SOS from Iceland
by - 16.09.2006 18:52
No matter the environmental and social cost, no matter the ever increasing protests from the Icelandic and international communities and the intensifying warnings fom the scientific sector, the Icelandic government is hellbent on going ahead with its plan to inundate the projected Halslon reservoir at Karahnjukar between 15-30 September 2006.
An arms manufacturer and other corporations want to build in a nature reserve in Iceland.
August 2006
The Icelandic highlands are the last great expanse of true wilderness left in Western Europe. Now the country's hydroelectric potential has been targeted by multinational corporations, who intend to establish large-scale heavy industry in these hitherto pristine hinterlands. These multinational corporations - willingly helped by the Icelandic government - are about to produce an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.
A series of gigantic dams is already under construction at Karahnjukar in the eastern highlands of Iceland. These dams are designated solely to generate energy for one massive ALCOA aluminium smelter to be built by war-profiteers Bechtel in the beautiful fjord of Reydarfjordur, and due to be operational in 2007. The national grid will not derive a single kilowatt from it for domestic use. The natural habitat of many rare and endangered plants and animals will be submerged, lost, destroyed.
Other aluminium corporations are greedily lining up for the cheap energy supply promised by future hydro-electric dam projects planned all over the Icelandic highlands.
Incredibly, some areas earmarked for destruction - such as Kringilsarrani and Thjorsarver in the southern highlands - are protected under Icelandic and international law. All are of outstanding natural beauty and their unique botanical, geological, biological and ecological characteristics are of universal scientific importance.
Thus far the Icelandic government has not hesitated to use tactics such as personal threats and professional persecution against individuals who oppose its energy policies, and Icelandic environmentalists are fighting a difficult battle that they predict will not be won overnight.
The Icelandic High Court ruled in June 2005 that the ALCOA factory's planning permission is invalid as the company has not produced a proper environmental impact assessment, yet the building of the factory continues as if nothing had happened!
more:
http://www.savingiceland.org
"Warum erlauben wir es einer Handvoll PolitikerInnen, Entscheidungen über Schicksal und Zukunft unseres Naturerbes zu treffen, die noch viele Generationen nach uns verurteilen werden? Warum bringen wir nicht den Mut, die Solidarität und die Klugheit auf, diesen Wahnsinn aufzuhalten?"
Gudmundur Pall Olafsson
Naturforscher, Autor, Fotograf
Isländischer Staudamm auf wackeligem Boden
Island baut den höchsten Staudamm Europas - mitten in einem Erdbebengebiet. Regierung verschwieg dem Parlament vor dem Baubeschluss die Risiken. Gegner rufen zu weltweiten Aktionstagen auf...
Mehr: taz, 4.9.2006:
http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/09/04/a0099.1/text
August 2006
The Icelandic highlands are the last great expanse of true wilderness left in Western Europe. Now the country's hydroelectric potential has been targeted by multinational corporations, who intend to establish large-scale heavy industry in these hitherto pristine hinterlands. These multinational corporations - willingly helped by the Icelandic government - are about to produce an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.
A series of gigantic dams is already under construction at Karahnjukar in the eastern highlands of Iceland. These dams are designated solely to generate energy for one massive ALCOA aluminium smelter to be built by war-profiteers Bechtel in the beautiful fjord of Reydarfjordur, and due to be operational in 2007. The national grid will not derive a single kilowatt from it for domestic use. The natural habitat of many rare and endangered plants and animals will be submerged, lost, destroyed.
Other aluminium corporations are greedily lining up for the cheap energy supply promised by future hydro-electric dam projects planned all over the Icelandic highlands.
Incredibly, some areas earmarked for destruction - such as Kringilsarrani and Thjorsarver in the southern highlands - are protected under Icelandic and international law. All are of outstanding natural beauty and their unique botanical, geological, biological and ecological characteristics are of universal scientific importance.
Thus far the Icelandic government has not hesitated to use tactics such as personal threats and professional persecution against individuals who oppose its energy policies, and Icelandic environmentalists are fighting a difficult battle that they predict will not be won overnight.
The Icelandic High Court ruled in June 2005 that the ALCOA factory's planning permission is invalid as the company has not produced a proper environmental impact assessment, yet the building of the factory continues as if nothing had happened!
more:
http://www.savingiceland.org
"Warum erlauben wir es einer Handvoll PolitikerInnen, Entscheidungen über Schicksal und Zukunft unseres Naturerbes zu treffen, die noch viele Generationen nach uns verurteilen werden? Warum bringen wir nicht den Mut, die Solidarität und die Klugheit auf, diesen Wahnsinn aufzuhalten?"
Gudmundur Pall Olafsson
Naturforscher, Autor, Fotograf
Isländischer Staudamm auf wackeligem Boden
Island baut den höchsten Staudamm Europas - mitten in einem Erdbebengebiet. Regierung verschwieg dem Parlament vor dem Baubeschluss die Risiken. Gegner rufen zu weltweiten Aktionstagen auf...
Mehr: taz, 4.9.2006:
http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/09/04/a0099.1/text