– We are ending blockades, we are putting away the chains now. The action is not over, but we are done with civil disobedience for this time, says Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen to VG on Friday evening. – We are so grateful that the King wants to meet us. This is what Elle Nystad, head of NSR-Nuorat, says in a press release. Earlier this week, the Fosen campaigners sent an inquiry to the royal house. – Now they have received a response from the royal house and will have an audience with His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince next Monday, writes Deputy Director of Nature and Youth Tuva Mjelde Refsum in the press release. The castle confirms to news that the campaigners will meet the king and crown prince on Monday 16 October at 12:15. Waiting for an answer On Friday, the campaigners moved up to Slottsplassen where they were supposed to sit in silence and wait for an answer. Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen says they will wait a long time if they have to. – Here we have to sit and wait, and we can wait a long time, says Isaksen. – We just want to be listened to and for the Sami people, we have for several generations, our people have asked the king for help. In a way, you can say that it is Sami tradition to go straight to the king, she says. – We have nowhere else to go. We therefore humbly hope that His Majesty King Harald will meet with us and listen, says Elle Nystad, head of NSR-Nuorat. – Important historical signal Historian Harald Lindbach at the State Archives in Tromsø confirms that it has been a Sami tradition to go to the king. – This goes back a long way, and it was not unusual in the 17th and 18th centuries for individuals to make contact. Otherwise, it could be in connection with questions about rights to land, says Lindbach to news. He believes that it is more difficult to get through to the king now, but that the symbolic importance of the Fosen campaigners can be great. – The chance of getting through with such an inquiry was much greater in the period when the king was absolute and actually decided. But the way Norwegian democracy works today, the king does not have much leeway. It is also an important historical signal that is being given, says Lindbach. Closed 11 ministries – Now we are closing the state – again, said Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen on Friday morning. It has been two years since the Supreme Court ruled that the permit to build the wind power plant at Fosen in Trøndelag is invalid, because it violates the Sami’s rights. On Friday morning, the campaigners had a goal of closing as many doors as possible to the ministries. – When we block the ministries today, we will put responsibility on their ministers who will soon be on their way into the government’s highest decision-making body, the King in the Council of Ministers, she said. The shareholders have sat down outside the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Photo: Svend Even Hærra / news The activists sat down at 11 ministries. The police gradually removed several of them from the entrances to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture and Equality. Just after 11 o’clock, the campaigners announce that they are going to the castle square to gather there. – At the castle square, there will soon be an announcement about further development in the actions from some of the spokespersons, writes Nature and Youth in a press release. Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum asked the activists early on Friday morning if he could enter the Ministry of Finance, but he was not allowed to. – I can get to work, but I can’t get into the Ministry of Finance, said Vedum. Blocked the entrances to Statkraft On Wednesday, large demonstrations started in and outside the Storting. On Thursday, they moved out of central Oslo to Lysaker, where they blocked all the entrances to Statkraft. Many employees had to work from home offices. The shareholders say that they will hold everyone responsible for anything to do with the Fosen case. – And if anyone has escaped quite easily, it is the companies that are making a fortune from this human rights violation. That’s what Elle Nystad, head of the Norwegian Samirs Riksforbund’s youth organization (NSR-U) told the campaigners early on Thursday morning. Greta Thunberg arrived in Oslo on Thursday morning, and will participate in the actions on Friday as well. Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud / news Greta Thunberg takes part Greta Thunberg has also come to take part in the action, together with Swedish campaigners from the Fridays for Future climate movement. – For me, it is a matter of course that I will stand in solidarity with the young Sami who are fighting for basic human rights, Thunberg said. – Norway is showing itself internationally now. Geir Fuglseth is spokesperson for Fosen Vind. Photo: Statkraft Statkraft says they are complying with the provisions of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for what happens next in the case. – The ministry has now confirmed that the existing license states that we can produce as long as the case is ongoing, until a new decision has been made. We have had normal production in that time, Geir Fuglseth, spokesperson for Fosen Vind. Mediation underway The reindeer herders in the area and the developer of the facility started negotiations led by the National Ombudsman in May, with the aim of reaching an amicable solution. The parties have been silent about how the mediation is going until now. On Wednesday, one of the reindeer herders involved, Terje Haugen, who is head of Fovsen Njaarke Sijte, said that they are considering withdrawing from the mediation. Terje Haugen is head of Fovsen Njaarke Sijte. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB According to him, there has been little progress. – If nothing happens, it’s a waste of time and energy to keep doing something like that – it won’t be any different if we just meet and meet and nothing happens, he says. A spokesperson for Fosen Vind says they are hopeful that the mediation will lead to progress. – We actively contribute to that mediation with the reindeer husbandry and together with the state and OED to find that solution. But it is clear that there are demanding issues. But we have faith that we will come to a solution, says Geir Fuglseth. The Fosen case – possible outcome The permits for the wind power plants Storheia and Roan are invalid, ruled a unanimous Supreme Court in grand chamber on 11 October 2021. This applies to both the permit to operate the wind power plants and expropriation of the area the energy needs of Trondheim city. The state violates human rights because the wind power plants have significant negative consequences for the reindeer herding on Fosen, and thus threaten the reindeer herding’s existence in the long term, the Supreme Court ruled. Reindeer owners at Fosen, wind power companies and the state are now in mediation. What can these lead to? – See next page. Who mediates? There are two separate mediations; one for Nord-Fosen and a separate one for Sør-Fosen. This means that one group can come to an agreement without the other group doing so. In Nord-Fosen, reindeer owners mediate with Roan wind and the state at the Ministry of Oil and Energy. The reindeer owners here are threatening to break the mediation. They have also reported the wind power companies to Økokrim for making money from illegal operations and show that the permits that were granted are invalid. In Sør-Fosen, reindeer owners mediate with Fosen wind and the state at the Ministry of Oil and Energy. Here, the reindeer owners are not considering breaking the mediation. Their counterpart is Fosen wind, where Statkraft is the majority winner. No mediation deadline: No deadline has been set for the mediation, but Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said when 500 days had passed after the verdict that another 500 days would not pass until a solution is on the table . Mediator is national mediator Mats Ruland. He has received the assignment from the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Terje Aasland. In the mediation team, Ruland has a district court judge and a reindeer husbandry practitioner. What is being mediated? Reindeer owners, wind power companies and the state mediate to find out what changes need to be made to the wind power plant so that the reindeer husbandry can be assured of future operation. The framework for the mediation is that the operation of the wind power plants must be changed as follows that it does not lead to significant negative consequences for reindeer husbandry. The mediations are closed, so we do not know which solutions are actually being considered. But the parties cannot enter into certain agreements. The parties cannot agree to: Discontinue the reindeer herding. The essence of the Supreme Court’s judgment is that wind power threatens the future of reindeer herding and that a shutdown would violate human rights. To lead the reindeer herd in a fenced area for 90 days. The Court of Appeal considered this to be a possibility, but which the Supreme Court rejected. See which possible measures may be relevant. Possible solutions Several possible changes may be relevant, such as stopping the wind power plant for shorter or longer periods. This is also a measure that Statkraft has mentioned. Demolish some wind turbines or the entire facility. Find other winter grazing areas for reindeer herding. Regardless of which solutions are considered, there must be solutions that ensure that the reindeer owners on Fosen can run sustainable, traditional and sustainable reindeer herding.
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Fosen activists chain themselves outside the Ministry of Oil and Energy – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
