The case in summary The Nature Conservation Association in Hordaland claims that organized environmental crime has taken place in the form of illegal construction of forest roads and landfills in Bergen and the surrounding area. This was the topic of a political hearing this week. The municipality admits that control of forest road construction has failed. The Norwegian Nature Conservation Association has revealed that developers have used contaminated and unnecessarily large amounts of material in the construction of new forestry roads. The Nature Conservancy reported several of the vegans to the police, who dropped the case. The Attorney General demanded a new investigation, and several private individuals and companies have been charged. Business council Reidar Digranes (Sp) says the conditions for building forest roads in Bergen have now been greatly tightened, and that all forms of illegality are followed up in the right way. – This is long-term organized environmental crime, partly with government subsidies. That’s what Synnøve Spangelo says in the Hordaland Nature Conservation Association. On Wednesday, she was a “main witness” in a six-hour-long hearing in the city council hall about illegal logging roads and landfills in Bergen and the surrounding area. At the same time, the State Attorney is now considering several police-investigated cases. The public prosecutor is now considering whether the police investigation into forest road construction and contaminated lots on Fanafjellet in Bergen should end with charges. Photo: Synnøve Spangelo/Naturvernforbundet – Preparation for crime Road construction for forestry is controversial in several places, but Spangelo believes the situation in the Bergen area is particularly serious. – There are similar cases, for example, in Førde and Trondheim. But we do not have any similar cases in other parts of the country that are so severe and extensive. – And I think Bergen municipality stands out for its ability to facilitate organized environmental crime, Spangelo believes. It is primarily the revelations and the year-long survey by Synnøve Spangelo in the Nature Conservation Association that are the background for the political consultation in Bergen. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news – Skalkeskjul for polluting mass dumping For several years, she has mapped and revealed that developers have used polluted and unnecessarily large amounts of mass in the construction of new forestry roads. – The forest roads are actually mostly a shell hide for polluting mass dumping, says Spangelo. – Roads have been built without an application, or even after an application has been rejected. – All the six miles of road that I have mapped have one or another illegality. Enormous land interventions, pollution from demolition waste, introduction of blacklisted plants, drainage of bogs, and so on, she says. Had to investigate After the Nature Conservancy reported several vegans to the police, the West police district initially dropped the case. In 2022, the Attorney General demanded that the police investigate several of the cases again. Several private individuals and companies were targeted. Two of the cases have been under police investigation for several years. State prosecutor Sigurd Granli confirms that he has received the case back, after further investigation by the police. – The case is now being processed by the State Attorney for prosecution, he says. Old asphalt from a public road, stored in the terrain on Fanafjellet in 2017. Photo: Finn Bøe/Naturvernforbundet “Genial business model” Head Tom Skauge of the Hordaland Nature Conservation Association pointed out during the hearing how the actors save on illegal dumping of demolition waste instead of delivering to approved reception . – Some entrepreneurs have found an ingenious business model: They dispose of construction waste on these forest roads. That way they save a lot of money. – How extensive is this black economy? Our best estimate is around half a billion kroner. They win all tenders, because they are of course cheaper, said Skauge. – When the West police district has set up its own investigative group, with assistance from Økokrim, it shows that there is a lot of finance in the picture, Spangelo believes. Leader Tom Skauge of the Hordaland Nature Conservation Association (colorful shirt) and business councilor Reidar Digranes (Sp) (with laptop) during the hearing. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news – Serious neglect of duty But the political hearing was about Bergen municipality’s handling, not the police’s investigation. Spangelo believes that the municipality has not handled the problem in the case as a whole, because she believes that they have no good answer as to how they have carried out inspections. Among other things, she criticized those responsible for case management in Bergen municipality for having approved illegal road construction while the police were investigating the case. – At best, this is a matter of gross neglect of duty. The Norwegian Agency for Agriculture has stepped into the breach for state subsidization of cases under police investigation, she believes. Admitted failures and mistakes Recently resigned head of agriculture Helene Dahl and current senior councilor Kjetil André Rødland admitted during the hearing that control of forest road construction in Bergen municipality has failed. – That an unknown number of notices have not been registered in the case system is unfortunate, said Rødland in the section for industry and agriculture. Dahl said, among other things, that the agency “was a bit taken aback” by the fact that there were such large piles. Vegans became much bigger gradually. – OK, there were things that didn’t go right, but that’s how it is. We fell short, because the criteria were not good enough, she said. Former head of agriculture Helene Dahl and current senior adviser Kjetil André Rødland. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news – Thought it was good stuff At Hylkje, outside Bergen, a forest road was built in the past, so that the landowners could collect timber with lorries. When news was on the scene, there was crushed asphalt, concrete and roof tiles along the gravel road. Then Robert Berentsen in Veten Rundt Skogsvelag said that they were confident that all the masses were clean, and that that was the agreement with the contractor. This week, Berentsen gave a speech to the politicians at the hearing: – I believed that there were good things, and I have tried to do this here as well as I could, he said. At Hylkje in the north of Bergen, a 15 kilometer long forest road was built in 2019. It is one of two cases the State Attorney is now considering. Photo: Eva Neteland / news He thinks it’s pure stone County forestry master Torkel Hofseth at the state administrator in Vestland believes that the vast majority of the fillings under and along the forest roads are pure stone. He believes that there is little contaminated mass such as asphalt, demolition material, plastic and environmental toxins. – I think it is small. Some bricks, yes, I’ve seen them, but not very many. I have also seen some plastic pipes, but very little. Spangelo disagrees with this. – It is mass handling that is out of control. – There is a lot of stone, but very little unclean mass in the forest truck roads, says county forester Torkel Hofseth. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news – Being followed up Business council Reidar Digranes (Sp) answers news on behalf of the municipal bureaucrats. He believes that “the entire forest road administration in Norway, and not just in Bergen” has had weak control, among other things after the building permit has been granted. He says the conditions for building forest roads in Bergen have now been greatly tightened, and that the situation is not “as bleak as the Nature Conservancy suggests”. – There is not exactly too much agriculture in Norway as of today. If you tighten up significantly without also allowing responsible forest road development, you risk that you will really break agriculture. In any case, it is not something the city council in Bergen wants. But he confirms that they are actively going after the “villains”. – All forms of illegality are followed up in the right way. Published 28.09.2024, at 07.48
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Investigating illegal and polluting forest roads – Bergen admits weak control – news Vestland
