saving iceland electronic blockade TODAY!
helen | 17.08.2005 10:46 | Ecology | Technology | World
Electronic blockade Wednesday 17. August from 10 am.
Lets force Landsvirkjun to face up to what we think of their destruction of Iceland for their own personal profit and that of multinational corporations.
Lets force Landsvirkjun to face up to what we think of their destruction of Iceland for their own personal profit and that of multinational corporations.
It's high time to paralyse the destruction of Icelandic nature.
Electronic blockade Wednesday 17. August from 10 am.
Lets force Landsvirkjun to face up to what we think of their destruction of
Iceland for their own personal profit and that of multinational corporations.
We can do this by telephoning them, sending faxes to them or e-mailing them.
There are plenty of questions we would like to ask them.
For example: How comes Impregilo where at such an advantage during the bidding
process for the contracting of the building of the Kárahnjúar dams? Was there a
leak of information? Who hired Bechtel to build the ALCOA factory in Iceland if
it was not ALCOA themselves? Could it have been Landsvirkjun employee Sigurdur
St. Arnalds who hired them? What was discussed at meetings between Mr. Arnalds
and Bechtel in Montreal "Long before even Alcoa got into the picture"? If that
is the case what did Mr. Arnalds get for arranging the contract for Bechtel to
build an ALCOA factory in Iceland? What are the names of the various
environmental scientists that Landsvirkjun have threatened or persecuted when
they delivered scientific results that were considered inconvenient by
Landsvirkjun. Whose environmental assesments did Landsvirkjun falsify
systematically?
Lets have a looooooong good talk with them, send them huge attachments or
endless black fax documents. Put their e-mails on post lists and spread the
word as wide as possible.
Greetings from SavingIceland
Landsvirkjun, head offices
telephone: 00354-515-9000
fax: 00354-515-9007
e-mail:
landsvirkjun@lv.is
Friðrik Sophusson, director of Landsvirkjun
telephone: 00354-515-9011
e-mail: fridrik@lv.is
Jóhannes Geir Sigurgeirsson, president of the board of Landsvirkjun
e-mail: johannes@lv.is
Electronic blockade Wednesday 17. August from 10 am.
Lets force Landsvirkjun to face up to what we think of their destruction of
Iceland for their own personal profit and that of multinational corporations.
We can do this by telephoning them, sending faxes to them or e-mailing them.
There are plenty of questions we would like to ask them.
For example: How comes Impregilo where at such an advantage during the bidding
process for the contracting of the building of the Kárahnjúar dams? Was there a
leak of information? Who hired Bechtel to build the ALCOA factory in Iceland if
it was not ALCOA themselves? Could it have been Landsvirkjun employee Sigurdur
St. Arnalds who hired them? What was discussed at meetings between Mr. Arnalds
and Bechtel in Montreal "Long before even Alcoa got into the picture"? If that
is the case what did Mr. Arnalds get for arranging the contract for Bechtel to
build an ALCOA factory in Iceland? What are the names of the various
environmental scientists that Landsvirkjun have threatened or persecuted when
they delivered scientific results that were considered inconvenient by
Landsvirkjun. Whose environmental assesments did Landsvirkjun falsify
systematically?
Lets have a looooooong good talk with them, send them huge attachments or
endless black fax documents. Put their e-mails on post lists and spread the
word as wide as possible.
Greetings from SavingIceland
Landsvirkjun, head offices
telephone: 00354-515-9000
fax: 00354-515-9007
e-mail:
landsvirkjun@lv.is Friðrik Sophusson, director of Landsvirkjun
telephone: 00354-515-9011
e-mail:
fridrik@lv.is Jóhannes Geir Sigurgeirsson, president of the board of Landsvirkjun
e-mail:
johannes@lv.is
helen
e-mail:
nickdrake@rulestheworld.co.uk
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
.
18.08.2005 11:20
471 2951
470 2602
515 9241
more email addresses here-
eg-
.
and their response was:
18.08.2005 12:08
Dear ***
The message we got from you seems to indicate that you have received some
misinformation. It is not easy to reply to such messages, but I will try
all the same. We try our best to inform the public about the Karahnjzkar
Project and that has been well received in Iceland as well as abroad.
1. The Karahnjukar Project is divided into many contracts, of which two are
with Impregilo. Impregilo builds the central dam at Karahnjukar and the
drilled tunnels to the intake above the power station. These parts of the
Project amount to just over 50% of all contract amounts. Impregilo is only
one of about ten contractors working on the Karahnjzkar Project. All
contracts are based on the result of bidding procedures and reglulations
within the European Community. All contractors receive the same documents
on which to base their bids. Impregilo did not have any information that
the other bidders did not have.
