and ice are a heritage we must preserve and must defend. It is the heritage and responsibility and privilege of all Icelanders, and all Europeans, and all humans...

The Ecologist, October 2007
Krater, J., Rose, M., Anslow, M.

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).

Hrafnabjargafoss

Það er von mín að sem flestir taki afstöðu byggða á raunverulegum gögnum um hvort þeir telji þessar álvershugmyndir vera velígrundaða umhverfisvæna aðgerð sem verði öllum íbúum landsfjórðungsins til heilla og ánægju. Fyrir mér vekur umtal og áróður álverssinna hinsvegar upp margar spurningar, t.d.: “Hvenær verður múgsefjun að sannleika og hvenær verður tálsýn að veruleika?”

"The evidence we present goes against the conventional history of aluminium, which tends to portray the industry as central to various countries’ economic power and prosperity, without understanding the financial manipulation and exploitation between and within countries, and the true costs."

"The hurt many of us feel towards the developments in eastern Iceland is so great that we will never accept another aluminum smelter to be built in Iceland. We would not be surprised if the environmental NGO’s and grass root organizations would consider the proposed developments in Northern Iceland to be a serious provocation on the behalf of Alcoa."