– I am primarily happy that all parties have decided to participate in the mediation process. This is a difficult matter and nothing should be unproven. This is what State Secretary in the Ministry of Oil and Energy Elisabeth Sæther says to news. It is at their request that national mediator Mats Ruland will now lead a meeting between the parties. He is not involved in the role of national mediator, but as a neutral person with extensive experience from negotiations of a different nature. He has with him district court judge Hanne Sofie Bjelland and reindeer herder Tom Kristian Lifjell. – This is a start-up meeting where the Ombudsman leads the meeting and the wind power concessionaires and the reindeer herding are the parties, where we participate and see if there is anything the state can contribute, says Sæther. Elisabeth Sæther, State Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. She participates in the meeting between the parties in the Fosen case. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news Want to know more about the starting point for the meeting – It is positive that we can come together and talk together. I hope this is the beginning of a process that can provide a solution, says Tom Larsen from developer Fosen Vind. Sissel Stormo Holtan is a reindeer herder in Nord-Fosen Siida. She hopes the reindeer owners will get a concrete plan for what will happen next in the matter. – We just have to take what comes, she says. The reindeer herders say they need to know more about the national mediator’s starting point before they have more clear expectations. Tom Larsen represents developer Fosen Vind in the meeting. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news – The state’s responsibility Sæther says the parties enter with an open mind and that the aim is to find a quick solution. – How open and willing is the state to step in with a solution here, to help ensure that there can be a solution to the matter? – I think what all parties are interested in is getting a quick clarification in the case. And then we have a responsibility to ensure that we follow up the Supreme Court’s judgment, and therefore we have initiated the necessary processes to be able to make a so-called conversion decision. – Having said that, if an amicable agreement between the parties can be reached, it will of course provide a quicker clarification than the formal investigation track. She acknowledges that it is the state that has given permission to build the wind power plant, and that they are the reason why the parties are in this situation. – Let there be no doubt that it is our responsibility to ensure that the Supreme Court’s judgment is followed up, and therefore we set in motion, as soon as the judgment was handed down, the necessary processes to ensure that we can do it, but that are processes that take time, says Sæther.
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The parties in the Fosen case in the first meeting with the Ombudsman – news Trøndelag
