Saving Iceland

Natural wonders are in danger.
Go see them before it’s too late.

The residents described « a mini-tsunami ». A toxic one.

Last Monday, the red mud reservoir of an alumina plant ruptured in Hungary, near Ajka, 165km west of Budapest. As a result, 1.1 million cubic meters of red mud wiped out several villages through waves more than 2 meters high. It flooded 40 square kilometers of land, including affluents of the Danube, then reached one of Europe’s longest river on Thursday morning. So far, 7 people have been killed, 1 is still missing, and more than 150 have been injured, mostly by chemical burns. The death toll is still expected to rise.

As we write these lines, surrounding villages are being evacuated as the structure threatens to break in another point, which would result in another 500 000 cubic meters flooding the area.

The disastrous chemical accident has been declared Hungary’s largest and most dangerous environmental catastrophe, exceeding by far the 130000 cubic meters of cyanide-tainted water that spilled in 2000 in Baia Mare, Romania. Ten years later, traces of cyanide are still found in the area. It is worth noting that this cyanide was in a liquid form, therefore very quickly carried aways by the river whereas the thick red mud will sit there for years, sipping into the ground and reaching ground waters.
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With tears in my eyes i write these words I never believed I would. The flooding of Kárahnjúkar has now begun.

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.