Environment-protection group Saving Iceland is organizing an event in the Reykjavík Academy on Wednesday where Indian author and filmmaker Samarendra Das and Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason will discuss aluminum production in Iceland.
According to a Saving Iceland press release, Das fights “cultural genocide” through bauxite mining in developing countries. Together, Das and Magnason will lead a discussion with the purpose of “breaking down the myth of so-called ‘clean and green’ aluminum production in Iceland.”
Saving Iceland is currently protesting against the enlargement of the power plant on Hellisheidi heath between Reykjavík and Selfoss, claiming the purpose with the enlargement is to meet demand of heavy industry companies for more energy to enlarge the Nordurál-Century Aluminum smelter on Grundartangi in Hvalfjördur and possibly enlarge the Rio Tinto-Alcan smelter in Straumsvík in Hafnarfjördur.
Ásta Thorleifsdóttir, vice-chairman of Reykjavík Energy (OR), which operates the Hellisheidi power plant, said she welcomed criticism from Saving Iceland and therefore asked its members whether they would consider applying for a grant from OR.
Saving Iceland member Jaap Krater rejected her proposal saying that, although the group celebrates the fact that OR had begun listening to criticism, “the Hellisheidi power plant is still being enlarged for aluminum production and that is not a fact worth celebrating. Reykjavík Energy is still closely related to the heavy-industrialization of Iceland so we cannot accept a single dime from the company.”
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