Entry

Saving Iceland

Apr 9th, 2007 10:02
Harish Kohli, http://www.awimaway.com

At one time in the 1920s, international companies wanted to buy land 
near Gullfoss, in the southwestern quarter of Iceland, and build a 
hydroelectric plant there. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of a 
local farmer, helped lead the opposition to the plant. As a protest 
she walked all the way to Reykjavík and even threatened to throw 
herself over the falls if the sale went through. Although the 
government did not intervene, she and her fellow opponents prevailed, 
and the land was given over to a nature preserve. 
Iceland's scenery has been shaped by fire and ice: it is a frozen land 
that is always letting off steam. More than 200 volcanoes, U-shaped 
valleys, jagged lava fields, hot springs and geysers and the largest 
icecap in Europe – bigger than all the mainland European glaciers put 
together – go to create a rugged, bizarre landscape unlike anything 
else on Earth. About 80% of Iceland’s land is lava desert, glaciers or 
lakes; the only arable areas are on the coast. Of the 300,000 or so 
Icelanders who sparsely populate this island, some two-thirds live in 
the capital, Reykjavik.
Until recently, the Tómasdóttir story was a one-off. Icelanders have 
been so used to having clean air, clean water, clean everything that 
they scarcely noticed when these marvellous assets were threatened.
Things Are Changing – For Worse
The colossal $3 billion Kárahnjúkar dam, due to be completed this 
year, will submerge under 150 metres of water a hitherto untouched 57 
square km of wilderness, boasting gushing rivers, thundering 
waterfalls, multi-coloured mountains and mossy highlands ablaze with 
flowers. The project, designed solely to drive an aluminium smelter 
further down the valley at Reydalfjordur, has government support and 
will be paid for by Landsvirkjun, the national power company. The 
hydroelectricity it generates is contracted for sale for 50 years to 
the American aluminium giant Alcoa, which is closing two smelters in 
the US and relocating to Iceland as a cost-cutting measure.
After what it claims were extensive community input and environmental 
studies, Alcoa is fast completing construction of the Fjarðaál 
("aluminum of the fjords") smelter, which is expected to create 
hundreds of jobs in Iceland, both in the facility and in supporting 
industries. Late in March this year, the first ship carrying cargo for 
the smelter arrived in Reydarfjordur. The Pine Arrow was bringing 
nearly 40,000 tonnes of alumina from Western Australia, after a voyage 
of 44 days. It takes almost two tonnes of alumina to produce one tonne 
of aluminium. 
So far so good, it may seem. Four hundred jobs, an addition to the 
economy and the harnessing of natural power.
Karahnjukar Dam 
But a movement called Saving Iceland, a coalition of groups opposing 
further development, is up in arms. The area of the dam is one of the 
main breeding grounds for reindeer. It is a protected nesting ground 
for thousands of pink-footed geese and a favourite haunt of the snowy 
owl, ptarmigan and the majestic gyrfalcon. The rock formations – red, 
black and all colours of the rainbow – are a unique record of 10,000 
years of geological and climatic change, providing clues to scientists 
worldwide, studying, among other things, global warming. All this is 
to disappear under water. The environmental impact of the project 
spreads much wider than this highland wilderness and the fjord below. 
Other rivers will be disturbed, the habitat of animals such as seals 
will be destroyed and an officially protected area, Kringilsarrani, 
will be damaged. Many geologists fear catastrophic flooding may result 
from frequent glacial surges and eruptions in Kárahnjúkar's catchment 
area. They also question the wisdom of building a huge dam on a 
substructure weakened by geothermal fissures. 
“It is a very rare nature that we are the guardians of,” says Olafur 
Pall Sigurdsson, one of the organisers of Saving Iceland, “and we are 
squandering it.”
Last September, Omar Ragnarsson, one of the country’s most respected 
television reporters, announced that he could no longer cover the 
Kárahnjúkar project with impartiality and would campaign against it. 
Answering his call, more than 8,000 people attended an anti-dam rally 
in Reykjavik. In 2006 Andri Snaer Magnason, a poet, playwright and 
novelist, published Dreamland, an overwhelmingly convincing book that 
puts Iceland’s environmental issues into a global perspective. 
Alcoa acknowledges that any human development cause changes within the 
environment. It claims to have a team of 60 people, all experts in 
their field, working to design the project in keeping with Alcoa’s 
long-term goals for sustainable development. 
Iceland’s Goals
What about Iceland’s long-term goals? It is hard to reconcile Alcoa’s 
words with the reality of this monster, which dominates the landscape –
 the main dam 190m high, 730m wide and 53 km of tunnels, the largest 
structure of its kind in Europe. Nor is it much consolation that Alcoa 
has launched its “Ten Million Trees” programme, starting with the 
planting of seedlings in the Reydarfjordur area. True, Iceland’s is a 
stark landscape, so deforested that the government used to (and 
perhaps still does) supply tree seeds to residents and ask them to 
scatter the seeds from their cars wherever they went.
Can Alcoa Forest possibly make up for Alcoa’s forced violation of the 
land?
Sensitive eco-tourists can contribute to Iceland’s economy and well-
being, without doing damage, by travelling lightly, taking only 
photographs and leaving only footprints. AwimAway’s Iceland Gold tour 
(www.awimaway.com) takes in all the magical wonders of Iceland in a 
green and environmentally friendly way.
Harish Kohli
http://www.awimaway.com