comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
Campaigners led by artist and actress Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen are blocking the entrance to the ministries, and have received support from the international superstar Greta Thunberg.
Images of Norwegian indigenous people being carried away by Norwegian police are going around the world. And worse Norwegian advertising is hard to find. The campaigners know that, of course.
And thus the government becomes miserable, or rather lacking handling of the Supreme Court judgment in 2021 clearly for all who will see:
Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap) or his state secretaries can appear on all channels and tell where unclear the judgment is, and where complicated the matter is.
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well, so It’s not complicated:
The Supreme Court clearly established in a judgment in October 2021 that the concessions for the 151 turbines on the Fosen peninsula two plants were invalid and violates international law. The reason is that, according to our highest court, the development of wind power will have a significant negative effect on the reindeer owners’ ability to exercise their culture, which we as a large society have committed ourselves to.
The complicating factor is that the Supreme Court also wrote that the reindeer owners’ rights will be violated if satisfactory mitigation measures are not put in place.
The Supreme Court judgment apparently came as a surprise to the ministry. And then you might think that the then oil and energy minister Marte Mjøs Persen set heaven and earth in motion to find out what These measures could be?
No. Nothing indicates that.
On the contrary, it looks as if she did almost nothing, until she was replaced by Terje Aasland in March last year. He doesn’t seem to have done much either.
Also read: This is not the Alta action again
If we are going to be negative, we can find ourselves thinking that the delay must either be due to ineptitude – or a deliberate tactic. That the political leadership in the ministry had hoped and believed that the Fosen row would pass by itself.
One of them who is just as negative is law professor Geir Ulfstein, who investigated the Sámi’s protection for the government way back in 2013. Already half a year ago, he told Nationen:
“It is highly objectionable that almost a year after the Supreme Court verdict, the ministry has not come up with a plan for how the government will deal with the verdict”.
The professor also believes that the government’s work has not been a “credible process”.
On the other hand:
The current government has had solid backing for the Fosen development from the other parties in the Storting. Nor have Erna Solberg (H) and her government partners from KrF, Venstre and Frp ever advocated stopping the 151 wind turbines.
Gunnar Stavrum: The Sami’s demand to remove wind turbines costs NOK three million per reindeer
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It is also easy to forget that SV was in government for the entire period when the first concessions were granted for the extensive Fosen developments.
Storting representative Lars Haltbrekken (SV) could receive several questions about this from a critical press.
He who yesterday went hard and with a smooth face summoned Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) to the Storting to explain how he wants to end the human rights violation at Fosen.
To put it this way: There are few signs that the environment ministers Helen Bjørnøy (SV), Erik Solheim (SV) and Bård Vegar Solhjell (SV) did so much to stop the human rights violations at the time.
But we in the press can indeed also be critical of ourselves:
The easiest thing in the world is now to go to the government quarter and give speaking time to the activists who have managed to block the government offices two days in a row.
Or be a microphone stand for a government paralyzed in action that tells how immensely complicated the matter is.
Both parts are important journalism. But it is also good journalism to try to bring out more facts in the case, for example:
- What will the consequences be if the 151 turbines are closed, both for the power situation in Trøndelag and for the green shift?
- How many Sami families will be affected by the development, and where do they live?
- Which mitigating measures have been discussed, and which new ones may be on the way?
- What can be done to bring about constructive conversations between the parties?
Read also: For or against windmills, Greta Thunberg?
Today there is full confrontation, where both parties deserve critical questions – including the reindeer herding industry, which has been criticized for a lack of willingness to negotiate.
Basically, there is little doubt that the responsibility lies with the government. They have received a Supreme Court judgment against them, and that judgment cannot be pretended not to exist.
In the first instance, it might have helped the willingness to negotiate if the government had at least acknowledged this responsibility, and said that here society at large has granted concessions and started development before the legal basis is clear, and we apologize for that.
In any case, I do not think it is realistic to believe that the 151 wind turbines on the Fosenhalvøya will be demolished.
The investments and costs of demolition, as well as the consequences for the power supply, are probably too great for that. Perhaps we are in a situation where we have to recognize that what is done is done.
Also read: Let the wind turbines at Fosen stand
But maybe can some be demolished. And then it’s about the way forward. About how we can prevent something like this from happening again. And about how society at large can possibly strengthen Sami culture and Sami identity in other areas.
Perhaps the Sami indigenous people are also looking for a way out – a way out where full confrontation with possible loss does not have to be the final result.
Such a way out has, in my opinion, many responsibilities to find.
Not least the politicians who were there to bless the turbines, but who today happily side with the protesters.
