Norway to allow mining waste to be dumped in fjords
Norway to allow mining waste to be dumped in fjords
Environmental campaigners say move will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk
What a dumb move.
Norway once again demonstrating that their regard for the environment only extends so far as it does not affect corporate profits.
So when does teenage Thor show up?
Surely Slartibartfast doesn’t approve
Those are award winning fjords!
All those little fiddly bits.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Norway is to allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental organisations trying to block the plan.
The court ordered Friends of the Earth Norway and Nature and Youth, the two environmental organisations who brought the case, to pay legal costs of about £110,000.
Truls Gulowsen, the head of Friends of the Earth Norway, said: “This contravenes the Aarhus convention, which states that access to justice in environmental matters should not be financially prohibitive.
Today we conclude that we advise against marine waste disposal as it could jeopardise a healthy, sustainable ecosystem in the Førde fjord.”
Huse said the fjord was an important breeding ground for cod as well a migration route for salmon from four rivers, and pointed to the risk of fine particles being dispersed over a wider expanse of the sea.
Earlier this week, Norway faced criticism after parliament voted to allow commercial deep sea mining on its seabed, despite warnings that it could be devastating to marine life.
The original article contains 607 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Social democracy moment
Any ideas what the waste is? Is it quartz, arsenic, plutonium or something else?
Xanthates, Sodium Isobutyl Xanthate (SIBX) to be exact. Originally they planned on dumping 250 million tonnes of the stuff, but after revising their processes they are now planning a "significant reduction" of that, but not specifying how much exactly. Based on that revision they were granted an environmental license in 2020.
The exact impact on marine life is speculative, but I wouldn't eat anything from that fjord or go swimming there for the next 50 years. It's pretty toxic stuff.
It breaks down in carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen peroxide.
Edit: Here are some sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20221230071002id_/https://www.scirp.org/pdf/gep_2022122715084300.pdf https://open.uct.ac.za/items/f198e26b-097d-47db-b064-12cd7f306de2 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-016-7905-5 https://www.waterquality.gov.au/anz-guidelines/guideline-values/default/water-quality-toxicants/toxicants/xanthates-2000
And info about the mine itself by Nordic Mining: https://www.nordicmining.com/operations/engebo/
Great job!
Took a quick looking at CSC, and OCS. Pretty spicy stuff!
Later I’ll take a closer look at the sources too.
Concentrating is another big thing in this. If it stays below certain limits, it should be ok. In this case, the limit is probably very low.