This was confirmed by Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) when he gave an account of the inflamed Fosen case to the Storting on Monday.
See the report directly here:
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There he pointed out, among other things, that reindeer herding and the Sami Parliament believe that the judgment from the Supreme Court – which states that the concession granted to two wind turbines on Fosen violates the Sami’s rights – cannot be read in any other way than that the wind turbines must be demolished.
– The Ministry’s assessment that there is no legal basis for such an interpretation. Nor does the verdict mean that the concessions for the wind power plants at Storheia and Roan have lapsed. Until new decisions come into place, the wind power plants are operated in accordance with the original licences. The wind power companies are therefore not doing anything illegal, said Aasland.
This is the Fosen case
Around 1,800 reindeer owned by 32 people have their home in the Fosen reindeer herding district. The same applies to the wind farm Fosen vind, which is Norway’s largest wind farm.
The Supreme Court ruled in October 2021 that the licenses for the two facilities in the park were invalid, and constituted a human rights violation against the reindeer herding Sami in the area, and their right to cultural practice.
Last week Sami activists chained themselves to Norwegian ministries in a large-scale action against these parks at Fosen.
The dramatic protests came as a result of the fact that 500 days have recently passed since the verdict, and the government still had time to do anything with the wind power plants.
After a week of protests, the demonstrators got the government to speak, and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre made an official apology that it has taken so long.
The question of what will happen to the mills is still open. The Supreme Court judgment does not say that the mills must be demolished, but points out that it is possible to avoid the violation of human rights by implementing adequate mitigating measureswhich will compensate for the impact the reindeer herding Sami have on their grazing cycle.
During March, Aasland will set up a committee that will provide input on the matter, Aasland reveals. He could not reveal when the ministry’s measures will be in place, but that he wants it to happen as soon as possible.
Aasland also said that the license for the facilities still applies.
– The verdict does not mean that the concession behind the wind power plants has lapsed. This means that the companies are not doing anything illegal.
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Aasland acknowledged that it is not satisfactory that the government has spent over 500 days dealing with the case following the Supreme Court’s decision, and that he himself is not satisfied that so much time has passed. But he denied that the government has trained the matter.
– Can’t figure it out
SV’s Lars Haltbrekken said on the podium that the government is trying to distance itself from the Supreme Court verdict.
– But President, it is a judgment that cannot be ignored, he added.
Haltbrekken and SV want the wind turbines demolished.
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33 people run reindeer herding at Fosen: None of them are in Oslo
– Grotesque
After Aasland’s presentation, the various party groups were given five minutes each to comment on the matter from the floor of the Storting.
The Labor Party’s Marianne Sivertsen Næss went along with the FRP’s proposal to take Norway out of international conventions that give indigenous peoples strong rights.
The seas: Sylvi Listhaug on the Fosen conflict: – We cannot let one part of the population run over the rest
– At the weekend we could hear the FRP in familiar style. Sylvi Listhaug questions whether Norway should actually support human rights. Of course we will. What the FRP does contributes to further polarization and greater distance between people. That’s the last thing we need, she said.
Næss warned against extreme views on both sides, and criticized proposals from SV and Trøndelag MDG to give the Sami the last word in similar cases in the future.
– It is not a passable road either, she said.
Haltbrekken in SV had a clear message for the FRP:
– Your proposal will put us in the same position as authoritarian regimes.
Lan Marie Berg in MDG calls the FRP’s logic a “delusion” and a “dangerous misunderstanding”. She calls the proposal itself “grotesque.”
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