Protesting the sale of one Iceland’s natural resources, geothermal energy, singer Bjork delivered a petition signed by almost 15% of the entire population to Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. The previous government approved a sale of HS Orka to a Canadian energy company, Magma
The deal to sell Iceland’s HS Orka to Canadian-based geothermal firm Magma Energy Corp (MXY.TO) was approved by a parliamentary oversight committee last year, but has faced public opposition since — most notably from Bjork.
The Icelandic singer, who is known for her political activism, has said that Icelanders should be allowed to decide through a referendum whether access to the country’s natural resources should be privatised.
…The sale of Orka to Magma was agreed to by Iceland’s previous government, which was brought down by the financial crisis.…reviews of the Orka sale were completed by the current government.
Privatization of public resources rarely seems to work out for the public. In the US, one can look at Kentucky dominated by the coal industry where lawmakers use the phrase “economically poor but coal-rich” without blushing. Take a look at the bottled water industry in India or the Fiji Islands and look at big centralized wind farms for examples of how little of the resource extracted benefits the public.
Public resources belong to the public and no extraction industry is more guilty of raping the public than the mining industry. Guaranteed rights by the Mining Act of 1872 and while the act only applies to federal lands, the culture of entitlement and destruction pervades the industry.