In most cases there is a broad spectrum of bid amounts for any given
contract, as the contractors make their own evaluation of the work, working
methods, geological risk and other risk and estimated profit. For reasons
only known to Impregilo, that company was the lowest bidder for these two
contracts. The other bids were from European and Icelandic companies and
were in this case for some reason considerably higher than the estimates
prepared by our engineering consultants while Impregilo's bids were more in
tune with them.
2. Landsvirkjun has nothing to do with contracting for the construction of
the Alcoa factory. Mr Arnalds works 70% of his time for us as a spokesman
for the Karahnjukar Project and part time at his private engineering
consulting company, which among many other engineering assignments provides
technical assistance to Bechtel for the Alcoa smelter. Bechtel and HRV,
their Icelandic engineering associates, were hired by Alcoa (not Mr
Arnalds!) after competition with other international groups. There has been
no conflict of interest for us related to this arrangement of the work of
Mr Arnalds.
3. Landsvirkjun has never threatened or persecuted environmental scientists
(or anyone else for that matter). A large number of very competent
scientists, mostly Icelandic, have contributed to the research of the
Karahnjzkar Project over the years. The environmental research for this
project was more extensive and thorough than for any previous project in
Iceland. The research for the environmental impact assessment for any
project in Iceland is evaluated independently by government agencies with
specialists of their own according to European Union standards. These
independent evaluations have never shown any falsification of environmental
assessments by anyone in Iceland.
If you are interested in learning more facts about the Karahnjzkar Project
and the environmental issues related to it, I recommend that you look at
www.karahnjukar.is where you can among other things read the environmental
assessment report and the underlying research findings in English.
Sincerely,
Dear Zoe
The message we got from you seems to indicate that you have received some
misinformation. It is not easy to reply to such messages, but I will try
all the same. We try our best to inform the public about the Karahnjzkar
Project and that has been well received in Iceland as well as abroad.
1. The Karahnjukar Project is divided into many contracts, of which two are
with Impregilo. Impregilo builds the central dam at Karahnjukar and the
drilled tunnels to the intake above the power station. These parts of the
Project amount to just over 50% of all contract amounts. Impregilo is only
one of about ten contractors working on the Karahnjzkar Project. All
contracts are based on the result of bidding procedures and reglulations
within the European Community. All contractors receive the same documents
on which to base their bids. Impregilo did not have any information that
the other bidders did not have.
In most cases there is a broad spectrum of bid amounts for any given
contract, as the contractors make their own evaluation of the work, working
methods, geological risk and other risk and estimated profit. For reasons
only known to Impregilo, that company was the lowest bidder for these two
contracts. The other bids were from European and Icelandic companies and
were in this case for some reason considerably higher than the estimates
prepared by our engineering consultants while Impregilo's bids were more in
tune with them.
2. Landsvirkjun has nothing to do with contracting for the construction of
the Alcoa factory. Mr Arnalds works 70% of his time for us as a spokesman
for the Karahnjukar Project and part time at his private engineering
consulting company, which among many other engineering assignments provides
technical assistance to Bechtel for the Alcoa smelter. Bechtel and HRV,
their Icelandic engineering associates, were hired by Alcoa (not Mr
Arnalds!) after competition with other international groups. There has been
no conflict of interest for us related to this arrangement of the work of
Mr Arnalds.
3. Landsvirkjun has never threatened or persecuted environmental scientists
(or anyone else for that matter). A large number of very competent
scientists, mostly Icelandic, have contributed to the research of the
Karahnjzkar Project over the years. The environmental research for this
project was more extensive and thorough than for any previous project in
Iceland. The research for the environmental impact assessment for any
project in Iceland is evaluated independently by government agencies with
specialists of their own according to European Union standards. These
independent evaluations have never shown any falsification of environmental
assessments by anyone in Iceland.
If you are interested in learning more facts about the Karahnjzkar Project
and the environmental issues related to it, I recommend that you look at
www.karahnjukar.is where you can among other things read the environmental
assessment report and the underlying research findings in English.
Sincerely,
^orsteinn Hilmarsson
uppl}singafulltrzi 7 Head of Corporate Communication
uppl}singafulltrzi 7 Head of Corporate Communication
z
more of their replies (& lies)
24.08.2005 10:59
Thank you for contacting us and letting us know about your concern. I can
only imagine that your question about buying land is your way of
indicating some kind of oposition to our selling electricity to aluminium
smelters. The message we got from you seems to indicate that you may have
received some misinformation about our planned hydropower project at
Karahnjukar, east Iceland. It is not easy to reply to such messages, but
I will try all the same. I am sure you want to be able to judge by
yourself what is the truth in this matter. We try our best to inform the
public about the Kárahnjúkar Project and that has been well received in
Iceland as well as abroad.
