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"Waste shouldn't be stored in cheapest possbile way"

Mine manager Ulf Daehlin speaks to chair of Energy and Environment Committee Ola Elevestuen and other liberal party members at the top of the Sydvaranger mine.
Mine manager Ulf Daehlin speaks to chair of Energy and Environment Committee Ola Elevestuen and other liberal party members at the top of the Sydvaranger mine.

The Norwegian Liberal party visited the Sydvaranger iron-ore mine in Bjørnevatn outside Kirkenes to learn more about dumping of mining waste to sea.

Location

“It’s good for politicians to see with their own eyes the things they have opinions about,” party press officer Jan Christian Kolstø says.

The Liberal party is vocal about its opposition to the practice of dumping mining waste in Norwegian fjords, and members pointed out that Norway is one of a handful of nations in the world that still allow the practice of dumping into the fjord system.

“The former government allowed it and the present government has not stopped it,” Ola Elvestuen, deputy to parliament and chair of the Energy and Environment Committee told BarentsObserver. “Just because you have the mineral wealth does not mean you should be allowed to store the waste in the cheapest possible way, the old fashioned way of just putting it in the sea.” 

Elevestuen says waste should be stored on land where it cannot harm the marine ecosystem and the protected salmon populations in the Bøkfjord and Repparfjord. “It’s an interesting paradox that what we do here is strictly forbidden in Russia, while what they put up in the air would be strictly forbidden in Norway. Instead of learning from each other and both improving, they keep putting things into the air and we keep putting waste into the fjord.” 

The group of nearly 60 party representatives walked through a guided tour at the Sydvaranger mine including a hike to the top for a bird’s-eye view and a short lecture in the history of the tunnel in which local residents lived during World War II. 

“People have a picture of our party as being opposed to the mining industry. We’re not. We’re just opposed to dumping in the fjords,” head of organization for the party Kjartan Almenning says.