The flooding of Kárahnjúkar.

national | environment | other press Friday September 29, 2006 11:07 by Lumsk

Water levels rise, wildlife is drowned and the irreversible ill effects on the environment and climate change stare us in the face as The Icelandic Goverment plans its next environmental catastrophe.

Many of you may remember The Saving Iceland Campaign who toured Ireland earlier this year visiting amongst others The Dublin Anarchist Book Fair and then travelling to the West Coast to spend time with the Shell to Sea Campaign, we talked about how the Icelandic Goverment ,in the quest for profits, is destroying the natural wilderness of Iceland through massive programs of Industrialisation. The building of huge American owned aluminium smelters powered by electrcity from a devastating Dam building program, is polluting the environment with poisoninous gasses and out flow, and is flooding 1000's of square Km's of wilderness, displacing farmers, drowning wildlife and causing untold damaging effects to the climate.
So it is with sadness that I have to report an email that i recieved today from friends in Iceland, despite a protest camp this summer attended by many people from around the globe, who took part in protest and direct action the flooding of Karahnjukar has begun.

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 this morning, 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.

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, Alcan, Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic government and any
other corporation profiting from this murder will pay for the death of
this great wilderness.

www.savingiceland.org