It is our firm belief that with careful planning and research, we can
develop hydro and geothermal power stations in an environmentally sound
way. Iceland?s track record confirms this. In order to clarify this, I
would appreciate if you took the time to consider the following points:
Sustainable electricity production in Iceland
Iceland is the only western country that produces all its electricity from
renewable natural resources. Furthermore, almost 90% of all heating is
accomplished with geothermal technology. This success is the result of
access to huge sustainable energy resources in the form of hydro and
geothermal power that is non-polluting and emission-free.
As yet, only about 17% of the country?s resources of economical and
environmentally sound electricity production potential have been developed.
In comparison, over 70% of the viable hydro potential has been harnessed in
other countries of Western Europe. Since the country has not gone nearly
as far in the development of these resources as other western countries,
Iceland has the opportunity to develop its resources with modern technology
and care to ensure that local negative environmental effects are minimal.
From the global aspect one can point out that the greenhouse effect in
Iceland due to electricity production and heating is negligible (less that
20 kg per person per year) compared to other western countries (4500 kg per
person per year in Germany, 6500 kg per person per year in the USA)
Strict environmental legislation ? democratic decision making
Comprehensive legislation on environmental impact assessment based on
European Union standards regulates the procedure when industrial and power
developments are planned in Iceland. This legislation ensures open debate,
ready access to information and democratic decision-making. Iceland is in
fact the only country in Europe that guarantees all members of the public
the right to participate in every environmental impact assessment process.
Local environmental impact
Construction of hydropower plants does result in local environmental
effects such as some disruption of land and vegetation. However, it can be
said that Iceland?s uninhabited central highlands and the country?s
inhospitable glacial rivers are ideal for such developments with minimal
negative effects. The glacial rivers are very cold and extremely groggy
with silt and mud. As a result there is very little fish in them and the
biosphere of the glacial rivers is undiversified and extremely tenacious.
The highlands are scarcely vegetated and uninhabited. Furthermore,
Iceland's enormous glaciers, the largest in Europe, acting as natural
reservoirs, along with abundant precipitation, secures the economy of
fairly small power plants scattered around the highland ridge causing
minimal impact on the surroundings.
Evaluation and acceptance of the Karahnjukar Hydro Project
The Karahnjukar project is a 690 MW hydro project in the north east of
Iceland that will be constructed between 2003-2007 to provide electricity
to an aluminium smelter owned by Alcoa on the east coast of Iceland. The
project area has been studied for the last two decades and final research
to complete environmental impact assessment (EIA) was done in 2000-2001.
The EIA process was completed in December 2001 with a ruling by the
Ministry for the Environment permitting the project. The Parliament of
Iceland passed an enabling act in April 2002 allowing the construction and
operation of the hydro station. This bill was passed with a vast majority,
with only 9 out of 63 members of Parliament voting against the project.
Recent polls show clear majority support among the Icelandic population for
the power project and support in the local communities of east Iceland is
overwhelming.
Europe?s largest wilderness area
Iceland?s wilderness areas encompass about 40 thousand square kilometres or
about 40% of the total area of the country. The wilderness area north of
the great glacier Vatnajökull is considered to be about 6200 square
kilometres. The Karahnjukar project?s affect on the area will be
reservoirs and dams and roads which can be said to affect about 820 square
kilometres, the reservoir being about 57 square kilometres. All other
structures are underground in tunnels and vaults ? and there will be no
power lines in the wilderness area. The wilderness north of Vatnajökull
will still count as by far the largest wilderness area in Western Europe
since the second largest one, Hardangervidda in Norway, is about 3400
square kilometres. The rugged roads for the project will be developed with
an eye to serve the purposes of travellers so they can enjoy the open
spaces and wilderness north of the big glacier. The government has in fact
plans for making the area into a national park with the reservoir on its
outskirts.
The use of electricity in Iceland
Iceland has now reached the stage where 70% of its primary energy
consumption is met by domestic, sustainable energy resources. The
remaining one-third comprises imported fossil fuels for motor vehicles and
the fishing fleet. Unharnessed hydro and geothermal energy could be
utilised in the future to produce energy for transportation purposes, once
new technology makes other energy forms, such as hydrogen, a viable option
as a fuel. Iceland is in the forefront of research in this field. An
international research programme with emphasis on the infrastructure of a
hydrogen-based society is already under way in Iceland with the
participation of government and the power sector.
Iceland ? a benchmark for other countries
Many countries look to Iceland as a leader in sustainable development in
the energy field. Icelandic scientists and engineers are sought after
throughout the world as consultants in the field of developing natural
energy resources. Among other things, the National Energy Authority of
Iceland has been responsible for running the UN?s Geothermal University for
many years training and educating specialists from all over the world in
the utilisation of geothermal energy for heating and electricity production
have been trained and educated.
For further information visit the following links:
www.landsvirkjun.com
www.karahnjukar.is
www.os.is
www.newenergy.is
www.bluelagoon.is
Sincerely,
Thorsteinn Hilmarsson
Landsvirkjun
rz