Búðarfoss Waterfall in Þjórsá

June 25th

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.

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.

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...

Jaap Krater
Earth First Journal
3 August, 2007

Summer of Resistance in Iceland - An overview

This year, Iceland saw its third Summer of direct action against heavy industry and large dams. In a much-disputed master plan, all the glacial rivers and geothermal potential of Europe’s largest wilderness would be harnessed for aluminum production (see EF!J May-June 2006). Activists from around the world have gathered to protect Europe’s largest remaining wilderness and oppose aluminum corporations.

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?”

'Power Driven' appeared in The Guardian Weekend in late 2003 and rocked Icelandic complacency. Still the best main stream analysis of the issues at stake and an excellent overview of the social background.

The Guardian
Saturday November 29, 2003

In Iceland, work has already begun on a colossal $1bn dam which, when it opens in 2007, will cover a highland wilderness - and all to drive one US smelter. Environmentalists are furious, but the government appears determined to push through the project, whatever the cost. Susan DeMuth investigates.

Serves as a good update of the 'Power Driven' article in the Guardian.

SchNews.org.uk
Fri 25th Feb 2005
Issue 486

Super-cool Iceland, the eco-tourist’s wet dream, right? Maybe not for much longer if the Icelandic government has its way.

'Damned Nation' is very good on the spiel behind the Karahnjukar project and Alcoa.

The Ecologist
v.33, n.10, 1. Jan 2004

Costing over $1 billion, the Karahnjukar hydroelectric dam in Iceland is a hugely controversial project. Mark Lynas journeyed to the blasting face, hoping to work out for himself whether this industrial elephant is green or brilliant-white.

Ethical Consumer.org
September/October 2002

Scott Clouder profiles the company that links BacoFoil with the US treasury secretary, a Mexican sweatshop and an Icelandic wilderness.

From the Icelandic Society for the Protection of Birds

Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir, heimspekingur
Þuríður Einarsdóttir, kvikmyndagerðarmaður

Æ fleirum verður ljóst hversu misráðið var að fara út í byggingu Kárahnjúkavirkjunar og myndu vilja hætta við. Samkvæmt Gallupkönnun sem Náttúruverndarsamtök Íslands létu gera í mars s.l. töldu tæp 40% landsmanna virkjunina vera mistök. Gamalt spakmæli segir að ef maður er á rangri leið þá sé aldrei of seint að snúa við. Frá sjónarhóli náttúruverndar skiptir mestu að hætt sé við áður en byrjað er að fylla uppistöðulónið sem veldur mestum náttúruspjöllum. Sjálf stíflan veldur tiltölulega litlum skemmdum miðað við allt það landflæmi sem á að fara undir vatn. En þar að auki má færa efnahagsleg rök fyrir því að það sé ávinningur af því að stöðva framkvæmdirnar núna. Hugsum þennan möguleika til enda.

Þjóðarsálfræðingurinn rannsakar orsakirnar að baki því að Íslendingar eru svo miklar liðleskjur og hræðslupúkar að þeir nenna ekki að berjast fyrir framtíð landsins síns!

Á síðustu áratugum hefur ríkt hér á landi andlegt ástand sem minnir fremur á uppgjöf en það að hvaðeina hafi verið gefið frjálst. Eins og hendir hamagang virðist hávaðinn í kringum frelsið vera í fyrstu merki um gleði en síðan kemur í ljós að ekki er allt með felldu. Frelsi er ekki það að missa stjórn á sér heldur hitt að menn hafi sjálfir taumhaldið, en ekki valdið sem er kennt við yfirboðara. Líklega hefur íslenska þjóðin sjaldan staðið andspænis eins miklum vanda og um þessar mundir. Hún er algerlega sjálfstæð, óbundin af hersáttmálum eða hugmyndafræðilegri þjónkun við erlend stjórnmálaöfl sem íbúarnir báru á sínum tíma lítð skynbragð á, nýkomnir í hringiðu nútímans, ekki af eigin vilja og getu til þátttöku heldur vegna heimsstyrjaldar sem jók aðeins hagsmunina. Hið sorglega við það að vera þjóð sem er ekki lengur öðrum háð er hvað hún er hirðulaus, ekki aðeins um landið sem náttúru heldur um hugsanagang og stjórnmál á öðrum sviðum en hagnýtum smámunum. Í öðrum en þeim er flest látið draslast.