Norway will allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords

Norway will allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental groups that tried to block the plan, the Guardian reported.
After a 15-year dispute, private company Nordic Mining has been granted permission to dump 170 million tonnes of mine waste on the bottom of the Fjord, which critics say will endanger marine life and put biodiversity at risk.
Norway joins only two other countries, Papua New Guinea and Turkey, that are still issuing new licenses to dump waste at sea.
The court ordered Friends of the Earth Norway and Nature and Youth, the two environmental organizations that brought the case, to pay legal costs of around 110,000 pounds. They may still take the case to an appeals court, but say their resources are currently too limited to continue the fight, although they hope for outside support.
Truls Gullausen, head of Friends of the Earth Norway, said: "This goes against the Aarhus Convention, which states that access to justice in environmental matters should not be financially prohibitive. We just don't have the money, to conduct the case at this time".
He said the ruling could discourage future lawsuits aimed at protecting the environment against commercial forces.
Critics have accused the government of ignoring its own advisers, the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research.
Geir Hüse, a senior research fellow at the institute, said: "Our role is to do research and advise the administration on the likely consequences, but the decisions are made by the politicians and the administration."
"Our assessment of this project has evolved over time. Today, we come to the conclusion that we do not recommend the disposal of marine debris, as it could threaten the healthy and sustainable ecosystem in the Fjord Fjord," Hüse added.
He said the fjord was an important spawning ground for cod, as well as a migration route for salmon from four rivers, and pointed to the risk of dispersal of fine particles into wider sea spaces.
"There is a high probability that they will spread outside the fjord with unknown consequences," he argued.
Nordic Mining will mine garnet, a unique mineral used as an abrasive, and rutile, an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide that is used in paints, cosmetics, medical implants and artificial joints, among other things.
The company has received permission to dump 4 million tons of waste a year, but Nordic Mining's CEO, Ivar S. Fosum, said the company plans to dump 1.2 million tons a year. The area designated for disposal is 4 square km, which represents 4% of the bottom of the fjord.
"It's scary that the judicial system shows so little understanding of environmental rights," Gulowsen said.
  The claimants argue that the ruling is in breach of the EU's Water Framework Directive, which they say has been misinterpreted in the case.
"It is disturbing that Norway still practices dumping waste into the sea," said the environmentalist. "Perhaps this shows an old-fashioned attitude towards the sea that treats it as 'What is not seen is not thought of'. It is the exact opposite of what should be expected of a maritime nation."
Norway came under fire earlier this week after parliament voted to allow commercial deep-sea mining on its seabed, despite warnings that it could be devastating to marine life.
A Norwegian government spokesman said: "There has never been a dispute that mining waste has environmental consequences, whether it is disposed of on land or in water. In this particular case, the parties agreed that land disposal is not a better option for the protection of the environment from disposal at sea. There are currently no alternatives for storing such volumes of mining waste"./BGNES